I have been doing a little reading on one of my true loves, brain research, and would like to take a moment to say that rapid growth in the field is producing astounding findings that are important to those of us in the brain business, teaching and learning. I am, of course, dismayed by the current education reform efforts, most of which appear to be diametrically opposed to the new research findings. I wont go into detail here, but even on the macro level the predatory reformers have it wrong. I cannot think of a single reputable neuroscience researcher who wouldnt agree with the statement that every brain is different. Even at birth individual brains have been affected by individual genetic factors as well as environmental conditions in the womb. As children grow, each is uniquely affected by the individual world they inhabit and this affects what and how the brain perceives. With this in mind, how utterly stupid is the idea that suddenly, upon arriving at the schoolhouse door, that each child should be treated as a undistinguishable widget, interchangeable with every other widget, and expected to achieve benchmarks of learning simultaneously as measured by human-constructed standardized tests? Parents and educators need no other information to totally reject the corporate takeover of the public schools. We argue over all the nuances of testing, common core, vouchers, etc. but the fact remains that the entire edifice is constructed on the false premise that children are all the same or at least should all be treated the same. Isnt it time we ended the draining of the public treasury by these charlatans who are either completely evil in ignoring what we know to be true about children or totally stupid regarding the knowledge regarding human growth and development? Tar and feathers comes to mind, but standing up and demanding an end to the stupidity is a must. The time is now.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 20:16:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015