Two short clips on YouTube of fellow EPB blogger Nick Burbules being interviewed in Argentina about technology and educati...
A look at Chicago schools under Duncan
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also posted elsewhereEvery now and then it is useful to step back from the hype and the spin and see what people on the ground have to say about important issues. In the case of education policy, we should not forget that George Bush gave us Rod Paige and the so-called Texas Miracle (which never was) as the argument for passing into law No Child Left Behind.Obama has chosen his basketball buddy Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education. Duncan is an exemplar of several things (1) mayoral control of the school system; (2) a non-educator put in charge of education. The track record of both is...
Brown v Board of Education after 55 years
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originally posted at Daily KosFifty-five years ago today the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously issued Earl Warren's opinion in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, in which it stated unequivocally that Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. And yet even after 55 years the promise of the Brown decision we still have not overcome what is effectively a system of educational apartheid.Below the fold I am offering the text of a piece by Sam Chaltain, the National Director of The Forum for Education and Democracy. I am going to urge you to read carefully his words....
More Evidence: "People Who Get Screwed Have Screwed Up Kids"
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We are developing a new narrative about poor kids and about kids whose parents have experienced trauma. (These are not the same groups, but the slippage is pretty easy in the way we think about them.) And this narrative says: Their problems are biological. It's inevitable.Think how problematic this is:Not only does poverty make you stupid, but if your mom had a rough life, you will likely be more hyperactive and have difficulty with social interaction. Oh well. Screwed up parents have screwed up kids. Nothing we can do about it. . . .We're only sure about rats, now. But it may not be long...
Daydreaming is Good for Thinking Big Thoughts
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If you think letting your mind wander is unproductive then you may be in for a big surprise. A recent study at the University of British Columbia found that our brains are much more active when we daydream than previously thought. What is surprising is that the study also found that brain areas associated with complex problem-solving – previously thought to go dormant when we daydream – are actually more active than when we focus on routine tasks.The findings suggested that daydreaming, which can take up to one third of our waking lives, is an important cognitive state in which we may be taking...
50% Poverty Rate for Black Children?
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[Economic Policy Institute] President Lawrence Mishel [predicts] that, even using conservative forecasts for future job loss, the poverty rate for children could increase from an already high 18% -- where it stood in 2007 -- to more than 27% by next year. Poverty among African American children, currently at a staggering 34.5%, could reach 50% before the employment picture starts to turn arou...
Getting it wrong again, and again (and again)
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So once again two "former governors from different political parties who remain passionate about the quality of education in America" (Chicago Tribune, Perspective, May 3, 2009) have weighed in with a grand proposal about how Arne Duncan should use his "$5 billion to transform education in America" to "improve student achievement and ultimately revolutionize our economy and workforce for the 21st century."Neither Jeb Bush nor James B. Hunt Jr. have any background in the field of education, other than being governors. Neither has ever been a teacher, principal, superintendent (although it's possible...
Poverty and Brain Development, or, I Worry: If Poor People are Stupid, Why Bother?
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I've been meaning to say something about all the research coming out on the effect of poverty on brain development. The basic argument, backed up by empirical data, is that poverty actually degrades brain capacity in a range of ways. Which, of course, opens up questions about what "counts" as "degraded." (It reminds me, for example, of all the arguments that African Americans couldn't possibly take care of themselves after the Civil War because they'd been slaves.)I think this is an incredibly important issue, and is likely to affect how poor children are received in schools for a long time....
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