Wednesday, June 29, 2005

    The 10 Commandments of Public Schools


    You can check out the NEA's 10 Commandments for public schools for yourself. This union (socialist) organization, like all union (socialist) organizations, have as their priority sucking as much money from the public as possible. With the NEA they use children to accomplish this. At times if they don't get what they want they will use extortion - with the children as their pawns - to get what they demand. Read their commandments for yourself and count how many are money-oriented - even some practically justifying why the public school system shouldn't try harder (like #2). Their objective, as with all public school unions, is to make the public feel guilty that their children aren't getting as good an education as those in private school because they don't have the money they "need".
    Reality check here! "Before the advent of psychology into the schools, education involved learning to read, acquiring mental skills, and developing the ability to think conceptually. The idea behind traditional education was to prepare the student with as wide and strong a base as possible for future success and contribution in the world. The modern psychologists have a different idea, and this involves ensuring the students possess the correct beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. The attention in education has gone from cognitive skills and effective thinking ability, to affective things, such as how the student feels, what he believes and what attitudes he has. This is why students perform worse on standardized tests today that gauge thinking ability and cognitive skills compared to 25 or 50 years ago."
    This touchie-feelie system is now the dominate core of public education. Not only has the achievement abilities on standardized tests gone down (something that NEA President Reg Weaver doesn't believe in) but American students are not competitive with other industrialized countries. Any wonder technology companies have to outsource (not always about lower costs)? The dummying down of American children keeps on going, and going, and going.

    10 comments:

    The Rambling Taoist said...

    Read their commandments for yourself and count how many are money-oriented - even some practically justifying why the public school system shouldn't try harder (like #2).

    OK, I bit. I read it. I don't see your point at all.

    Anonymous said...

    I never got an answer to my last question, dog, just a bunch of corporation-loving rhetoric.

    So, is it because you feel like your public school education let you down, or you miss out on the opportunity to force everyone to pledge allegiance to your god? Why the hatred of schools and teachers? Obviously a job you've never done.

    JustaDog said...

    The public system I went to was good - but the system now is not the same as it was back then.

    "My God"? What makes you think I have one? I never said I did or did not. You sound allot like trey - maybe you are?

    I don't hate schools and teachers - just the socialist that have gained control of the system. It needs to be totally privatized so the good teachers can get paid more, the bad teachers can go take a hike, and the American children can retake the lead that they have lost years ago.

    My daughter and son went to both private schools as well as home schooled. She had a consistent SAT score in the top 5% of the nation, he maintained the top 15%. Had they gone to public school were we lived at the time it would be a surprise if they didn't get shot or turned to drugs.

    Doesn't matter to me what you post - the facts remain the same and the statistics on this are what they are. I know this, all those in private school and doing home schooling know this. So please don't be demanding my links for proof - it is easiy available if you're not so lazy.

    JustaDog said...

    Trey - of course you can't see the point - you've admitted you're a socialist. Sort of like a smoker doesn't see anything wrong with smoking, Michel Jackson can see anything wrong with sleeping with little boys, and Ted Kennedy can't see anything wrong with leaving a young girl to drown.

    The Rambling Taoist said...

    The attention in education has gone from cognitive skills and effective thinking ability, to affective things, such as how the student feels, what he believes and what attitudes he has.

    Let's see. Japanese students generally score higher than US students. Consequently, one would think that schools in Japan aren't into "touchie-feelie" things. Yet, according to MEXT,

    Elementary schools and lower secondary schools since April 2002 and upper secondary schools since April 2003 - the introduction was staggered to allow for progress from one academic year to the next - have been nationally using the Courses of Study, which, in addition to knowledge and skills, aim to cultivate "the zest for living," namely the "academic ability" and "rich humanity" meaning the ability to learn and think independently by and for oneself. Specifically, the following improvements are intended by the new Courses of Study: i) root the rudiments and basics surely by enriched and elaborate guidance tailored to the needs of individuals as well as the careful and strict selection of educational content; ii) enrich education to develop personalities by widening the scope of selective courses; iii) enrich the experiential and problem-solving learning of each course subject to cultivate the ability to learn and think voluntarily; iv) create a "Period of Integrated Study" to cultivate ways of learning and thinking and an attitude of trying to solve or pursue problems independently and creatively; and v) upgrade moral education to strongly equip children with the judgment of good and evil and norm consciousness. [emphasis added]

    Explain to me how this differs from US public education. For once, try to be specific as opposed to your usual style of making broad and nebulous statements.

    P.S. I SIGN my posts. You'll always know when it's me. I won't use other names and I certainly won't hide behind "anonymous".

    JustaDog said...

    Glad you picked the Japan system - I've gone to Japan off and on for over 12 years, staying sometimes many months at a time there. I have many friends with families there.

    Japan has national education standards - the USA public school system does not, it is up to each state.

    They teach English at a young age in Japan - a requirement since it is a language that they know their children will need if they plan to make anything of themselves in our world. The USA public school system does not.

    I would enjoy seeing the school children in Japan traveling to and from their schools all dressed in their simple uniforms. Unlike the public schools in the USA they focus on academics and don't want distractions from that focus. In the USA public schools actually fight for childrens rights to be different, to stand out, to be distractions to other students.

    With such a focus on actual learning they can afford to cover the concepts that you mention. I have no problem with those topics at all - just a problem when they become the focus of "teaching" as they are in the USA.

    If my statements are nebulous to you then that is probably an indication of your ability to comprehend, as you stated in your first comment: OK, I bit. I read it. I don't see your point at all.

    The Rambling Taoist said...

    My daughter and son went to both private schools as well as home schooled. She had a consistent SAT score in the top 5% of the nation, he maintained the top 15%. Had they gone to public school were we lived at the time it would be a surprise if they didn't get shot or turned to drugs.

    This I don't get. Both of your children never attended public school, yet you berate public schools based on what? It's not based on cuurent experience. So what's it based on?

    JustaDog said...

    So what's it based on? - If you were ever a parent perhaps you would know, but you said you were not - explains much.

    Knowledge, experience of other family members, facts, etc. - it obviously why they didn't attend public schools - and I was not wealthy at all - just didn't buy all those things people pay for instead of their children. Was in debt actually.

    Now my daughter, in her 20's, is a new teacher in the Los Angeles public school system - my own little spy. She could have had her choice of so many other options but this is what she wants to do right now and, just starting out, it's ok. The best way for her to find out first hand, and I do love the propaganda she shows me from "the system".

    Are you able to get it now?

    Anonymous said...

    Interesting how the comments have included the Japanese. Most Oriental cultures, including the Japanese, are based on collective thinking. In which individual honor and values are predicated on the enhancement of the larger society.I think that this is an unknown ideology to us. It is not socialism, which favors the triumph of the lowest common denominator, but something quite different. Eastern culture seems to be based on a will of the collective, whether it be nation or family, that demands the very best from the individual. Not the very least, with a plenitude of excuses, as socialism expects.

    Small wonder that the East is in the process of beating the pants off us...

    Cat

    JustaDog said...

    You are absolutely right simoncat. I've practically lived with Japanese engineers at a global Japan company.

    Their people have no cubicles with those in higher supervisory and management positions being positioned usually closer to a window. When a worker has performed some accomplishment he/she is honored before the entire group. Workers get paid for performance not time on the job. I knew people that were in the same position after over 10 years while others had advanced – some to the Tokyo HQ.

    Their workgroups are their family away from their blood family. I did find this to be a weak spot when it came to trying to resolve problems because one workgroup didn’t know what the other was working on, so if the group next to them had solved some technical problem it wasn’t shared with other groups.

    But in no way are they socialists. They are extreme workers and feel that if a person didn’t apply himself they deserve to just sell shoes or something.

    Thanks for your comment!