One of your final exam study questions asks you to comment on new trends in education, noting what trends you find positive and what trends you think dangerous. What (if anything) did Dr. Meier say that might be worth talking about in connection with this theme?
Bonus: where do you think Dr. Meier and I would most disagree when it comes to American education? Where would we most likely agree?
I thought that Dr. Meier was interesting, and I liked how he had research to support some of his claims. I definitely agree that in order to get better teachers a higher salary is needed, but I didn't agree that this system was going to work. In Early Church History we discussed some of the paradigms used to interpret the New Testament, but each of them fell short at some point. I feel the same way about education reform. There are so many view points out there that don't work, and I believe that Dr. Meier skipped around the issue that the system doesn't always work in Texas either.
ReplyDeleteI thought how he made some claims that female teachers tend to be better than male, and that Latino teachers tend to be better than any other race. I think an idea like this has some very dangerous aspects to it.
I thought that you would disagree that American education needs to focus more on the teachers than anything else. I think that you would say the focus should be more on the students? Then would you agree that the salaries should be higher?
Well, yes: education should focus on students most of all. But the student population in a school district we more or less take for granted. Hiring the right teachers is something one can work on.
DeleteI also was put off just a bit by his comment on women being more effective than men and Latinos more effective that Anglos as teachers. The idea that somehow the brightest and best don't teach when they see the other opportunities available is just plain wrong.
I thought he had some valid points on many of the subjects covered Tuesday night. On the idea of reforming some of the schools in Texas I liked the school that had the idea of the school that opened at 10:00am and went to six o'clock. I thought that would be a good idea in some cases.
ReplyDeleteSomething that I agreed with was that there are too many tests for students right now. His example of Finland never testing was good that they were among the highest in the the problem with that would be if we got rid of testing how do we measure students across the country to see if the non testing is working.
From a personal aspect on his speech he spoke about diversity in the schools in Texas, and I know they are going to be a lot more diverse in Texas than in South Dakota, but the diversity in South Dakota is growing since he has been gone. He made the comment about the Swedes vs the Germans as being the diversity in Aberdeen and that comes from the view point of someone who has not been in an Aberdeen school for awhile. Diversity has grown in the Aberdeen schools even if it is not as diverse as schools in Texas.
I think he talked himself into a hole when he dissed standardized tests and then used standardized tests as an indication of system success and failure. I think standardized tests can be a very effective tool when used by classroom teachers and local administrators. They're a problem when bureaucrats misuse the tests in their carrot and stick approach to education.
DeleteI think that Dr Marmorstein and Dr Meier probably agree most with the German spelling of their last names. Start with the common ground and work from there. Everyone knows that a test/standardized testing is not an all-inclusive or comprehensive evaluation of one’s knowledge. What is knowledge?? Don’t mean to go all philosophical, but is a 12 year old who does calculus any smarter than a 12 year old who can rebuild a carburetor? On a test in a public high school he sure is, but both demonstrate comprehension and problem solving skills well above what one would expect at that age.
ReplyDeleteI liked his backing…or lack thereof of common core standards. I applaud the effort it takes to develop these standards, the courage it takes to implement them in a school district, but it’ll just cause teaching to the test…like it always does. I still remember test taking strategies from HS, how to properly fill in the circles or, don’t spend too much time on one question. We had classes on how to take test, and that’s not training for the test?
I didn’t see exactly how he felt the Dream Act was going to somehow fix and already overburdened, underfunded public school system? Children born here on US soil are citizen no matter how their parents got here, plus they’re entitled to public education regardless. Rewarding 30 million illegal aliens for not following our immigration policy, with instant access to social welfare programs, doesn’t seem to have much positive influence on the American education system in my mind.
I agree and I can see Dr Marmorstein agreeing with how the Esprit de Corp of the teachers and the administration being highly important to the success of a school/district. That almost seems obvious; I don’t plan on working very long in districts that don’t have a favorable environment. Go Teawork!
That calculus vs. carburetor contrast points to the heart of what I think is a major problem with education. In the community where I went to high school, there were lots of Aerojet engineers. Their kids did lots of build-it projects, projects that combined academic and hands on learning. Hands-on skills were admired as much as "pure" academic success, and top students frequently took things like drafting, auto mechanics, etc. In Aberdeen, we've segregated the hands-on classes and the academic classes. There's almost a stigma to taking vocational classes. That's very, very wrong--and boys in particular are penalized by placing the stigma on courses where many of them tend to excel.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, the ability to do calculus *isn't* going to show up on standardized tests. The math sections typically test general quantitative problem solving ability, not advanced math skills.
It is hard for me to comment on what I disagree and/or agree with the speaker as I admittedly don't know very much about education politics. I can say, however, that the suggestion that poor test grades/scores from "minorities" is a result of some sort of boogie man racism running rampant through our schools. No, I believe low income and home related problems are a major issue in school politics. The fact that many of these low income households also happen to be minority households is just simple realism. Immigrants moving to the United States have, historically, received lower income (at first). The black community is a product of history. Post civil war reconstruction era and many years after the african american community has been put down by racism/politics as well as an absence of proper education. Today those trends still continue as parents pass down their "the white man is evil and we are victims" motto. I submit that poor grades/scores are actually a product of culture and income.
ReplyDeleteI was unable to attend this presentation unfortunately. Reading through everyone's posts, a thing that stood out was Baker's talk about education with too much tests. Going through the tests personally in school or college sometimes provides an inaccurate reading. That there are too many hoops that kids are force to jump through. It's discouraging or scaring off the best ones in my opinion. There should be a choice between a multiple choice test and a strictly essay test the measure the same thing. Some kids portray their knowledge better with their own words then just filling in the bubble for A, B, C, or D (all above). How a person can is able to process information in their head and write it one paper or even in a speech that makes the reader or listener stop and think is more important. However this is difficult to grade and leaves a lot a gray area. Where multiple choice test is black and white. It's a flawed idea, but new options need to be explore in testing in education system.
ReplyDeleteDr. Meier had a lot of good points. I did agree with him when he talked about some of the most important aspects of a great school district is a constant at the administrative level. My mother has worked for the Aberdeen Public School system for over 30 years and i talked to her about the talk from Dr. Meier. She agreed immensely that having a super intendant that has a long tenure. This in effect she stated keeps teachers for longer periods of time. She also agreed as I do that teachers should have much higher salaries than they do no. As Dr. Meier said the revolving door at some school districts in Chicago maintains a level of uneasiness with teachers and in return negatively effecting students. Resulting in poor testing and higher drop out rates.
ReplyDeleteI did not agree with Dr. Meier as everyone has seemed to point out with his idea of women being better than men at teaching, and the idea of latinos being better teachers than any other race. I do not think race has much to play in to any of this. If a teacher is a good teacher regardless of race or gender I believe the students should follow accordingly. I do agree that he said teacher student interaction outside of the classroom is a good way to tell a good school from another. I think this ties in with the race and gender being factors in recognizing good teachers. If a teacher goes into the hallway and talks to students and takes time out of their day to interact with them I believe him or her regardless or race will get a positive reaction from the student population. Therefore gender and race should seem to have no particular effect on whether or not a teacher is effective.
I believe as Clint said Dr. Marmorstein and Dr. Meier would disagree on the idea that teachers should be the center of attention but rather the student should.