I posted an article from the Daily Report Card, which I quote in part
below:
-> ->    A bill in Congress, the Parental Rights and Responsibilities
-> Act, is known to some as the "Parents Know Best" bill, according to
-> -> the paper.  The legislation states that "governments should  not
-> interfere in the decisions and actions of parents without
-> compelling justification."  Supporters of the bill say it would
-> bolster the arguments of parents who "object to government
-> regulations in schools and social services," writes the paper. But
-> detractors charge that the bill would force educators to attempt
-> to please every parent all the time.
->    Michael Simpson, legal counsel for the National Education
-> Association, said the bill would cause schools to provide a
-> "designer curriculum" for each child.
You responded (in part):
-> As it should be.  "Cookie cutter" education practices serve everyone
-> but the student.
It is unreasonable to expect a teacher of 20 or more students in the
classroom to implement a custom designed curriculum for each student. In
our society, there are certain basic things that we exepect all educated
persons to be familiar with, and so much of the material for the several
children in the classroom would be the same. Teachers should
individualize where necessary, due to learning disabilities, etc.., but
this is already supposed to be in practice through the use of IEPs
(Individual E???? Plan, basically the instructional plan for the
student).
If you want truly, 100% individualize instruction for the student then
you have two choices: (1) higher a tutor, or (2) homeschool. I can't see
anything else as practical.
-> When "experts" like Epstein seek disenfranchise parents, viewing them
-> as a "burden", what does that tell you about her agenda?  What kind
-> of advocate is she for families, communities, schools and children's
-> learning?
It does, and I don't like to see the "Us vs. Them" mentality applied to
teacher/parent relations. Unfortunately, this is all too often the way
it is characterized. The parents who are backing this bill are guilty of
the same thing. One can only speculate as to what experiences they have
had with the school that have caused them to support such a bill, what
unreasonable expectations they may hold about the tasks schools are able
to perform, and what misconceptions they have about teacher's workloads
and daily schedules that they would even think about heaping more
requirements on top of them. FWIW, if they are successful in having
this Bill passed, I can't see that it would be an improvement in
education for anyone. More likely, due to the extra work now heaped upon
teachers, it would cause a decline in classroom instruction for
everyone, because if the teacher is going to devote more time and
attention to some students in preparing individualized curriculum,
something has to give and some kids will lose out on the teacher's time
and attention.
I also question whether the average parent has the background necessary
to really see clearly whether certain material is necessary or not in
the big curriculum picture. There was a teacher who recently posted in
k12.teacher.chat that she teaches 5th grade and she hates teaching
grammar. She doesn't see why words have to have labels like "noun" and
"verb" etc.. She received several replies (one from moi) indicating how
useful grammar skills could be later in the child's studies. If even a
teacher doesn't see how necessary something like that is, certainly a
parent might also object to having their child learn certain topics, and
end up unitentionally crippling their own child academically.
Besides, I thought that it was reasonable for a certain defined
curriculum to be required to graduate from high school. What happens if
designer curriculums run rampant?
I simply see this Bill as creating a much larger problem than anything
it would solve.
Sheila
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