(via adventuresinlearning)
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I strive for a day when the very act of putting down on paper your ideals of education is normal. I strive for a day when all teachers approach teaching as a art, as a reflective practice of growth. Crafting your own ideals and philosophies of education can be the first step in creating real and meaningful reform in the world. I strive for a day when teachers see themselves as philosophers and look within to find truth. I strive for a day when learning how to teach is not learned from textbooks and college courses, but an active practice of reflection and sharing of one’s life.
Personal Creeds and Philosophies of the Right Kind of Education. « Cooperative Catalyst (via adventuresinlearning)
(via loverylieschlottmann)
(Source: kbkonnected, via adventuresinlearning)
If reading, writing and maths are not enough for young minds, some Wellington 6-year-olds are also tackling life’s great existential questions.
That’s if they are not busy meditating, of course.
Philosophy and meditation are on the timetable at two Wellington schools, which have introduced the unorthodox subjects to engage children and help them to use their minds in different ways.
The eternal question of “Why?” is addressed during philosophy at Island Bay School, while at Miramar’s Holy Cross School, meditation is seen as another way for children to feel calm and closer to God. (via Children Learn Philosophy and Meditation at School… | Stuff.co.nz)
(via adventuresinlearning)
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Give them nothing!” said the saint. “Rather, take part of their load and help them to bear it.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Nietzsche
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We’ve been hearing a lot about the war on women, which is real enough. But there’s also a war on the young, which is just as real even if it’s better disguised. And it’s doing immense harm, not just to the young, but to the nation’s future.
Let’s start with some advice Mitt Romney gave to college students during an appearance last week. After denouncing President Obama’s “divisiveness,” the candidate told his audience, “Take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business.”
The first thing you notice here is, of course, the Romney touch — the distinctive lack of empathy for those who weren’t born into affluent families, who can’t rely on the Bank of Mom and Dad to finance their ambitions. But the rest of the remark is just as bad in its own way.
I mean, “get the education”? And pay for it how? Tuition at public colleges and universities has soared, in part thanks to sharp reductions in state aid. Mr. Romney isn’t proposing anything that would fix that; he is, however, a strong supporter of the Ryan budget plan, which would drastically cut federal student aid, causing roughly a million students to lose their Pell grants.
So how, exactly, are young people from cash-strapped families supposed to “get the education”? Back in March Mr. Romney had the answer: Find the college “that has a little lower price where you can get a good education.” Good luck with that. But I guess it’s divisive to point out that Mr. Romney’s prescriptions are useless for Americans who weren’t born with his advantages.
… What should we do to help America’s young? Basically, the opposite of what Mr. Romney and his friends want. We should be expanding student aid, not slashing it. And we should reverse the de facto austerity policies that are holding back the U.S. economy — the unprecedented cutbacks at the state and local level, which have been hitting education especially hard.
Yes, such a policy reversal would cost money. But refusing to spend that money is foolish and shortsighted even in purely fiscal terms. Remember, the young aren’t just America’s future; they’re the future of the tax base, too.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste; wasting the minds of a whole generation is even more terrible. Let’s stop doing it.
Paul Krugman, The New York Times, “Wasting Our Minds.”
Go read the whole damned thing.
(via inothernews)
(via adventuresinlearning)
A major flaw in how we educate our students. As a teacher, I’m as guilty as anyone else of this.
(via adventuresinlearning)
Lessons from Abroad: One Laptop per Child initiative does not impact student performance
One Laptop per Child, the American-based charity that distributes laptops to children in developing countries, failed to raise test scores in Peru, reports ZDnet.
According to an evaluation by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), students in Peru who had received the laptops did not do…
Veeeery interesting. I’ve always wondered if measures like this give kids in developing countries the resources they need or the resources we need that we assume they need as well.
(via teachersworldwide)
