It would be nice if our leaders had this same philosophy.
Queen makes forceful and personal speech after day of emotion and frantic diplomacy at 70th anniversary of D-Day
Noting ‘the joy of becoming a great-grandmother’, the 88-year-old Queen added a telling sentiment that will, no doubt, be much quoted by future historians: ‘Everything we do, we do for the young.’
JOHN GREEN TALKS ABOUT READING
Author and Nerdfighter John Green talks about reading and being read to...
...imagine possibilities...
RETENTION DOESN'T HELP
Holding Kids Back Doesn't Help Them - Deborah Stipek and Michael Lombardo
State after state is now holding back third graders based on the results of one test. There is no research that shows that flunking kids helps them. Indiana, Oklahoma, Florida, Ohio...the process is being repeated in state after state. Iowa, New Mexico, Tennessee, Colorado...
Remember that Glenda Ritz defeated Tony Bennett in part because she was against Indiana's law requiring students who fail IREAD-3 to repeat grade 3? The people agreed...but as Superintendent of Public Instruction she's not able to change the law...she can only speak out against it. It's up to the voters to elect the right legislators.
...retention does not help most children who have fallen behind, primarily because they are exposed to the same material in the same way that didn't work for them the first time around. When a strategy fails to work, the solution is not to do it again; it is to change the strategy.
CAVEAT
“The problem with internet quotes is that you can’t always depend on their accuracy” -Abraham Lincoln, 1864
WORK ETHIC
From former Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Fred Harris
Strange but true, in a country that professes to believe in the value of work, we tax money earned from work a lot harder than we tax money earned from money.
KIDS? WHAT KIDS?
Education Reform: A National Delusion - Steve Nelson
In the cacophony of reform chatter -- online programs, charter schools, vouchers, testing, more testing, accountability, Common Core, value-added assessments, blaming teachers, blaming tenure, blaming unions, blaming parents -- one can barely hear the children crying out: "Pay attention to us!"
A MISSING QUOTE
House Speaker John Boehner is self-aware enough to admit that he's not an expert on climate change...
"I'm not qualified to debate the science over climate change."or an economist...
"‘I'm not an economist, I don't know what impact it's going to have on the economy,’ he said in response to a question from NBC News at his weekly press conference."Former Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont) admitted that he was no expert on China (after he was nominated to be the next ambassador to China).
"I’m no real expert on China."When is Arne Duncan going to admit he knows nothing about education?
EQUITY IS NOT THE SAME AS EQUALITY
What's Good for Rich Kids Is Good for Poor Ones, Too - Deborah Meier
...every child in America should have access to the wealth of talent and experience offered in elite private schools, PLUS ... for after school, weekend, and summer enrichment.
ON KEEPING AN OPEN MIND
Speech of Benjamin Franklin on the Occasion of the Acceptance of the Constitution - Ben Franklin, 1787
For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others. Most men indeed as well as most sects in Religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that wherever others differ from them it is so far error. Steele a Protestant in a Dedication tells the Pope, that the only difference between our Churches in their opinions of the certainty of their doctrines is, the Church of Rome is infallible and the Church of England is never in the wrong.
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All who envision a more just, progressive and fair society cannot ignore the battle for our nation’s educational future. Principals fighting for better schools, teachers fighting for better classrooms, students fighting for greater opportunities, parents fighting for a future worthy of their child’s promise: their fight is our fight. We must all join in.
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Stop the Testing Insanity!
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