Educated Wives

It’s amazing that we live in a day and age where women are actually outpacing men in striving after education, and graduating from college.  For so long we men have had the upper hand and taken it for granted, but now women are proving themselves to be just as intelligent and even more grateful for the educational opportunities than we are.  This article discusses how men are slowing down in graduation rates and women are quickly catching up, and exceeding expectations by far.  The truth is, women have fought hard for equal opportunity over the last century, and the dividends are paying off, and respect is being earned.

    I know plenty of women who are frankly better than I am and more disciplined in terms of their career in learning.  Wives are more commonly the ones with a college degree instead of their husbands, according to the Pew Institutes survey of education levels among married couples.  The article attributed much of this to the fact that the survey focused exclusively on married couples, and most young newlyweds are in college, and so the younger generation is representing the drastic increase compared to 50 years ago.  Our generation offers a lot more opportunity to women for education and this is paying off in the labor market.  We could see this trend start to leak into the world of academia more and more, as more women in the younger generations pursue higher level learning, and make education a career.

    The article doesn’t go past the statistics on primary breadwinners in the family, but I’ve been impressed with our society’s casting off social stigma and “traditional” gender roles that say that men have to work, and women have to stay at home with the kids.  As far as I’m concerned, a male is just as much of a “man” if they are a good, loving father who is there for their children.  

http://national.deseretnews.com/article/992/Record-share-of-wives-outpace-husbands-when-it-comes-to-education.html

Florida School Evaluations

http://www.bradenton.com/2014/02/11/4986918/florida-education-boss-issues.html

Pam Stewart, State Education Commissioner of Florida, is trying to simplify the state’s new evaluation system for schools.  The system began as a way to compare students’ performance in math and reading in public schools, but evolved into a convoluted system which could result in the closure of a school.  The article claims that Florida policy makers, as well as parents are working together in lodging a complaint about the complexity of this system, which has become virtually meaningless.  It’s encouraging to see policy makers, educators and parents all working together in order to fight the ridiculous measures that are increasingly punishing schools without achieving the results they claim to strive for.  Commissioner Stewart’s proposal is to suspend the punishment and closure of schools until the assessments are on par with where policy makers and parents believe it should be.  

    I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: the solution to our public schools’ improvement issue is not to punish schools for being at a disadvantage over other schools.  We should close schools because they don’t have the resources or manpower that is required for effective education.  Earlier I wrote a blog which compared the Finnish school system with the American schools system.  Two major differences are student to teacher ratios, and freedom of teachers to do their jobs.  In Finland, the average class size is roughly ⅔ of the average size of a class in the U.S., and often times even less.  This provides the teacher with the freedom to teach according to the student, rather than the curriculum.  Teachers are known for providing extra help and one on one time with students in Finland, which isn’t possible in a larger classroom setting.  Perhaps if the U.S. focused more on funding schools rather than the military, we would also have the resources to invest in our nation’s future generations.  Punishing schools for our poor allocation of resources isn’t going to fix that.  

    However, this article focuses on fixing a system of assessment, not fixing the root of our problems.  People continue to place their faith in competition, and making public education more and more of a capitalist institution.  Policy makers and parents want to pit teacher against student, teacher against teacher, principal against teacher, principal against Board of Education and school against school.  If this is the real objective in creating such assessments, then we will continue to see good teachers avoiding poor schools.  There will always be schools that underperform compared to other schools. 

Common Core Curriculum

The idea of implementing a Common Core curriculum in schools in the U.S. doesn’t sit well with me, because I believe in the need for adaptable, resourceful and creative teachers who can build a relationship with a student, and it seems to me that a government mandated curriculum would disincentivize these qualities in educators, and incentivize hiring cheaper, little or unqualified men and women who can simply prepare children for tests.  The more freedom the state takes away from educators, the more education becomes about kids learning how to cheat the system, rather than become equipped for the world ahead socially, economically, personally, etc.  This article discusses the need for reforming the Common Core educational reform.  One argument against it is that too much time is being spent on test-prep in classrooms, and they want to add a cap to how much time can be spent prepping.  

    http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/02/post_714.html

    I don’t disagree with the push for improving schools, and in fact I appreciate how motivated people are to provide better education for youth.  But, I disagree with the philosophy of these reformers, and it seems that the data simply doesn’t support the measures school boards and states have been trying to take.  I remember at the beginning of our class, Dr. Glassman asked, “Should we use the global marketplace to serve our students, or should our students be used to serve the global marketplace?” That’s a relevant question, and based on the tactics we’ve seen become implemented, I’d say that the general feeling in our nation is the latter.  Which is terribly unfortunate, because there is more to life than serving our nation’s economy and being as competitive as possible with other nation-states.  Capitalism, though a seemingly well-functioning economic institution, has produced a terribly flawed perspective in our society, which promotes greed above our own children’s futures.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/02/03/superintendent-on-school-reform-it-is-not-working/

   

   

Blended Learning

    http://thejournal.com/Articles/2014/02/11/Using-Online-and-Blended-Learning-To-Help-Students-Design-Their-Educational-Experience.aspx?Page=2

A new model for education is being tested out, which combines online education with high quality class instruction.  This model hopes to target disenfranchised students who live in inner city areas, rural areas, and minorities.  The Florida Virtual School (FLVS), begun by Julie Young, has classes across the country and in 65 countries.  The blended learning model has provided 15-advanced placement courses to students who had few or none before.  The school has rapidly added classes over the past two decades, and estimates that they will have have a majority of high school classes offered online.  

    The blended learning model seems to really benefit students who are internally motivated over students who are externally motivated and need a lot of outside incentives.  Students who work hard and are independent can thrive in this environment which provides more opportunities and is unrestricted by location.  Because the curriculum is based on doing classes as fast as possible instead of being confined to the traditional time-frame, a student can potentially go through courses quickly, and graduate early.  So, another possible disadvantage would be that students can move through classes at a pace which is faster than traditional K-12 classrooms, leaving a student who graduates at 16-17 with few options.  Either the student can begin a college education early or join the military in the meantime.  The problem with going to college is that there is a physical, developmental maturity that is not the same between a 16 year old and a 17 year old student.  

    The Palm Beach model tries to provide a free, creative space with hands-on educators providing instruction, as well as offering FLVS classes in tandem. The Miami-Dade model has two schools, each with their own merits.  On the one hand, a student can forget that they are even at school because the rooms are designed to replicate familiar, comfortable places, rather than a typical school building.  The other school is more traditional in feel, but places emphasis on the students’ responsibility to manage time effectively/efficiently.  However, the school relies on online classes, and facilitators for in-class work aren’t necessarily qualified to be educators, and don’t pretend to be.  If students are dependent on help from facilitators, serious problems could occur because the student is simply seeking help from an unqualified “professional.”

Sexual Misconduct

http://wvtf.org/post/education-leaders-discuss-sexual-misconduct-issues

Everyone knows that in the American and Western culture, college is seen as a place where young people can explore themselves and others sexually.  It’s a time in a persons life when they are given license by the community to find themselves and their sexuality.  But, according to this article by WVTF Public Radio, the rate of women reporting sexual assault during their college years is one in five, an alarming statistic.  The University of Virginia has created a conference in order to combat this growing problem.  This isn’t just an issue of certain Universities with bad apples, this is a problem across the board, and schools are scrambling to find a solution.  The idea behind this conference is to coordinate and communicate together in the hopes that sexual misconduct can be curbed.

    I’ve heard stories, mostly in the media, about fraternity brothers who bring girls over, get them incapacitated with alcohol, and have sex with them when they reach the point where they can no longer realize what’s happening or even say no.  It seems that people will turn a blind-eye and say, “boys will be boys,” or something lame, but that is a situation where a woman is being taken advantage of and many times, legitimately raped.  And I’ve always thought that the majority of students held this same apathetic perspective, but it was encouraging to see in this article that students want to take an active role in fighting for the rights of women and seeing an end to this increased sexual assault.  

    I’m consistently surprised by the issues that are being talked about and dealt with in education.  Even though this problem is taking place on campuses every year, I would’ve thought of this as a purely legal matter.  It makes me wonder how I would deal with this issue as an educator.  As a school, OSU has a great emergency response system in place across its campus.  However, for more complicated issues with large quantities of alcohol involved, the response is also more complicated.  I think there should be a hotline that students could call to report any kind of suspicious activity and/or confirmed assault. 

Implementing Technology

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2012/01/25/3-tips-on-integrating-technology-in-the-classroom

Technology is quickly becoming a staple of effective education; without technology, a teacher isn’t able to equip a student for the modern world and the challenges they will face after graduation.  Computers, projectors and smart boards are all becoming a common feature in the landscape of an educator.  That’s why the Alliance for Excellent Education has created Digital Learning Day, which is a day dedicated to equipping teachers with the ability to equip their students through high technology.  I think this is very important for teachers, because many teachers aren’t tech savvy, and didn’t grow up in a society where the internet is a regular part of childhood.  But, this organization is trying change things from the top-down rather than the bottom up.

    The first tip the article gives, about planning ahead is so obvious and yet brilliant.  How are schools going to make any difference if they do not act as a united front, collaborating with teachers in order to cast a vision for the school and set goals for what they are trying to achieve.  There are many options now for schools to improve, but there must be a concerted effort by the administration and staff.  For instance, there is now a free app for iPads to have access to textbooks built in, but this wouldn’t help the students to learn better unless the object of using electronic textbooks is to, say, save upkeep costs for the school over the long run, and provide funds for more investment in technology later or implementing new policies.

    I love the idea of a “flipped classroom” because I hate doing my homework at home, and in high school I would have profited from being able to relax and take notes while watching a lecture, instead of doing the hardest work when at home.  It would have been nice to work hard on problem solving, writing and reading when in the classroom where you can ask for help and guidance immediately.  I believe that is the future function of the classroom, and that it will function more effectively, because students don’t need their teachers during lectures (it’s straightforward!) but rather students need instructors while doing assignments.  And if the assignments would take longer than the class is, then there could be out of class work.  This could only work properly in areas where students have direct and frequent access to computers and the internet. 

LGBT Expulsion

http://diverseeducation.com/article/53991/

    A student was expelled from a private Christian college called Grace University for being same-sex attraction.  The student, Danielle Powell, was expelled for not upholding the Christian character required by the school.  The college initially suspended the student because Powell’s lesbian relationship came to the attention of Grace University, but then when Grace got enough evidence of her relationship, they accused Powell of being deceitful and charged her $6,300 for the scholarship that was withdrawn.  

    Do private schools have too much freedom, or is that freedom the right of the institution?  It’s hard to say, because the school made it clear that students must uphold Christian character as part of attending their school.  However, LGBT is still a misunderstood community, and the school could be seen as discriminating.  The irony is that the name Grace undoubtedly refers to the forgiveness of God through His son Jesus Christ’s death on the cross for our sins.  It’s interesting that the school was unwilling to forgive Powell’s relationship, but the school had no obligation to overlook a failure in the school’s character requirement.  

    The separation between church and state has produced a strange situation where, although public institutions of education cannot force or even allow students to discuss religion with staff members and teachers, but the state cannot infringe on a private institutions rights to operate in whatever way they see fit.  In this case, that means that Grace University was well within its rights to deny education to a student with same-sex attraction and demand repayment of the scholarship funding that had been provided to the student for that semester.