#educational reform

[hyperlexichypatia]

Jumping into discussions about "meritocracy" and saying that I think learning and intellectually disabled people should have the same quality of life as neurotypical people, actually.

"Oh, of course People With Special Needs should be cared for --"

I didn't say "cared for," I said "the same quality of life as neurotypical people." The same negative liberties (bodily autonomy, freedom of expression), and the same material quality of life (the same amount of money, or its equivalent in goods/services) as neurotypical people.

"Well, learning and intellectually disabled people can be smart in their own way --"

I agree! I believe that everyone is smart in their own way; "general intelligence" is fake; and it makes no sense to classify some people as generally "smarter" or "less smart" than other people in some sort of across-the-board way (rather than, more accurately, "more/less skilled at one particular skill").

YOUR belief, however, is rooted in the premise that some people should be "rewarded" for being "smarter" than other people, which means that some other people must be penalized (denied the same reward) for being "less smart." Regardless of how you define "smartness" -- even if you claim you can remove all cultural biases and racism and classism and sexism and other social inequalities from your "measuring" system, which, incidentally, no you can't -- this premise requires a cohort of "losers," of the "less-smart", who are to be assigned a lower quality of life.

And I'm against that.

[bad-at-being-alive]

Our whole society would crumble without the unpaid labor and personal resources that teachers invest into the schools. It is an exploitative, thankless system that needs to be dismantled.

[wellpresseddaisy]

Hubert Prewett Makes an Entrance

Part 4

"Minerva, could you step up to my office, please?" Dumbledore's patronus interrupted her in the middle of organizing the 6th year NEWT syllabus.

She sighed and set down her work, smoothing both dress and hair before leaving her office. He'd be on her last nerve before she knew it if she didn't go. She threw a pinch of Floo powder into her fire and stepped through after saying "Headmaster's office."

Minerva stepped out again to Albus in deep thought. His office glittered in the late afternoon sun, the lowering rays catching all the whirling trinkets.

"Thank you, Minerva. I know you're busy today and I appreciate you coming up. I've had an idea and I'd appreciate your opinion. Also, I owe you in particular an apology." He came around the desk as he spoke and pulled a comfortable chair up for her. 

Minerva sank into the seat. Apologize? Albus Dumbledore? Generally he felt an airy 'terribly sorry to have inconvenienced you, my dear' to suffice. She watched carefully as he sat in the other chair and not behind his desk.

"I've been remiss in my duties as Headmaster, my dear, and that work has fallen on your shoulders for years. I am so very sorry to have so burdened you. It was brought home to me this very morning when all I could think was that Harry Potter needed to handle the attention for the well-being of others. An eleven-year-old boy. He ought only to worry about his marks and if he was caught in some mischief."

"Thank you, Albus." She answered stiffly. She knew he hadn't liked hiding Harry as Hugh.

"And that made me realize how very absent I've been for so long. I won't neglect the school in such a shocking way again. We keep telling students about unity and seeing past the surface of the Houses, but we also keep students so partitioned. I know we can't make changes for all the students immediately, not with term starting on Monday, but perhaps we could try an experiment with the first years?" 

She hadn't seen him so interested in running Hogwarts in, well, nearly two decades. He leaned forward, looking younger than he had in some time.

"I suppose it depends entirely on the experiment."

"I thought we might split them into cohorts across the Houses. Instead of having Gryffindor and Slytherin or Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, all four houses would be in each class. I believe we could keep the current class slots, but mix the students more." His eyes sparkled. "We can't teach them that they're stronger united if we never unite them."

"Would they keep the same cohort all seven years?" Minerva could see the benefit of such a plan. She and Severus had long hoped for classes with some buffer between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

"At least through OWLs, I think. NEWT coursework becomes so specialized and the class sizes shrink. Shall we sort out cohorts tomorrow morning?"

"Yes. If we keep the class slots as we've worked them out, I don't see a problem with it." 

"And the idea of separating students too much brings me to another plan, although I don't believe we'll be able to implement it immediately."

He felt like the Albus she'd known years ago when she first began teaching - engaged with and interested in student welfare. Before Voldemort, before all of it, he'd been such a passionate educator.

"What have you been dreaming up now?" She let herself smile, finally. This. This excitement, the change, sharing ideas…she'd become a teacher for this.

"We've had any number of complaints over the years from children with friends in different houses that there's nowhere for them to go. I thought we could use some of the empty rooms on the first floor. Hogwarts has already created two very large rooms for us. One could be for quiet but not silent group study and one could be for socialization. We'll have to start the hiring process for proctors now -- my dear, whatever is the matter?"

"Albus, the budget! It's all very well to have the space, but can we hire?" 

"I have spent this week past combing the budget. We are quite solvent, I assure you. We can hire four for the new project and four assistants for my house Heads, beside. You all work much too hard."

"And the Board?" However generous Albus wished to be, the clutchfisted Board liked to flex their power.

"I think we shall use the discretionary budget for this. That I control and we've barely touched it in a decade. Gringotts has managed it capitally and we have a healthy fund to draw on. I will speak to the Board about hiring a new History professor, though. It's high time Binns' classroom became a relic of our past. I have hope that charting the abysmal History OWLs and NEWTs scores over the past twenty years will be the impetus we need for change. That and that even the most genteel and properly educated students have trouble describing the Great Workings of history. Perhaps if I point out that the only student conversant in actual magical history seems to be Percival Weasley? Might get them thinking, in any case."

Minerva stared, blinking.

"Are you quite well, my dear?" He smiled gently.

"Who are you and what have you done with the Albus of the last twenty years?" She finally managed.

"I put him back in the cupboard where he ought to have stayed. I've been sadly wrongheaded, Minerva. I only hope that the staff can forgive an old man too bogged down in the ghosts of the past. I'll answer the call, if there is one in the future, but for now we must focus on our students." He patted her hand. "Do you think my ideas will work?"

"I…yes, Albus. I think they'll do very well. Once we can sort out space for students to meet across the Houses, I'm sure we'll receive fewer complaints." She rose and headed for the fireplace. An hour or two of quiet would set her right again, she was sure of it.

"Except, of course, for Mr. Ponsonby's campaign to introduce packaged breakfast cereal to our tables." His eyes twinkled. 

"Well, I'm sure that I'm happy you find it entertaining!" She bit back and exited his office to his merry laughter.

[yinx1]

Things I need to be a part of the Democratic Platform cir.2020

1. Get rid of the Electoral College. Especially given its history, it needs to go. There is no need for it when your whole speel is “Your Vote Matters”. Twice in recent history our vote didn’t matter Bush and Trump. That’s a major reason why ppl didn’t/don’t vote.

2. Prison Reform. Release every single one of nonviolent offenders. Give them community service. Prison is/should be for those that harm others (physically, and financially).

3. Criminal Justice Reform. The blatant difference between race, sex, and class should never be a factor on how justice is dealt. You break the law you should pay the consequences. If there’s a three strike rule it should apply to all not just those that can afford it. First time nonviolent offense should never receive jail time. First time violent offense should receive jail time aka Influenza Kid, and Cholerine Kid.

4. Police Reform. If you are fired from station you should never be able to be rehired. If you have anger issues you should never be a police officer. If you believe “Blue Lives Matter” You should never be an officer. If you have a record of abuse, you shouldn’t be an officer. If you shoot to kill instead of disarm you should never be a officer. If you can’t deescalated a situation with people yelling at you shouldn’t be an officer. If you don’t know how to correct a situation without putting your hands on someone who isn’t physically treating you; you shouldn’t be a police officer. Academies should be years long training instead of months for all potential officers.

5. Education Reform. It is high time to get our educational system back on track. It is sad that the country that built the car and plane don’t know simple math problems without a calculator. No standardized testing, teach for the child not the test. School days/years should be longer to accommodate for parents work schedules. The school day should reflect the kids being taught and the teachers teaching. Multiple down time in morning and afternoon. Also seeing that parents refuse to teach their kids basic fundamentals, teachers have taken up that aspect they need to paid accordingly. We are talking six figures nothing lower. There are a plethora of countries that test higher than the US yet our educational system is still a century old system. “Education must not simply teach work-it must teach life.” WEB DuBois.

[gettothedancing]

As the number of available teachers declines, class sizes have to increase to compensate. Having more kids in a class can also affect teacher performance—more books to mark, more children to monitor, more children's behavior that needs managing. The pressure on teachers to obtain high test scores amps up stress further. It creates a vicious cycle, and it is starting to snowball.

Teachers are micromanaged. While they are being told to differentiate and tailor to each specific child, they must also stick to a scripted curriculum. At the same time, they have no say in school-wide decisions.

Research finds that teacher autonomy is positively associated with teachers' job satisfaction and teacher retention. Teachers who perceive that they have less autonomy are more likely to leave their positions, either by moving from one school to another or leaving the profession altogether.

Teachers are required to stick to scripted programs. This is so they can teach to standardized tests. Rather than being able to learn and understand, students often rely on rote memory. So while test scores may improve, the information does not stick. Consequently, teachers’ creativity is stifled, but students don't benefit.

Furthermore, teachers are rarely consulted about administrative changes, perhaps because they are among the lowest in the educational hierarchy after teaching assistants. Nevertheless, it is because of this fact that so many teachers feel disengaged and powerless.

There is also the case of control within the classroom. In general, US teachers report little control over two areas: "selecting textbooks and other classroom materials" and “selecting content, topics, and skills to be taught."

The lack of autonomy can be traced back to the standardization of the educational system. The current trend toward standardized learning—scripted curricula and prescribed classroom-management routines—is shackling educators around the country and discouraging talented individuals from joining the field.

[lindahall]

Johann Amos Comenius – Scientist of the Day

Johann Amos Comenius, a Moravian educational reformer, was born Mar. 28, 1592.

read more...

[hyperlexichypatia]

One of the frustrating things about the concept of "life skills" classes for disabled students is that many of those students are going to be funneled into group homes that actively prevent them from using any of those "life skills." So disabled students are denied the opportunity to learn academic subjects because, supposedly, what they really need is to learn to cook and clean -- and then they're assigned to group homes where they're not allowed to cook and clean. The "life skill" being taught is how to perform a facsimile of abled life, not any actual "independence."

This isn't like the "Why do [mainstream] students have to learn trigonometry when they'll never use it in real life?" criticism -- while a lot of students may never use trigonometry after they graduate, nothing is preventing them from doing so. They can study higher trigonometry or pursue a math-related career if they choose to. No one is stopping them. Disabled students, on the other hand, will spend 17 years being taught nothing but mopping and counting money and then spend the rest of their lives never being allowed to mop their own floors or control their own money.

[hyperlexichypatia]

☕️ + gifted kid discourse?

I believe the following things are all true:

"Gifted" is not a marginalized identity. "Anti-intellectualism" is not a real thing. You are not oppressed for being "smart" or being wronged by having to share space and power with people you consider "less smart." You are not a temporarily embarrassed philosopher-king.

Sometimes kids who are neurodivergent, queer, or otherwise socially marginalized will have well-meaning adults tell them that they're being bullied or excluded "for being gifted." I'm reminded of the exchange I still think of from The Imitation Game: "It's because I'm cleverer than they are, that's what Mother says." "No it's not, it's because you're different."

The solution is for kids who are marginalized and excluded to find solidarity with other marginalized and excluded people, not to comfort themselves with the myth that Actually They're Superior.

Of all the students in mainstream public education, the students classified as "gifted" are the most privileged. They're also generally privileged in relations with adults outside school.

The fact that most "gifted" kids experienced school/family life negatively in spite of this privilege should give them pause to think about how much worse it was for all other students/kids. Schooling and childhood are miserable even for the most privileged groups of kids, which is an argument for radically restructuring the concepts of education and childhood.

Hierarchy works by keeping people in line with the threat of dropping them to a lower, worse-treated tier of the hierarchy. "Gifted" kids, at the top of the hierarchy, are kept in line with the omnipresent threat that if they don't perform perfectly at all times, they'll lose their privileged "gifted" status and be reduced to the garbage status of "average" kids. This applies not only in the classroom, but in general life interactions -- adults may treat you with a degree of conditional respect if you're "so smart" and "so mature for your age," but the second you express interest in a popular cartoon instead of a Great Novel, you can see their opinion of you drop in real time! You're relegated back to "Kid (Inferior)."

This works all the way down the hierarchy. "Average" kids are kept in line with the threat of being reduced to "remedial" ("slow" "immature" "babyish" "special ed"). "Remedial" students are kept in line with the threat of more segregation, more restrictive environments, or institutionalization. I'm reminded of the quote from Lori Granger in The Magic Feather: "Every time a child is called mentally defective and sent off to special education for some trivial defect, the children who are left in the regular classroom receive a message: No one is above suspicion; everyone is being watched by the authorities; non-conformity is dangerous."

Tl;dr -- "Gifted kid discourse" is just an example of the phenomenon where the most privileged subset (kids labeled "gifted") of a marginalized population (children, students, neurodivergent people) are framed as representing the entire population and have their legitimate marginalizations falsely attributed to their privileged status ("These kids deserve to be treated as superior, because they're gifted" rather than "The way all kids are treated is inherently oppressive").