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SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Everything’s Relative
Further to yesterday's #4 posting about the unfairness of limited private-school lotteries, I guess I should have pointed out that these limited private-school lotteries are not quite as unfair as the status quo - in that 15 kids with a chance is better than 0 kids with a chance.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Blog Choice
Reader tips have been piling up, so here's a bit of this and a bit of that.
The Dubious Future of Bricks-and-Mortar Universities This blog says that universities may be going the same way as newspapers - what with high tuitions and low-cost online courses. H/T JE
The Unrealized Potential of Charter Schools This blog says that when good charter school authorizing policies are correctly implemented, the resulting charter schools get fabulous results. H/T TB
The Toxic Effects of High School This long-but-worth-reading article says that when teenagers are thrown together they generate their own culture, which is status-riddled and very corrosive. H/T Chas
The Unfairness of Limited Private-School Lotteries This editorial deplores the unfairness of a lottery system that gives 15 children a chance, while dashing the hopes of hundreds of others. H/T Chas
The Preposterousness of Camping Out Overnight for a School Place This article gives an example of the anomalies that occur in centrally-planned school systems. H/T TA
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Sweden is not in Kansas anymore!
Click here for a thought-provoking Economist article about the success of the Nordic countries - Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway. These countries "cluster at the top of league tables of everything from economic competitiveness to social health to happiness".
The reasons behind their success, according to the Economist, is their successful reform of their public sectors.
"On public services the Nordics have been similarly pragmatic. So long as public services work, they do not mind who provides them. Denmark and Norway allow private firms to run public hospitals. Sweden has a universal system of school vouchers, with private for-profit schools competing with public schools. Denmark also has vouchers—but ones that you can top up. When it comes to choice, Milton Friedman would be more at home in Stockholm than in Washington, DC."
"The main lesson to learn from the Nordics is not ideological but practical. The state is popular not because it is big but because it works. A Swede pays tax more willingly than a Californian because he gets decent schools and free health care. The Nordics have pushed far-reaching reforms past unions and business lobbies. The proof is there. You can inject market mechanisms into the welfare state to sharpen its performance. You can put entitlement programmes on sound foundations to avoid beggaring future generations. But you need to be willing to root out corruption and vested interests. And you must be ready to abandon tired orthodoxies of the left and right and forage for good ideas across the political spectrum. The world will be studying the Nordic model for years to come." H/T FG
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Why competition works
Two newspaper stories show in different ways why competition and choice are necessary. The Toronto Star's Louise Brown has this article on how parents, particularly those of less affluent means, 'cheat' to get their kids into percieved better public schools outside of the district they live in. The rationale is summarized by one TDSB trustee:
“';They’re blessed by geography,' said Laskin, 'and sometimes parents who can’t afford houses in certain neighbourhoods have the idea of their kids going to school there and meeting different kinds of kids.
'But there are also schools in other neighbourhoods that are fabulous but they’re not seen that way. Is it fair? No,' said Laskin, who dreams of a system where students moved from school to school over their high school years, 'to switch it up so socioeconomics don’t determine a student’s future.'”
This Globe & Mail article reports the growing fierce competition between co-terminus boards to attract students particularly as extra-curriculars have become an issue during the current teacher union shenanigans. (I say take off the gloves and go for it!)
"Schools have been competing for students for years as birth rates decline. The ongoing dispute between teachers and the Ontario government, over a controversial piece of legislation that dictated the terms of education-sector contracts, has heightened recruitment efforts by creating a new distinction between Ontario’s four types of school boards – those that have extracurriculars and those that don’t."
Earth to school boards and education ministries! You still don't get it do you? Parents want choices and freedom. Give them a way to get more choices instead of trying to restrict them.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Two sizes don’t fit all
In Canada, enrollment in French immersion is soaring, and not for the reason you think. Margaret Wente takes on this phenomenon in her usual take-no-prisoners style in today's Globe and Mail.
Margaret makes the point that most parents aren't rushing to enrol their kids in French immersion because they want them to learn to speak French - and this is a lucky thing, as most kids drop out of the program sooner or later and their French, to the extent they can speak it, tends to be a heavily-accented kind of Frenglish. That's because the instructional methods and materials are lousy and there aren't nearly enough good French-speaking teachers.
No, the reason parents want their kids in French immersion is because it's like a free private school - desirable classmates and schools in high-end neighbourhoods.
The result is that a great many kids are being enrolled in programs that are a poor fit. If there were more free public school choices available, it would take the pressure off French immersion and increase the probability that students could find programs that suit their needs better.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
What to do about December babies
Chas has drawn my attention to this report from across the pond about a recommended way to be fair to children who start school at a younger age than their peers (December babies, in our parlance). Britain's Institute for Fiscal Studies, recognizing that these students disproportionately struggle in school and in later life, suggests that their test scores should be age-adjusted.
Like this would fool the kids!
Click here for an excellent article from our archives that outlines what is done about the problem in Zurich - a much better approach that works for all students.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Sunday at the Movies (Michael Coren)
Click here for Michael Coren's thoughts about school choice in Canada - as well as a round-up of the amazing progress of school choice in the US.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Dressing for Success
Click here for a CTV newsclip about a Winnipeg school that banned tight leggings and yoga pants. The comments to this story run the gamut - from people who think it's ridiculous to people who totally approve.
Personally, I have no strong feelings about tight leggings one way or the other, but I fully approve of the school's attempt to enforce a specific culture. Schools should be able to take all reasonable steps to enhance their ability to work as a team to achieve shared goals. That includes being able to recruit teachers, enforce dress codes, choose teaching methods and materials, and determine areas of speciality.
SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT
Don’t be too sure
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman is a very thought-provoking book. Given that. Dr. Kahneman is a winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, this is not an easy read. The book describes the two ways our minds work.
You probably think that you consider everything you do with your logical, analytical mind and make measured, reasoned choices, but this is not at all true. Most of the things you do are governed by an automatic intuitive thinking system, one that you are not even aware of. Dr. Kahneman calls this System 1. The other way of thinking, System 2, is mobilized when we decide to focus on a task, for example divide 458 by 23. In Dr. Kahneman's words (p. 415):
"The attentive System 2 is who we think we are. System 2 articulates judgments and makes choices, but it often endorses or rationalizes ideas and feelings that were generated by System 1. You may not know that you are optimistic about a project because something about its leader reminds you of your beloved sister, or that you dislike a person who looks vaguely like your dentist. If asked for an explanation, however, you will search your memory for presentable reasons and will certainly find some. Moreover, you will believe the story you made up."
But even the logical and analytical System 2 is sadly vulnerable to many glitches and biases, and Dr. Kahneman lists and explains the many ways we can be led down the garden path by System 2 as well. If you think everything you do is logical and based on rational thinking, you ought to read this book. You are in for a surprise. Here's an excerpt from page 417:
"What can be done about biases? How can we improve judgments and decisions, both our own and those of the institutions that we serve and that serve us? The short answer is that little can be achieved without a considerable investment of effort. As I know from experience, System 1 is not readily educable. Except for some effects that I attribute mostly to age, my intuitive thinking is just as prone to overconfidence, extreme predictions, and the planning fallacy as it was before I made a study of these issues. I have improved only in my ability to recognize situations in which errors are likely....and I have made much more progress in recognizing the errors of others than my own.
"The way to block errors that originate in System 1 is simple in principle: recognize the signs that you are in a cognitive minefield, slow down, and ask for reinforcement from System 2.....Unfortunately, this sensible procedure is least likely to be applied when it is needed most. We would all like to have a warning bell that rings loudly whenever we are about to make a serious error, but no such bell is available, and cognitive illusions are generally more difficult to recognize than perceptual illusions. The voice of reason may be much fainter than the loud and clear voice of an erroneous intuition, and questioning your intuitions is unpleasant when you face the stress of a big decision. More doubt is the last thing you want when you are in trouble. The upshot is that it is much easier to identify a minefield when you observe others wandering into it than when you are about to do so. Observers are less cognitively busy and more open to information than actors."
The bottom line is, I think: if you're disagreeing with someone or if someone says you're wrong, you ought to seriously consider the possibility that the other guy is right.