Society for Quality Education: Sharing Proven Effective Practices: Blog : DIY

DIY

January 29, 2016 by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) at 08:29 AM

Click here for a resource-rich article on what to do if your child's elementary school has stopped teaching content (you know, mere facts).

As the article says, "For sure, it’s crazy that we public school parents have to supplement our kids’ classrooms when it comes to basic subjects such as history and science. We should all pressure our school boards to bring back a well-rounded curriculum in the early grades, especially since not all kids are lucky enough to get supplemental instruction at home. In the meantime, though, teach them yourself. It’s a whole lot of fun—and you will surely learn a bunch (about the world, yourself, and your kids) along the way."

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Latest OECD rankings show us Canucks rank 17/23 in OECD’s literacy’s latest statistics. Over at @JDougieLittle he would have us believe we are number one in the developed world . (Yup and I’m Peter Pan)

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/01/britain-named-worst-in-developed-world-for-literacy-so-yes-school-reform-is-needed/

Posted by @edubeat on 01/29 at 10:25 PM

Why Should Parents Make Up The Deficits Of Schools?

Poor people simply cannot afford to make up the deficits as some people can. But, undoubtedly poor people could, if they were given the money, form schools that would teach the kids properly. That’s what the pioneers did. They had land provided, but the rest was organized by sweat labor and taxes and parent school boards.

Now the news is that France has just fallen for the “progressive” education, New Age, 21st Century transformative education — French to focus on creativity and group work in response to Pisa rankings — https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/french-focus-creativity-and-group-work-response-pisa-rankings

In contrast, read that story to see how UK approaches their poor ratings.

We had a story in the Globe & Mail today about a Vancouver developer starting private schools in Hong Kong that sounded very “progressive”. I wrote the following in the comments:

Tall Poppy Syndrome In Hong Kong ?

Look at the description of a new school for Hong Kong: “inquiry-based, play-based and student-centred approach that will contrast with the worksheet-oriented and teacher-led traditional local schools.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/fairchild-group-opens-non-profit-private-school-in-hong-kong/article28448021/

Hong Kong has always scored high in international school achievement tests. Why would anyone want to bring in a style of schooling typical to “progressive education”? With an emphasis on group work and making children “happy” these schools pay little attention to basic skills. Many parents are thus forced — if they can afford it — to buy private tutoring for Reading and Math for example.

I feel that this “inquiry-based” approach, if on a large scale, will soon bring down the high achievement Hong Kong is now proud of.

Posted by Tunya Audain on 01/30 at 02:12 AM

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