From: charlie
Date: 10/21/03
Time: 12:10:24 AM
Remote Name: 209.240.198.62
Jasper,
NOBODY"s kid is doing great shakes in school unless they are exceptionally smart or exceptionally motivated to learn things on their own.
A lot of times it is only the support at home or extra tutoring that makes the difference in success and failure with a student.
And you may have learned from your relatives and friends in the school system that there is a LOT of social engineering going on. Propagandizing, if you will in many of the lessons.
In fact, there is a lot of making the kids nice little mind-numbed robots ---doing for the good of the group. Hence, the majority of work is done in groups. And everybody in the group receives the same grade--although without fail a couple of the students do all the work every single time and the rest sit back and do nothing to contribute to the group work.
And this assumes that all children WANT to or/and do best working in a group. Wrong!
And the notion that the Top kids are BY LAW, tutors for the ones who are younger (mandated multi-aged classes as if multi-ability wasn't enough) instead of being challenged to go further in their own studies--is deliberate and damaging.
I have had students tested and seen by a physcologist who says the ONLY way the child can learn and succeed is to be in a VERY structured and quiet classroom. Guess what? There is no such animal with KERA. Only the open, crawling on the floor, sitting at group tables, talking the whole day long and working in groups classroom is available...so this kid is screwed from the getgo.
Just as some students can study or do homework with the tv on or the radio or stereo on--others have to have complete quiet to study.
KERA doesn't allow for that difference.
If you are a round peg you have to fit in the square peg and vice versa.
Hence, the extreme popularity of private and church schools and homeschooling in the state of KY>
I am for vouchers--but for ALL children---not just the poor children in the inner city.
The school where I taught got the highest scores of elementary schools in the city---however, I dare say that is not because the teaching or the curriculum is any better but that the parents are very involved.
KERA itself prevents any specialized help for minority students.
They --like the others--must be "fit" into the square hole--or fail.
charlie