Set Our Teachers FREE!

It’s hard to believe, in the middle of all the summer picnics, ball games and sweltering heat, that it is only three weeks until school starts again in our part of the country. Grandkids have already been shopping for Back-to-School wardrobes. Book bags and binders are being sold by the droves.

It’s a little confusing to me about the end of summer, because when I was young, most schools across the nation started AFTER Labor Day. Now it varies from state-to-state, so I will have grandkids both in and out of school after August 22nd.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, news has been a little slow on the educational front, with most schools on vacation. It looks like we have an exciting school year ahead of us though. All kinds of things will be coming to a boil.

• We have Presidential campaigns and primaries coming up
• We will be actively promoting radical change in our public schools through “Set Our TeachersFREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” and the training programs.
• And I will have a lot more time to work on this blog because I was just banned from Netscape for “violating their terms of use”. (I posted a story about rudeness and monitoring threats on the Web. Guess that wasn’t too popular, since if you’ve been on Netscape very much you realize that namecalling, and especially vulgar & hateful partisanship slurs, are a way of life. Guess that’s how they got to be 77th in the world.)

Well, it’s a good thing, really, because I was spending way too much time on the social networks (commenting courteously, of course) but there are far too many ways to make better use of my time - and far too many social networking sites to be concerned about any one of them.

I have been learning how to develop new web sites, use cpanel, and such. I have actually impressed my grandchildren (no small feat) with how technologically savvy I am. I want to be a good role model of life-long learning to them. So it is important that I learn how to download/upload widgets, master PHP & XHTML, make more videos, and master Press Releases. That should keep me busy!

Be certain to come back to see how I’m doing with my computer expertise and my web/graphic design skills.

Have a great day!
Brennan

Filed under: Education Reform

I read an extremely interesting article by Joel Gruber this morning on his Authority Blog, http://fearlessdreams.com. He asked the question “Why Are We Not Training Our Children to Be Leaders?” I followed the article through the social networking sites, both because it is a fascinating post (among other things, he explains the Prussian school model, which is more interesting than it sounds) and because I wanted to read the comments that people wrote in response to it. The article touches on several pertinent issues in today’s USA school system and talks about control vs. learning.

As I said, I followed the article from site to site, to see what types of responses he got. Because I have a wicked typing finger, I added my two cents each time, so I thought I would share just one of my responses with you.

I wrote:

“I feel that your article is well thought out and extremely lucid. As I read it, I was reminded of the sign that my husband hung in the front of all his classrooms (and which now hangs above my desk). The sign says, “A creative mess is better than tidy idleness.”

I realize that your article was not about tidiness in the classroom, but the compulsion on the part of some teachers to maintain rigid control, actually making it more important than learning. Some control needs to be maintained, because left to their own devices, children can be so rowdy that learning is impossible. The trick is to utilize techniques that maintain a child’s interest and attention, so that learning can take place and is actually enjoyable.

What I found most encouraging about your article is not the fact that you admit you are not an educator, nor familiar with the methodology, but that you care enough to write the article in the first place.

Our schools have been deteriorating for years, except in special cases, to the point where they are now ranked 24th among developed nations. Students in other countries openly laugh at our educational system and the level of our curriculum.

It is past time to completely revamp our public schools. We CITIZENS must make this an issue to be dealt with during the coming political campaigns. It is time to stand up and FORCE the necessary changes, including revamping curriculum to allow for teaching (and learning) critical thinking skills. If we do not train our children to be effective leaders capable of rational thought, and the awareness of consequences, then we will deserve the ever-worsening leadership we will get.

We are inviting parents, teachers, taxpayers and voters to JOIN US and help to Straighten-Out Public Education NOW!”

You, my reader, already know that “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education”, (by my darling husband and TEACHER EXTRAORDINAIRE, Don Kingsland) contains a complete, workable plan for totally revamping USA public schools. We are beginning our media campaign within the next couple of weeks and anticipate forming a coalition of concerned parents, teachers, taxpayers and VOTERS into a force to be reckoned with. We can make change happen! This country was formed after a revolution, and we are due for another kind of revolt! Remember, there is strength in numbers!

Brennan

Filed under: Global issues