Schools

Screens In Schools Are a $60 Billion Hoax (TIME)

by

– Screens In Schools Are a $60 Billion Hoax:

…

The screen revolution has seen pedagogy undergo a seismic shift as technology now dominates the educational landscape. In almost every classroom in America today, you will find some type of screen—smartboards, Chromebooks, tablets, smartphones. From inner-city schools to those in rural and remote towns, we have accepted tech in the classroom as a necessary and beneficial evolution in education.

This is a lie.

Tech in the classroom not only leads to worse educational outcomes for kids, which I will explain shortly, it can also clinically hurt them. I’ve worked with over a thousand teens in the past 15 years and have observed that students who have been raised on a high-tech diet not only appear to struggle more with attention and focus, but also seem to suffer from an adolescent malaise that appears to be a direct byproduct of their digital immersion. Indeed, over two hundred peer-reviewed studies point to screen time correlating to increased ADHD, screen addiction, increased aggression, depression, anxiety and even psychosis.

…

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP

 

Schools are removing analogue clocks from exam halls as teenagers ‘cannot tell the time’

by

NOT the Onion!

– Schools are removing analogue clocks from exam halls as teenagers ‘cannot tell the time’:

Schools are removing analogue clocks from examination halls because teenagers are unable to tell the time, a head teachers’ union has said.

Teachers are now installing digital devices after pupils sitting their GCSE and A-level exams complained that they were struggling to read the correct time on an analogue clock.

Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said youngsters have become accustomed to using digital devices.

“The current generation aren’t as good at reading the traditional clock face as older generations,” he told The Telegraph.

Read moreSchools are removing analogue clocks from exam halls as teenagers ‘cannot tell the time’

Emmanuel Macron to lower school age to THREE in bid to stamp out terror in France

by

– Emmanuel Macron to lower school age to THREE in bid to stamp out terror in France:

EMMANUEL Macron will reduce the compulsory school age to three-years-old in a bid to stop the spread of terror. The French President said schooling from a younger age would better integrate youngsters into society, avoiding alienation and the risk of radicalisation.

Families in poorer areas of France and in overseas territories are less likely to enrol their children in nursery, instead waiting until the current compulsory age of six.

Read moreEmmanuel Macron to lower school age to THREE in bid to stamp out terror in France

It’s Time to Rethink Education – Part 2 (Unschooling)

by

– It’s Time to Rethink Education – Part 2 (Unschooling):

There are several components, but the real shocker is that more of us aren’t embracing the current age of access to mastery of any topic. But that may not be so surprising—most of us were taught to be passive learners, to just “get through” school. It’s easy to be lazy. The rewards of becoming an autodidact, though, include igniting inner fires, making new connections to knowledge atnd skills you already have, advancing in your career, meeting kindred spirits, and cultivating an overall zest for life and its riches.

One good reason to dive head first into self-initiated learning is that much of what you were taught is already obsolete. “Knowledge workers succeed not based on what they know, but rather how they learn,” writes James Marcus Bach in his book, Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar. He dropped out of school when he was 14 and, in the early days of home computing, taught himself enough to become a software tester for Apple. He’s now an independent consultant.

Bach’s philosophy is rebellious yet inclusive: “Intellectual buccaneering is about self-education, but schools are OK, too. I’ve learned in schools, and I’ve learned from people who were trained in schools. I happily plunder knowledge wherever I find it. I don’t seek the destruction of schools. I am out to dismantle something else—the popular belief that schooling is the only route to a great education and that the best students are those who passively accept the education their schools offer.”

– From the Psychology Today article: The Golden Age of Teaching Yourself Anything

While some of you will be familiar with the educational concept of unschooling, it’ll probably be new to most of you. Personally, I never looked into the concept until I became a parent a couple of years ago, and it was my wife who first became fascinated with the idea and bought a bunch of books on the topic. I’m really glad she did.

The book we’re currently reading is by a fascinating individual named Ben Hewitt, titled Home Grown. Back in 2014, Ben wrote an excellent article for Outside Magazine in which he provided a concise description of what unschooling is. It’s quite distinct from home-schooling, which most people are already familiar with.

In the piece, We Don’t Need No Education, he explains:

Read moreIt’s Time to Rethink Education – Part 2 (Unschooling)

It’s Time to Rethink Education – Part 1 (Indoctrination)

by

– It’s Time to Rethink Education – Part 1 (Indoctrination):

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.
– Mark Twain

As a father of two young children, my thoughts have increasingly started to center around their young lives and the future world they’ll inhabit. Such considerations quickly lead to stressful questions such as, what are the best schools in the area? Which option can provide the best environment in which to thrive? If the best options aren’t public, can we afford them? Is it worth the money? All these questions and more have filled the minds of my wife and I over the past couple of years, but lately we’ve started to ask even bigger questions; such as whether the compulsory education system as it exists in the U.S. in 2017 makes any sense in the first place. I’m increasingly starting to conclude that it doesn’t.

Read moreIt’s Time to Rethink Education – Part 1 (Indoctrination)

Mom puts recorder in her daughter’s backpack to record bullying, charged with felony, faces 5 years in prison

by

– Mom puts recorder in her daughter’s backpack to record bullying, charged with felony:

Sarah Sims of Norfolk, West Virginia said school officials did nothing to stop her 9-year-old daughter from being bullied at school. So she put a digital audio recorder in her daughter’s backpack to catch the bullying. The school found the recorder and police charged Sims with felony use of device to intercept oral communication and misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She faces five years in prison on the felony charge.

From WishTV:

Read moreMom puts recorder in her daughter’s backpack to record bullying, charged with felony, faces 5 years in prison

800 US school websites hacked with “I love Islamic State,” Islamic profession of faith

by

– 800 US school websites hacked with “I love Islamic State,” Islamic profession of faith:

What is ironic about this is that in the vast majority of those schools, if not all of them, students are taught that Islamic jihad violence has nothing to do with Islam, and that Muslims are the victims of large-scale “Islamophobia,” such that concern about jihad terror is “hateful,” “bigoted,” and “racist.”

Reality broke through with this hack, but it is unlikely that anyone in any of these 800 schools will get the real message that was being conveyed.

“Pro-Isis hackers hijack 800 US schools’ sites with Saddam Hussein photo, ‘I love Islamic State’ message,” by Hyacinth Mascarenhas, International Business Times, November 7, 2017 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Read more800 US school websites hacked with “I love Islamic State,” Islamic profession of faith

Belgium: Fathers banned from school activities to “attract mothers of foreign origin”

by

– Belgium: Fathers banned from school activities to “attract mothers of foreign origin”:

Belgian newspaper De Morgen reports that in Belgium, some schools are trying to lower the threshold for parents with a migration background by only welcoming mothers of pupils to school events and activities. Through this, they hope to attract mothers from a foreign origin into school.

De Morgen lists a few examples, like a school in Antwerp where only the mothers are allowed to cut fruit during lunch breaks and a school in Ghent where only mothers are allowed to assist during gym classes. Simultaneously, the school let the fathers know on their website they need not worry: “The dads will get their turn.“

De Morgen comments that:

“Nevertheless, it seems strange that fathers are being shunned in the first place. Should schoolchildren not have to learn that dads can also cut fruit? And why not have fathers and mothers attend gym class together? Do we really want to teach children that men and women should do certain things separately?”

Read moreBelgium: Fathers banned from school activities to “attract mothers of foreign origin”

“The System Is Broken”: Angry Baltimore Dad Lashes Out As 12th Grader Tests At 4th Grade Math Level

by

*****

– “The System Is Broken”: Angry Baltimore Dad Lashes Out As 12th Grader Tests At 4th Grade Math Level:

One Baltimore resident and disable Army veteran, Victor Able, Sr., is fed up with the public education that his son, a 12th grader on the verge of graduation, received from City Neighbors Charter School after he recently tested at 4th grade level in math and 5th grade level in reading.  Able says his son was simply passed to the next grade year after year so that his school could continue to receive extra federal funding even though it failed to deliver results. After his complaints fell on deaf ears at city council and the mayor’s office, Able has now hired an attorney to address a system he says is “broken.”  Per Fox News:

According to the IEP report, the 12th grader reads at a 5th grade level; does math at a 4th grade level.

“It’s not supposed to happen,” stated Able. “I don’t want him to fall out into the streets.”

“They failed my son,” said Able. “Not just my son, a whole lot of kids. The system is broken. They need to stop and fix it.”

Able told Project Baltimore he has hired an attorney and has a meeting with the school later this month.

Confronted with the complaint, City Neighbors released the following generic statement which we can only assume roughly translates to ‘we allow teachers the “autonomy” to consistently fail and never hold them to account because their union says we’re not allowed to’…but that’s a very rough translation.

“We provide a unique environment that is designed to empower students, nurture a sense of belonging and gives teachers autonomy to establish a strong culture of learning. Our faculty and staff are dedicated professionals who work diligently to ensure that all students receive the best education and our best efforts.” – Bobbi Macdonald, City Neighbors Charter School

Asked why he thinks his son has ended up where he is, Able said that Baltimore schools continue push kids into higher grades just to “have them out of the system.”

“It’s like no one is worried about them,” said Victor Able, Sr. “It’s just push them all along and have them out of the system. It’s just not right.”

“I get so emotionally wrapped up in it, I just want to scream because how can this happen? How can this happen to him?” Able emotionally asked of his son, who he fears is being left behind.

When asked if this keeps him up at night, Able replied, “More than you know. More than you know. They have just dropped the ball.”

Of course, as we pointed out back in August (see: Baltimore School With Zero Students Proficient In Math Has Highest Graduation Rate), stories like the one above from Able are hardly unique in Baltimore as an investigative reporting initiative recently uncovered habitual bad behavior by teachers, including changing grades, intended to pass failing students through the system.  On student even graduated after missing school 100 days during his senior year and receiving a first quarter GPA of 0.00.

Baltimore’s community is absolutely stunned after ‘Project Baltimore’, an investigative reporting initiative, which was launched in March 2017, by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. asked this question:  How can a high school with zero students proficient in math, have one of the highest graduation rates in Baltimore City?

Project Baltimore is investigating Northwood Appold Community Academy II, or NACA II, after teachers “contacted us saying grades are being changed so students can graduate”. The school is located in East Baltimore City, Maryland where nearly 1/3 of African Americans have zero net wealth.

In a stunning interview from one of the masked educators who uncovered this possible great theft of education.. They said, “grade changing. Giving out diplomas to students that did not earn them.”

Another teacher told Project Baltimore ,“if you are changing grades and you’re allowing people to walk, of course, that is what your numbers are going to look like.”

We found six seniors who failed a required foreign-language class, yet every one graduated. Another student graduated after being absent or late to school more than 100 days during the year, and had a first quarter GPA of 0.000. 

Of course, until our public education system decides to put the needs of students ahead of the needs of teachers’ unions then none of this will change.

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP

America’s Broken Education System: Grade-Rigging Scandal Strikes Baltimore And Spreads…

by

– America’s Broken Education System: Grade-Rigging Scandal Strikes Baltimore And Spreads…:

“…the first versions were printed on November 11… but 19 days later, on the 30th, the report cards were printed again… This time, every single failing grade was changed to 60… comments meant to alert parents of their child’s poor performance were deleted…”…

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP

Maths, reading and science skills of average Australian students are as bad as impoverished teenagers in Singapore, study finds

by

– Maths, reading and science skills of average Australian students are as bad as impoverished teenagers in Singapore, study finds:

The science, reading and mathematics skills of Australian students are on par with the most disadvantaged students in Singapore.

According to Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores, Singapore’s 15-year-old’s are the smartest in the world and are two years and four months ahead of Australian students in maths.

That would mean the average 15-year-old in the Asian city would be as clever as an Aussie school student aged 17 years and four months.

They are also 18 months ahead in science and 12 months more advanced in reading, the study found.

…
H/t reader kevin a.

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP

Australia: ‘It’s a massive assault on free speech’: Christmas cards and the word ‘Jesus’ could be BANNED in schoolyards in a bid to increase religious inclusiveness

by

– ‘It’s a massive assault on free speech’: Christmas cards and the word ‘Jesus’ could be BANNED in schoolyards in a bid to increase religious inclusiveness:

  • Queensland officials move to ban Jesus and Christianity references from schools
  • QLD Department of Education conducted review into public school practices
  • Ministers are concerned non-religious children are being exposed to religion 

The Queensland government are moving to ban Christian references from school events and playgrounds in sweeping changes to education practices.

The Department of Education have conducted a review into the system and educating students about religion.

Officials are concerned non-religious children are being exposed to and forced to immerse themselves in Christianity, with even references to Jesus to be banned from the schoolyard, The Australian reported.

….

H/t reader kevin a.

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP

School who banned Mother’s Day to be ‘more inclusive’ backflips on decision – after Bill Shorten called the principal

by

– School who banned Mother’s Day to be ‘more inclusive’ backflips on decision – after Bill Shorten called the principal:

A primary school who refused to celebrate ‘Mother’s Day’ in an effort to be ‘inclusive’ has backflipped on its decision after a call from opposition leader Bill Shorten.

Moonee Ponds West Primary School, in Melbourne, shocked parents last week when it announced in a school newsletter it would ‘not be holding a Mother’s Day’ in 2017.

Read moreSchool who banned Mother’s Day to be ‘more inclusive’ backflips on decision – after Bill Shorten called the principal

Study: 54% of Dutch inner city school teachers think Muslim integration has failed

by

– Study: 54% of Dutch inner city school teachers think Muslim integration has failed:

While the Muslim school children’s integration into Dutch society is failing, Dutch school children as young as four, are kneeling at a local mosque.

A new study (PDF) by the Dutch DUO Onderwijsonderzoek was conducted among 2200 elementary and high-school teachers. The theme was the extent to which teachers felt the country’s integration problems affected their work and experiences in the classroom.

54% of Amsterdam’s, Rotterdam’s, The Hague’s and Utrecht’s high-school teachers say they observe a:

“failed integration and increasing cultural segregation in society.”

Read moreStudy: 54% of Dutch inner city school teachers think Muslim integration has failed

Student Arrested, Facing Jail for Throwing a Paper Airplane at Teacher

by

– Student Arrested, Facing Jail for Throwing a Paper Airplane at Teacher:

Georgetown, SC — It appears that throwing a paper airplane at your teacher in school is now a police-enforced punishable offense consisting of jail time. An Andrews High School student is now learning the hard way about the repercussions of silly childhood pranks — in a police state.

Earlier this month, Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested 17-year-old David Michael Elliott after his instructor, Edward McIver, told the school resource officer that he wanted to press charges for an assault with a paper airplane.

Elliott was arrested and booked into Georgetown County Detention Center, where he was later released on a $1,087.50 bond. He is now facing charges of third-degree assault and battery — for a paper airplane.

Read moreStudent Arrested, Facing Jail for Throwing a Paper Airplane at Teacher

GERMANY: Parents outraged after German primary school ‘forces’ children to chant “Allahu Akbar” and “there is no God but Allah” in Muslim prayer

by

– GERMANY: Parents outraged after German primary school ‘forces’ children to chant “Allahu Akbar” and “there is no God but Allah” in Muslim prayer:

The father of the pupil at the girl’s primary school in German ski resort Garmisch-Partenkirchen discovered that his daughter had been forced to learn the Islamic prayer when he discovered a handout she had been given. He claimed she had been “forced” by teachers to memorize the Islamic chants and forwarded the handout to Austrian news service unsertirol24.

merkel-koran

UK Express (h/t Terry D)  The handout read: “Oh Allah, how perfect you are and praise be to you. Blessed is your name, and exalted is your majesty. There is no God but you.” It had been given to the girl during a lesson in “ethics” at the Bavarian school.

Read moreGERMANY: Parents outraged after German primary school ‘forces’ children to chant “Allahu Akbar” and “there is no God but Allah” in Muslim prayer

Oklahoma High School Teacher Instructing Students That “To Be White Is To Be Racist, Period”

by

– Oklahoma High School Teacher Instructing Students That “To Be White Is To Be Racist, Period”:

It is no great secret that educators in our country tend to skew toward the left side of the political spectrum.  One can barely pick up a newspaper these days without having to read some outrageous story about University administrators caving to the whims of pampered millennials who suffer panic attacks as a result of exposure to the latest “micro-aggressions” or “trigger words.”  In fact, just a few weeks back, we wrote about how San Francisco State was building separate campus housing for African American students because the Black Student Union thought students of color needed a special place where they could “safely live and talk about issues affecting African-Americans” (see “San Francisco State Builds Segregated Dorms Where African-Americans Can “Safely Live And Talk”“).  Who knew that segregation was making a come back as a “progressive” policy?

But the latest case of liberal educator lunacy, according to EAG News, comes from Norman North High School, in Oklahoma, where a teacher is apparently “teaching” students that “to be white is to be racist, period.”  Since when did pushing extreme progressive rhetoric become part of the high school curriculum?  In the good ole days this kind of insanity was reserved for the liberal elite professors at the university level but we guess those days are over.

Read moreOklahoma High School Teacher Instructing Students That “To Be White Is To Be Racist, Period”