Edumacation
Education is the foundation of democracy, for a people that is well educated is also well equipped to face the realities and reveal the truths of life. It may be in the political realm, where the better educated can withstand the subterfuge offered by politicians and spin generated in the media. It may be in the science realm, where those with roots in a strong education system can discover the technologies of tomorrow, the medicines to combat the scourges of today and reveal the histories of yesterday. Even in every day life, education produces brighter minds that are able to problem solve, resolve conflicts and produce more responsible individuals because it is sometimes more important how the education shapes minds than what is learned.
In a world moving toward greater scientific knowledge, more complex social and technological systems and solutions to global woes requiring more technical expertise, the rock bed of modern well-performing societies will be the education system. In fact, it has always been the case where better educations systems yielded better societies. With the recent American election of President Obama, this thought has entered into the American administration. It is encouraging to see that the reign of terror of Bush, in his war on science, that anti-intellectualism and the blind refutation of science is beginning to come to an end. Obama offered a general philosophy toward improving the American education system. Here offered is a general philosophy toward improving the Ontario education.
The Gifted and the Struggling
One of the greater issues since the introduction of things such as gifted class and remediation has been the stigma attached to each. Attempts at discovering these individuals through not-very-private standardized testing and humiliating remedial classes have generally resulted in worsening and not improving conditions for students who perform out of the norm.
One of the key components missing from this system, by the opinion of the present philosophy, is a general lack of privacy. Standardized testing to check the performance of students is useful but tests are generally built one-size fits all and cannot be used to accurately judge an individual. Instead, standardized tests with secret results, shared only with the student in question, would be more useful for a teacher-student relationship.
The system would work as such; all schools offer an open to all extra-assistance time after normal classes have ended. This is meant for both gifted and poor-performing students to either receive more education or remedial assistance. Attendance is not required or recorded, the work done by students is private information. Standardized tests are used as a benchmark for students, whether they should consider, for themselves, whether to attend such classes. The results of standardized tests are shared only with the student. As this is all private information, no one may ask for it and should be protected by law.
Allocation of Resources
In Ontario, there is a fairly loose guideline on what subjects a teacher may be allowed to teach. Under the presented philosophy, a teacher may only teach subjects which matches their university education. For instance, individuals with a bachelor's of math (or bachelor's of arts/science in math depending on the university) may only teach math subjects. It would be a misallocation of resources to have biology degree-holders teaching English or Physiology majors teaching math. This assumes that anybody who can outperform in teaching a subject outside of their expertise is an exception and not the statistical norm.
Oversight
As part of the allocation of resources, the Ontario Teacher's Union should agree to subject itself to some type of oversight, however it may be handled, such as a neutral third party that evaluates teachers, in order to give the power to school boards to terminate the contracts of poor performing teachers. In the past, these oversight policies typically were in the form of political scapegoating of teachers and wild witch hunts, which has in turn led the Teacher's Union to simply back any and all teachers from losing their jobs. It reflects poorly on all teachers if the union mistakenly protects a poorly performing teacher.
Some type of agreed upon method of evaluating teachers, whether standardized or made to be more individualistic between schools, is necessary to improve the quality of education offered by the government. If job security is one hundred percent, there is no method of riding the system of bad apples. A fair process is necessary to vet through teachers. It cannot be expected that teachers to evaluate each other, if such evaluation determines contracts, as it would not be fair between teachers for reasons of loyalty and trust.
As part of such a process, there would also be a component where teachers work together to develop better teaching strategies. This might be in the form of random schools being selected for "experimental" education strategies developed by well respected teachers. It could also involve a teacher-internet or teacher-wiki, to gather information from all Ontario teachers. Sharing information would inherently lead to better education. Technology allows us to reach greater heights if we make use of it.
Respect
Lastly, respect for teachers is something which cannot be legislated. The teaching profession is the primary one in shaping our children's minds and building our social building blocks. They give us our future engineers, doctors, electricians, bricklayers and factory workers. It's a position that should be respected and only respected individuals may enter. This is a social value and one in which this philosophy holds dearly.
-Ultrapunk
In a world moving toward greater scientific knowledge, more complex social and technological systems and solutions to global woes requiring more technical expertise, the rock bed of modern well-performing societies will be the education system. In fact, it has always been the case where better educations systems yielded better societies. With the recent American election of President Obama, this thought has entered into the American administration. It is encouraging to see that the reign of terror of Bush, in his war on science, that anti-intellectualism and the blind refutation of science is beginning to come to an end. Obama offered a general philosophy toward improving the American education system. Here offered is a general philosophy toward improving the Ontario education.
The Gifted and the Struggling
One of the greater issues since the introduction of things such as gifted class and remediation has been the stigma attached to each. Attempts at discovering these individuals through not-very-private standardized testing and humiliating remedial classes have generally resulted in worsening and not improving conditions for students who perform out of the norm.
One of the key components missing from this system, by the opinion of the present philosophy, is a general lack of privacy. Standardized testing to check the performance of students is useful but tests are generally built one-size fits all and cannot be used to accurately judge an individual. Instead, standardized tests with secret results, shared only with the student in question, would be more useful for a teacher-student relationship.
The system would work as such; all schools offer an open to all extra-assistance time after normal classes have ended. This is meant for both gifted and poor-performing students to either receive more education or remedial assistance. Attendance is not required or recorded, the work done by students is private information. Standardized tests are used as a benchmark for students, whether they should consider, for themselves, whether to attend such classes. The results of standardized tests are shared only with the student. As this is all private information, no one may ask for it and should be protected by law.
Allocation of Resources
In Ontario, there is a fairly loose guideline on what subjects a teacher may be allowed to teach. Under the presented philosophy, a teacher may only teach subjects which matches their university education. For instance, individuals with a bachelor's of math (or bachelor's of arts/science in math depending on the university) may only teach math subjects. It would be a misallocation of resources to have biology degree-holders teaching English or Physiology majors teaching math. This assumes that anybody who can outperform in teaching a subject outside of their expertise is an exception and not the statistical norm.
Oversight
As part of the allocation of resources, the Ontario Teacher's Union should agree to subject itself to some type of oversight, however it may be handled, such as a neutral third party that evaluates teachers, in order to give the power to school boards to terminate the contracts of poor performing teachers. In the past, these oversight policies typically were in the form of political scapegoating of teachers and wild witch hunts, which has in turn led the Teacher's Union to simply back any and all teachers from losing their jobs. It reflects poorly on all teachers if the union mistakenly protects a poorly performing teacher.
Some type of agreed upon method of evaluating teachers, whether standardized or made to be more individualistic between schools, is necessary to improve the quality of education offered by the government. If job security is one hundred percent, there is no method of riding the system of bad apples. A fair process is necessary to vet through teachers. It cannot be expected that teachers to evaluate each other, if such evaluation determines contracts, as it would not be fair between teachers for reasons of loyalty and trust.
As part of such a process, there would also be a component where teachers work together to develop better teaching strategies. This might be in the form of random schools being selected for "experimental" education strategies developed by well respected teachers. It could also involve a teacher-internet or teacher-wiki, to gather information from all Ontario teachers. Sharing information would inherently lead to better education. Technology allows us to reach greater heights if we make use of it.
Respect
Lastly, respect for teachers is something which cannot be legislated. The teaching profession is the primary one in shaping our children's minds and building our social building blocks. They give us our future engineers, doctors, electricians, bricklayers and factory workers. It's a position that should be respected and only respected individuals may enter. This is a social value and one in which this philosophy holds dearly.
-Ultrapunk
posted by Ultrapunk at
11:30 PM
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