On Education
Vivien Barto
Saturday, December 1, 2007
SOME TIME A GO, The Gazette reported that parents think the gifted are being short-changed, referring to the intellectually gifted. More recently, the paper reported some views expressed by Sen. Barnett regarding the No Child Left Behind Act.
These items were brought to mind when I received from a teacher, in a state other than Kansas, a copy of their ‘unofficial motto’: “Students are fragile, unique snowflakes that we shovel into the gutter where they become gray sludge under the tires of academia.”
I submit there may be some truth in this. It is a matter of how it is interpreted.
One size does not fit all?
Vivien Barto
Emporia
slipandslide (anonymous) says...
that saying is a good way to describe our education system.its as if all kids learn and can anchieve everything at the same time
December 1, 2007 at 10:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
“Students are fragile, unique snowflakes that we shovel into the gutter where they become gray sludge under the tires of academia.” --
How awful it must be to attend school in such a terrible place where people would think to harbor such a motto, unofficial or not. I have just spent 20 years teaching in a public school where not one of my students ever became gray sludge. In fact, there is a picture of my final college prep class on the wall of my home office, signed by each of them. As juniors, they promised to work hard enough to all pass the state reading assessment with high scores in order to give me a plaque from the State Board of Education for my retirement. And pass they did with very high scores. I am no longer in that classroom, but their plaque will always hang there to challenge others to meet or beat their scores.
Come to think of it, almost every one of my students over the years passed those tests. This is a credit to all their teachers throughout their years, not just me.
A kid will rise to his or her teacher's expectations. When a teacher can work hard enough to combine the academic expectations of the No Child Left Behind Act, with his or her own methods of expecting kids to become critical thinkers, how can that possibly create gray sludge?
December 1, 2007 at 5:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )