4 ms·

Isn't it the opposite? I don't know if you've seen curriculums recently but they are totally about individualized education. Between IEPs and 504s, accommodati

Isn't it the opposite? I don't know if you've seen curriculums recently but they are totally about individualized education. Between IEPs and 504s, accommodations are made for nearly anything now. Students are put all into one large class, no more AP, Advanced, Standard because this caused hurt feelings for kids that could not make the advanced class. Students are pooled and the rationale is the more advanced students will help the less advanced students (!). What this means in the classroom is teachers can not go as fast, advanced students get bored, every person has their own INDIVIDUALIZED test (3 instead of 4 questions, no write in questions, landscape instead of portrait, etc). This drives teachers absolutely insane and they cannot teach at any efficient level. Grading is so bad, teachers structure their course to have less exams because grading ten different quizzes and exams cannot be optimized. A lot of this is parents disbelief that their little Johnny is not the next einstein so they torment teachers via policy hacks to give their children advantages. Admin doesn't care because they'll just fire "low performers" lol. There is the above problem, and then there are the revisionist math ideas that common core and friends produce better outcomes instead of "rote" math. Well, math has been taught via rote for decades, possibly centuries, and people under that scheme learned math in a way that they became draughtsman and scientists, so maybe there is some proof in the pudding. My friends who did common core are barely math literate, can't calculate a tip even if you give them the hack: move decimal left by one place and times by two. Before you come at me for being ableist, remember that this means even with these accommodations people are doing worse. Also, no phonics?! Wtf? People <25 in normal jobs (retail) cannot do simple fractions of 1/2 and 1/4. Something is wrong. I'm not saying these guys are right but don't blame standardized education which was systematized in the 70s-90s just yet. I would posit that hostile admins/policy, dumb revisionist ideas that have no basis in history, and NO NATIONAL CURRICULUM. Why we do not have a national curriculum seems crazy to me, but there must be some reason. Surely we can agree on that at least. I agree with you that right now is the best time for individual augmentation for education, and we should wield that power for good. But I do think it can be in service of a system. EDIT: just realized this is a blog post length, sorry. It is one of my pet issues, n=3, mom works with people at deli that cannot do fractions (they get fired, up to 20 so far), teacher friend 15y in history has to make custom exams, and publisher friend who sees young writers (<25, n=??) can't sound out words.

OkayPhysicist 8mo ago
A national curriculum is a deeply suspicious idea. The US has an insane range of socioeconomic, and thus educational, environments, ranging from high-performing states like Massachusetts, to deeply alarmingly under-performing states like West Virginia. Any standard that could be established would at best suffer from being either unreachable with the resources available on the low end, or a pointless bureaucratic headache for states that would completely eclipse it. At worst, it would become a cudgel to be used by federal governments sympathetic to the over-represented and under-educated states against the ones that actually provide value to the nation and an education to their residents.
- anarticle 8mo ago
  It is entirely possible that we cannot do it with the current setup. Resourcing of public schools is largely shit across the various states, I went to NJ public schools which are consistently second or third in the nation. I live in Philadelphia whose public schools are notoriously bad. The rise of charters has probably hurt areas with marginal public schooling, but it does give parents an option. I don't think there's anything suspicious or sinister about it, considering how administrations appear to be running absolutely out of control in schools now which seems pretty bad. You are likely right about the federal govt getting this wrong and screwing up the current good thing which is public schools in areas that work :D. I would counter with things like, calculus is not a regional bias. If we expect to compete internationally we have to raise the bar up, not create a generation of people who can't do fractions. I'll def have to think about how the fed would misuse this. Thanks for the insight. My bias: I am a product of DoDDS schools, which is as close to a national curriculum as we've ever had and the numbers seem to be off the charts: https://archive.is/OpZnr https://archive.is/OpZnr For me, my parents are both from poor backgrounds. My dad joined the Marines and apparently got me access to the best academy in the USA, the DoDDS System. I am the only person in my family to ever make more than 100k or have degrees. There's also the little unspoken part of this article that if your kid misbehaves bad enough it becomes your parent's problem via their commanding officer. It is entirely possible I'm some kind of outlier. (I doubt it.)
  - 8mo ago

OkayPhysicist 8mo ago

A national curriculum is a deeply suspicious idea. The US has an insane range of socioeconomic, and thus educational, environments, ranging from high-performing states like Massachusetts, to deeply alarmingly under-performing states like West Virginia. Any standard that could be established would at best suffer from being either unreachable with the resources available on the low end, or a pointless bureaucratic headache for states that would completely eclipse it. At worst, it would become a cudgel to be used by federal governments sympathetic to the over-represented and under-educated states against the ones that actually provide value to the nation and an education to their residents.

anarticle 8mo ago
It is entirely possible that we cannot do it with the current setup. Resourcing of public schools is largely shit across the various states, I went to NJ public schools which are consistently second or third in the nation. I live in Philadelphia whose public schools are notoriously bad. The rise of charters has probably hurt areas with marginal public schooling, but it does give parents an option. I don't think there's anything suspicious or sinister about it, considering how administrations appear to be running absolutely out of control in schools now which seems pretty bad. You are likely right about the federal govt getting this wrong and screwing up the current good thing which is public schools in areas that work :D. I would counter with things like, calculus is not a regional bias. If we expect to compete internationally we have to raise the bar up, not create a generation of people who can't do fractions. I'll def have to think about how the fed would misuse this. Thanks for the insight. My bias: I am a product of DoDDS schools, which is as close to a national curriculum as we've ever had and the numbers seem to be off the charts: https://archive.is/OpZnr https://archive.is/OpZnr For me, my parents are both from poor backgrounds. My dad joined the Marines and apparently got me access to the best academy in the USA, the DoDDS System. I am the only person in my family to ever make more than 100k or have degrees. There's also the little unspoken part of this article that if your kid misbehaves bad enough it becomes your parent's problem via their commanding officer. It is entirely possible I'm some kind of outlier. (I doubt it.)
- 8mo ago