tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post6727308614216359089..comments2024-03-21T05:30:03.220-04:00Comments on Science teacher: Eels, Arne Duncan, and educationdoylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-15406297342926049672010-03-22T19:09:50.834-04:002010-03-22T19:09:50.834-04:00Dear Usayinpa,
Thanks for the words--this is one ...Dear Usayinpa,<br /><br />Thanks for the words--this is one of my favorite posts, and your comments one oof my favorite replies.<br /><br />Especially the last line.<br /><br />(I'm never sure if anyone is reading these things. beyond a couple of people whom I write for. Thanks for taking the time to respond.)doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-41780421544437300512010-03-21T14:43:20.665-04:002010-03-21T14:43:20.665-04:00Well I ran across your post and think you are a pr...Well I ran across your post and think you are a pretty good writer in addition to your science teacher gig. It sort of reminded me of the spring I found the bog turtle near Exton pa. By rights it hould not have been there and yet there it was.<br /><br />This reminds me of my own situation and I suppose of the situation of Mr Duncon. Sometimes we humans show up in the unlikeliest of places. About two months ago I showed up near Philadelphia as a math teacher. It was not sometihng I started out wanting to be. The kids are not really my peeps but still I feel a connection to them and to their needs. I started out sub teaching in the burbs and it was so different and in many respects easier for me. Some jobs were just ten minutes from my house not 600 miles away.<br /><br />I think Arne Duncan is misplaced as an education secretary. I don't know him personally but I doubt he has ever really had to strive for something as my kids do each week. There was always someone thee to give him a hand up and the kind of teachers and environments he grew up in were safe suburban ones.<br /><br />So perhaps he was raised in a parochial environment and will never fully comprehend the eels, my bog turtle, or anything else about the education of small minds into great big ones. Lets hope that together we can educate him before he damages our education system in the many ways an educational secretary can. Let's hope but let's not hold your breath because unlike the eels we don't live underwater.Usayinpahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09526044435054041295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-32606164806691632822010-01-10T16:25:03.365-05:002010-01-10T16:25:03.365-05:00Dear Charlie,
Thanks for pointing me to Ira--I ju...Dear Charlie,<br /><br />Thanks for pointing me to Ira--I just wandered around the SpeEd Change blog, and now have it bookmarked.<br /><br />(I'm hoping to see some words on yours, too. Got you on my feed.)doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-49354227214263464212010-01-10T14:04:54.755-05:002010-01-10T14:04:54.755-05:00Don't know if you've been following Ira So...Don't know if you've been following Ira Socol but I think you'd like his thoughts on the topic of education and "parochialism". It's in line with your interests.Charlie Royhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09335346223868916197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-84350057857294302692009-12-25T00:23:38.220-05:002009-12-25T00:23:38.220-05:00Dear Jonathan,
If parochialism "inevitably [...Dear Jonathan,<br /><br />If parochialism "inevitably [led to] a rejection of ideas that fall outside the existing worldview of the person," I would not espouse it. But it does not.<br /><br />Do not confuse insularism with parochialism. Until you know the ground under your feet, you cannot know the ground beneath someone else's feet a thousand miles away. You might think you do--our Federal gov't is full of ambitious folks who think they know me--but you do not, and cannot.<br /><br />The wolves in Alaska mean nothing to a child if she knows nothing of wilderness. If she cannot find wilderness in Bloomfield, she certainly will not be moved to support wolves on the other side of the continent (though she might yet give money as an adult through guilt, conceit, or trickery--she will not do it for love).<br /><br />Education must start locally. A good education will ultimately lead to a larger world view, one based on love and logic. A child can be changed by the hours she spends staring at a pond's edge in far better ways than she can be changed fearing for the lives of polar bears she has never seen.<br /><br />I'd daresay parochialism is dead anyway--if folks really knew and loved their land, their water, their homes, they'd have fought long and hard decades ago to prevent the destruction that has been inflicted around them.<br /><br />Centralized power will never fix problems it cannot see--and I'd bet there's not a breathing policy maker in D.C. who even knows the Second River is a live river here in Bloomfield, nor would care even if it were known.doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-3968734192949682122009-12-22T10:37:05.013-05:002009-12-22T10:37:05.013-05:00I think parochialism (and its sibling, provinciali...I think parochialism (and its sibling, provincialism) are very dangerous on a couple of levels. First, parochial thinking leads, inevitably, to a rejection of ideas that fall outside the existing worldview of the person. It also leads to a "it's someone else's problem" mantra when it comes to the big issues facing the world. How can we get students in New Jersey to care about the wolves Sarah Palin is shooting in Alaska if they don't care about (or can even find on a map) the 49th state? That said, I agree that it's vital to get children interested in something local first, some they can touch, smell and experience. Something that has the ability to teach them, and maybe even hurt them. As you so correctly point out, there's much more relevant biology learning in a pond than in any textbook. (I will also add that it brings this lapsed field biologist no shortage of joy when my 5 year-old insists that we go over to a nearby inlet to look for manatees every time we go outside.) Once the link to the natural world has been established on a local level, extrapolating beyond that microcosm is essential. <br />Cheers,<br />JonathanJonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17922908345211553612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-34254967173747664772009-12-20T10:14:47.652-05:002009-12-20T10:14:47.652-05:00Dear John,
Thanks for the words. I had already he...Dear John,<br /><br />Thanks for the words. I had already heard your podcast when I wrote this, so you may have influenced me a bit more than you (or I) realized.<br /><br />In medicine, "patients" became "customers" and "clients" and (even worse) "consumers."<br /><br />Consumers. <br /><br />Our educational system is geared towards raising a generation of consumers.<br /><br />We, too, are blessed with third parties providing consumable services to our resource-scarce socioeconomic percentile.<br /><br />When things make little sense, follow the money (or the hormones). In this case it's the money.<br /><br />A shame.doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12901661320505882735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4956989639073843954.post-32115758549541087242009-12-18T22:45:18.700-05:002009-12-18T22:45:18.700-05:00Great blog post. You haven't been blogging la...Great blog post. You haven't been blogging lately, but I feel as though we're thinking about similar things. <br /><br />This morning I did a podcast about facing the consequences of the bad economy while never getting to reap the benefits. <br /><br />A few days ago I wrote about a pisspoor test-taker who taught me about deserts. He assured me, today, that it's not my fault since I wasn't raised here. <br /><br />My students have parents who worked construction during the boom times and it never trickled down. I have a hunch the TARP funds won't trickle down, either. <br /><br />This week my kids painted pottery for a local hospice. If we are given permission, they'll walk a line close to death. Last time this happened, they learned about World War II and Goodyear Tires and a former soldier told the kids about the cancer clusters in our area of town that resulted from Motorola and Revlon. <br /><br />"People are dying so that they can look sexy." He pointed to his breathing machine and told the kids about emphysema. <br /><br />I'm not sure if this will happen again this year. Last year, we were told that we had to stay away because of swine flu hysteria. <br /><br />So, I now have to share my after-school space with a company paid to do intervention. Actually, they are paid, not to intervene, but to monitor kids who stay on Study Island. <br /><br />She can quantify her results. I can't. Honestly, I often leave my group of misfits and wonder if I'm making a difference. Painted pottery doesn't raise test scores.<br /><br />A lady from the intervention group asked me to be quiet. Our joviality was distracting her clients. She used the term clients and I shuddered. <br /><br />I don't teach clients. I teach students.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10956056168256756705noreply@blogger.com