It is painfully obvious to anyone doing the research that the goal of the
reform movement is the privatization of as much of the education system as they can.

It is equally obvious that the agenda of the teachers unions is to fight tooth and nail against any initiative that has not been generated within the union hive while vilifying it with whatever ideological means are available…and never the twain will meet.

It shall always be fire and ice. I strongly prescribe a good long look at Jonathan Haigt “Astroids Club”
http://asteroidsclub.org/  . Ted Talk on the front page.  There are very serious issues looming and 4 legs good and 2 legs bad is not going to cut it.

When The State Becomes A Parasite, Its Agenda Changes

When the state, in its earliest shape, was benevolent — a protector and organizer of things communally — people generally agreed that taxes were the price to pay for the common good.  Even in the worst depression years of the 30s, safety nets — relief payments and grants for school start-ups were granted from meager state funds.

School grants had always been intended as seed money to enable local communities to educate their young.  It’s only when schools became nationalized and became centrally controlled that the system of schooling became greedy and self-interested.  The client/provider relationship reversed.  The client base (those served — parents, students, society) became the providers of the raw material (children) and tax dollars to fund the state workers in the education system — now seen as the real beneficiaries of this nationalized (monopoly) compulsory system. 

Thus a self-perpetuating system grew and became entrenched as a public utility, regardless of outcomes to students. A recent US study (Coulson) shows that even with three times increase (3X) in funds and twice as many staff (2X), student achievement remains stale over the years.

This is flat-out gouging — rent-seeking at its worst.  Only within the safety (a perverse twist on safety net?) of a government entitled program can this happen.  If the same money was spent on “public education” relying on independent arrangements by parents the results would undoubtedly be very different. Unthreatened and uncorrected this system will continue to scale up shamelessly minus improved results..

Without real competition, wretchedly, this system also lends itself to ideological manipulation.  Left leaning teacher unions, left academics, and school boards captured by the left control most of the public education systems in the Western democratic world.  Due diligence by press and senior governments is lacking.  Accountability is foreign to the enterprise.

The agenda is abundantly clear — the government system primarily feeds its own needs — physical, psychic, and political.  And, it’s no secret.  Parents and society pays dearly for this babysitting.

If philanthropists start subsidizing the education of those most neglected by such a system you can count on the whole weight of the vested interests to come forth to oppose — with outrage and sabotage. We know what happened to Alberta when choice and competition, albeit with public funds, resulted in high international achievement scores — that tall poppy has now been cut down.

Only in Australia might we expect some applied enlightenment.  Here is an education system tied hand and foot into knots by teacher unions, academics, and international gurus — deeper and longer than any other Western democratic nation (from my information).  The last election campaign, which ended a long-standing Labor regime (Sept ’13), was underscored with complaints about “slanted” curriculum and Marxist professors.

The new Coalition government has assembled two Reviews — one into the National Curriculum and one into Teacher Training — with reports due this summer.  Devolution is certainly to come up with considerable pressure to de-federalize education to the states.  What would be world shattering is to see the common sense devolution of education responsibility back to parents and communities where it belongs.  To retain the status quo and tinkering with head office adjustments is to continue the exploitation of a service which does not respond to client needs but to the voracious and predatory demands of a system so easily abused.

Part 1 of 2

Malkin, you are not alone in your feelings about parents and others with deep pocketbooks wanting to make the education of their children, other children and whole school systems to delivered a quality education.

Today I spent most of day on social media tying the governments, public sector having political hidden agendas of keeping at least one half of the populace with lower literacy/numeracy skills and large knowledge gaps, so the government won’t have to deal with literate and numerate people with solid foundation knowledge banks who are not easily deceived by the one-liners of politicians, propaganda and what passes off as quality education in the public K to 12. So much easier to managed a populace where over half have low literacy and numeracy skills. A pattern that is seen across the globe in education of the masses through the public education model rooted in the 19th century. 

Not one teacher disagreed with me. Not one person demonized me for connecting the public K to 12 education establishment to the global, national and local political and economic powers. And the public K to 12 education establishment are so quick to demonized others when they are actually shoving students down the cracks of the K to 12 education system and in the end the students who are shoved into the cracks,  are sentenced to a lifetime of low literacy and numeracy skills. As adults they become the victims of paying out of their pockets to reclaimed what should have been taught and mastered in the first 12 years of public schooling.

So what do the educators do, demonized the ‘Walmarts’  in their papers and academic scholarly work. If not doing that, they are going to war with the outside researchers in the fields of learning, cognitive and other 21st century fields connected to children’s learning, mocking the 21st century reading science as ‘pie-in-the-sky’, and state it is impossible to have all children to be at average to above reading levels. Lastly, the parents are mocked, insulted, accused of being liars to poor parenting skills or dismissed as kooks in all sorts of demeaning ways. All done according to social-economic status of parents. The parents in the professional classes are rarely demeaned, mocked and insulted by the education establishment. However with a nod or a wink or a quiet word the parents are informed to sent their children to private tutors and other private services, and if not be prepared to wait at least three years. This set of parents don’t wait and their kids are usually rescued long before their children are falling through the cracks. Note also, the children of high income, and usually the professional class are not being shoved into the cracks of the education system to rot as bottom achievers, never mastering any of the basic 3 Rs that would allow them to academically achieved as the high-income students.

Otherwise, education decisions are made on the basis of, according to the social-income status of parents. Unlike Malkin, being dismissed as having a secret agenda, to which it did not happened to me, until my kid was in grade 10. I burst out laughing, and should have said, “Oh yeah the secret agenda of ensuring my kid was entitled to her rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by ensuring the school was following the Charter as prescribed under the law.” What was my request?  The third psycho-educational assessment, so my child would have the documentation to access special services at the post-secondary level. After all, the federal government don’t hand out grants to anyone claiming LD without proper documentation. My first venture ran the course like Malkin’s except I was demeaned for having questionable intelligence and having poor parenting skills. Anybody with a working pair of ears and eyes, would state without a doubt my kid in grade 1 has serious reading and writing difficulties. So what was the problem with supposedly intelligent educators with degrees who could not see what I had seen?  Years later, I had an education official from the education ministry contact me after one of my massive e-mail letter campaigns targeting key education employees, with actual scanned copies of my child’s work in the primary grades. The education official said to me, your child should have gotten the help in the primary grades, but she didn’t. My response as in the letter, she did not get the help because she was passing unlike her counterparts who also had reading difficulties. So she like her counterparts learned how to read by memorizing the words. But don’t asked any of them to decode unknown words…

Part 2 of 2

However, as bad as it was for me, it is the set of parents with lower education and income that receives the worst treatment from the K to 12 education establishment. Even though every cell in their bodies is screaming their kid is not slow, they are more fearful to speak out because the repercussions of speaking out will fall upon their kids in negative consequences. I have seen that with my own eyes, and it is a very disturbing event to see, to see a parent being force to accept the version of the educators, that their child is slow. Nothing wrong with the children except that they have never been taught.

I ended the night with another parent in the Hamilton Spectator. It speaks to the same things as Malkin has outlined.  How should we help the most vulnerable children?
By Teresa Murray - Another reformer determined to change the horrible math curriculum and pedagogy in Ontario.
http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/4522670-how-should-we-help-the-most-vulnerable-children-/

In part - “The workplace skills and discovery math deemed necessary in the early grades deprive the most vulnerable of basic academic skills, needed for life, high school and college. But the onus lies on the individual now. Discovery math proponents and EQAO bureaucrats will bear no responsibility and show no interest in the damage created to so many lives.

In 2014, elementary education should lead to more education. A good education is built incrementally and carefully, not usurped by ideology. It is math which provides life opportunities, not the discovery math taught in early grades. Middle class families ensure critical-thinking and problem-solving skills for their children when they pay for the basics of math and thus provide for further education.

Achievement gaps are not closed by raising the EQAO scores of deprived children, but by eliminating discovery math. Not a single empirical, large-scale or even small-scale study can be found to prove that it works. It is ideological, obsessed with the future and unproven. It is the right of every single child in Ontario to have a basic math education within their respective elementary school. It is the responsibility of adults to provide this for all, especially the most vulnerable.”

By the way Doug, the time is coming near when the K to 12 education model of the 21st century will be exposed for what the education establishment has become, a fraud. by serving the best interests of the employees of the education system, without regard to the academic education of children and also serving the political elite and by extension the economic elite to advanced their hidden agendas of
the globalists to have compliant global citizens willing to buy into any of the reasons for poor quality services while asking the individual to pay out of their pocket if they desire better quality services.

Even the Waltons of Walmart fame, know the public education system is unsustainable if it does not correct its course to where all children received a quality education that reaches each every student’s full academic potential. The educating of children should never be political, should never be a political right or left way of educating children, and nor should education services be delivered to children to served the best interests of the education employees and teachers’ unions.

To end, there is a very good letter to editor being brandied about on social media. It is all about the education establishment from K all the way through to post-secondary that think they can act like the CEOs and corporate boards, issuing directives from the top down without the consultation of the people they serve. The people are expected to obey and become compliant, and if not the pubic/parents are demeaned and dismissed as trouble makers. Corporate boards can always fire their people who do not obey their directives, but education systems do not have the luxury of firing their students or the parents. The time is nearing when the parents of all social-income backgrounds will unite, and commence the takeover of the public K to 12 education system, just like the shareholders who have in the past took over a corporate board in order to saved their investments and prevent a meltdown of the shareholder stock price.

Canada has a model education system much of the world is trying to emulate.

It is getting close to perfect. 60% below 44 years old have post secondary. This is close to optimum.

All remaining problems have poverty at their core.

Why do rich Americans want to privatize the system?

1) massive profits to be made. Gates Pearson…...

2) Ideology. Heritage, Cato, AEI consider it socialist.

3) Religion. Panicky Christians Fundies fear total secularization

Part 1 of 2

As usual, Doug is fudging on the facts. Truth to him is whatever can be twisted to fit his ideologies in order to confound the realities and the harsh truths of the decreasing quality of the K to 12 system. To counteract the criticism such as Teresa Murray - a parent - “Poorer students frequently apply for college, are routinely assessed and large gaps found in their math knowledge. They lack Grade 4, 5 and 6 arithmetic. For many vulnerable young adults this will be a deal breaker, a life-changer and college dropout rates are high. Before they even start, they must be catapulted back to Grades 4, 5 and 6, something none of us would relish.
The workplace skills and discovery math deemed necessary in the early grades deprive the most vulnerable of basic academic skills, needed for life, high school and college. But the onus lies on the individual now. Discovery math proponents and EQAO bureaucrats will bear no responsibility and show no interest in the damage created to so many lives.”  http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/4522670-how-should-we-help-the-most-vulnerable-children-/

So true, I have helped other college students over the years who worked in the accounting departments of companies, to brushed up their arithmetic skills. I first noticed the decline of numeracy skills in the late 1980s, where the workers below the age of 25, were not fluent in arithmetic calculations. I was doing far more corrections and rechecking the work, which was not my job in the first place, but was given to me to handled. Since the late 1980s, the education quality and the lack of skills of students, have been on a steady decline. Just as Tunya has stated, ” The agenda is abundantly clear — the government system primarily feeds its own needs — physical, psychic, and political.  And, it’s no secret.  Parents and society pays dearly for this babysitting.” Tis what it is, when students leaving grade 12 discovered that they don’t have the basic knowledge banks and skills to successfully passed the courses in university. As such, some students are paying as high as $200 per week in tutoring classes operated by the university and college campus in areas of the STEM subjects,  essay writing and other skills in writing such as grammar. Pretty sad, that the post-secondary institutes have now become profiteers in generating new revenues profiting off the lack of skills and knowledge of their students, on stuff that should have been mastered in the first 12 years of schooling. This leads me back to Doug’s statement of false impressions and everything is alright in the best education system of the world. It isn’t but first the Canadian stats brought to you by StatsCanada.

2012 - “about 53.6% of Canadians aged 15 and over had trade certificates, college diplomas and university degrees. This was an increase of 20.9 percentage points since 1990. “

Of course there has been a 20.9 % increase, when one even needs a two year college certificate to add up columns of numbers in an entry accounting position.

” In 2012, 69.2% of those aged 25 to 44 years and 59.2% of those aged 45 to 64 years were post-secondary graduates.”

Now take a look at the breakdown - The 25 to 44 aged group - Without high school diploma - 7.9, High school diploma - 17.1,  Some post-secondary - 5.8, College or Trade Certification - 37.1. University Degree - 32.1.

The 45 to 64 aged group - Without high school diploma - 13.8, High school diploma - 21.9,  Some post-secondary - 5.0, College or Trade Certification - 35.7. University Degree - 23.5

The 65 + years aged group -  Without high school diploma - 37.0, High school diploma - 18.9,  Some post-secondary - 4.0, College or Trade Certification - 25.4. University Degree - 14.7

Moving unto a comparison between Aboriginals and Non-Aboriginals
Aboriginals -  Without high school diploma - 34, High school diploma - 21,  Some post-secondary - 4, College or Trade Certification - 33. University Degree - 8

Non-Aboriginals -  Without high school diploma - 15, High school diploma - 24,  Some post-secondary - 5, College or Trade Certification - 33. University Degree - 23

Moving unto recent immigrants -  Without high school diploma - 9, High school diploma - 15,  Some post-secondary - 9, College or Trade Certification - 16. University Degree - 51

It is interesting how education funding is directed to the immigrants at the K to 12 and College/Trade schools compared to Canadians students. In recent Facebook conversations, the criticism on the temporary foreign workers and foreign work vacations have already made the connections to the abundance of education programs being directed at the immigrants as opposed to Canadian students including the Aboriginals. So much for the best education system in the world, that works hard to create inequities by asking Canadians to go without the skills and knowledge banks to complete against the foreign workers and immigrants in jobs and education.

Part 2 of 2

Regions of Canada - ” The percentage of the population aged 15 years and over with college, trade, or post-secondary certification other than a university degree was fairly consistent across the country in 2012, ranging from 28.3% in Manitoba to 37.3% in Newfoundland and Labrador. Both nationally and in the provinces, a smaller proportion of the population had completed university degrees. Ontario had the highest percentage of persons with university degrees in 2012, at 24.7%, while Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick had the lowest percentages (14.6% and 14.7% respectively).”
http://www4.hrsdc.gc.ca/[email protected]?iid=29

If one compared Canada to the European countries such as Finland, one will find more or less the same percentages even when post-secondary is free, with the average not much higher than Canada’a average since the end of WWII to 2012.One would think it has been planned in advanced by the political and economic powers in partnership with the K to post-secondary education establishment.

For Canada - from ages to 25 to 75 plus -

University degree - 23.4 %
College and Trade Certification - 32.7 %
Some Post-Secondary - 4.9 %
High School Diploma - 19.3 %
Without a High School Diploma - 19.6 %

The European Commission, along with the education officials and other experts are in talks discussing why the numbers have not gone up in post-secondary education. Among the discussions is the low literacy/numeracy skills and knowledge gaps of students. The European students who are hurt are the ones at the college and trade skills programs who are not prepared for college studies. There is lesser problems at the university level, but the problem at that level, is a slow decline in the number of students attending university. In Canada, there is no such discussions taking place with government and the education ministries. regarding the questionable education being received in the K to 12 education system.

As Tunya has stated - “Thus a self-perpetuating system grew and became entrenched as a public utility, regardless of outcomes to students. A recent US study (Coulson) shows that even with three times increase (3X) in funds and twice as many staff (2X), student achievement remains stale over the years.”  What is not discussed at the European government tables nor at the government tables in United States and Canada, is the progressive curriculum, progressive pedagogy of the discovery - learned on your own education and other education policies and practices that provides education services that are deliberate in designed to dumb down the education, so the post-secondary and the K to 12 education system can profit off the lower education quality being received in the K to 12. It has become a billion dollar industry for the public education establishment in correcting and remediation of what are the basic 3 Rs across the span of society.

Meanwhile, the only winners in the aged groups are the baby boomers, who could walked out of grade 12 and into an entry accounting position adding up columns of numbers. Now one needs a two year college certificate for entry. Today, one needs a Master degree to become a letter correspondent for a corporation. The baby boomers with grade 12, good skills in the 3 Rs plus shorthand, it was the secretaries who became the letter correspondents. Such an old term that is now in vogue at the corporation levels - head correspondent - must have a master degree, in what was the domain of the secretaries looking after the executive staff of a corporation.

So much for the best education system in the world, eh?  It is an illusion concocted by the education establishment to advanced their hidden goals of ideology and profits.

Sorry Nancy life is too short to read screeds like that. Same old same old.

For those who may not know what glib insult Doug has thrown at Nancy:

Definition of Screed:  A long monotonous harangue

I firmly disagree with this appraisal. Unlike Doug whose presence on this blog seems more and more to spout narrow and limited ideological bleets, I find Nancy’s patience, diligence and rationality to be remarkable…not withstanding the knowledge and insight which routinely surfaces. 

It might be best if Mr. Doug temporarily retires to his paid electoral duties until the election has run its course. Multi-tasking appears to be taking its toll.

My efforts in the elections amounts to writing 5-6 cheques and pulling the vote on election day.

My POV represents about 90% of the population that is firmly in support of our excellent public education.

The education reform movement represents the everpresent 5-10 % group of malcontents that feels otherwise.

Mr. Doug,

It appears that there may be hope for you after all.  Finally an acknowledgement, albeit, a back handed one that those not enthralled with the status quo represent by your estimate 5-10% of those unhappy with the current idyllic education system.

As the proprietor of a private business, I am sure you are familiar with the nature of customers and their expression of discontent/satisfaction with the results your business provides.  In case you haven’t visited this corner of business, here are a few truisms garnered from a general basket of businesses.

“The average business never hears from 96% of its unhappy customers.”

“For every complaint received, the average company has 24 other customers with problems”

“The average customer who has a problem with an organization tells 9 or 10 people about it. Thirteen percent of the people who have a problem with an organization recount the incident to more than 20 people.”

“Customers who have complained to an organization and had their complaints satisfactorily resolved tell an average of 5 people about the treatment they receive.”

Thus Mr. Doug, by your humble acknowledgement of the vocal minority, you are confirming that at least 1/2 of the folks using the idyllic public education “ARE NOT SATISFIED CUSTOMERS”.

Do you care ? Probably not. Was it Marie Antoinette who uttered the words “Let them eat cake”.    By remaining chained to a very strong rump denial position, union educators are only compounding the misery interest which continues to accrue in the system and ultimately in society at large. 

BTW. Public education is a good Astroids club candidate under Jonathan Haidt’s definition.  Perhaps, you might have a look…maybe net present value and security were not the only reasons you started teaching.
http://embed.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_how_common_threats_can_make_common_political_ground.html

There are endless surveys that show very high satisfaction rates with the world’s best school system.

I deal every day with Chinese people dying to get into Canadian high schools and universities.  People under 44 60% have post secondary education. No other nation can touch this.

High satisfaction levels of the wealthy Chinese parents who have first class Chinese citizenship rights, and are the only ones allow to leave China, seeking an education that best suits their children. Wow Doug, why don’t you moved to China and rate the satisfaction of the Chinese parents who are second and third class citizens?

Nah, I didn’t think you would because you know where the butter is and it is not in China. Frank brought up some interesting points on customer satisfaction. I shall add to it, to put Doug in his place. discovered a new piece of information, the public sector who provide government services such as the K to 12 education system, are not at all interested in ensuring customer satisfaction. There is no need since their revenue is not dependent on the clients the K to 12 education system serves.  I did not know this, but than again I never thought to look at it from a marketing perspective.

In Wikipedia - Customer Satisfaction - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_satisfaction
“The importance of customer satisfaction diminishes when a firm has increased bargaining power.”  Very good Wikipedia article to learn the basics of customer satisfaction.
What I could not find in my search customer satisfaction in relationship to the K to 12 system. The sole exception was the post-secondary education system, where customer satisfaction is taken into account. Customer satisfaction does not matter in the K to 12 education system.

On a blog - “On Wikipedia, customer satisfaction is defined as “Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation.” But that seems off when you look at the separate definitions of the two words that comprise the term.” http://socialmediatoday.com/ericjacques/550249/definition-customer-satisfaction
She goes on to concluded - “So, based on this definition, do you really want to do “just enough” for your customers? You may decide that this is your business model…” This got me thinking and I change my search terms to arrived at this paper called - The High Price of Customer Satisfaction

” Our investigation, in conjunction with our prior research and background in consumer satisfaction, uncovered three critical issues that have a strong negative impact on translating customer satisfaction into positive business outcomes.”
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-high-price-of-customer-satisfaction/

Conclusions based upon my research this morning, government services including K to 12 education paid by the taxpayers’ purse are not at all concerned about customer satisfaction, nor returned business and loyalty since government services are guarantee a steady supply of clients by government legislation but more importantly their revenues are not dependent upon the clients and users of government services. Ergo customer satisfaction polls are used only as one of the accountability tools to satisfied the sitting government who controlled the taxpayers’ purse and the amount of funding that goes to the K to 12 education system. As for the clients/users of government services, it really all about providing minimum services to the public who uses government services.

The K to 12 education establishment, is not bother about the customer satisfaction of students, parents or even the public because they do not relied on their clients/users for their revenues. What the government agencies and departments really focuses on, is the satisfaction of the sitting government and politicians who have the authority and power to the taxpayers purse.

Both the public K to 12 and Doug’s private school for wealthy Chinese operate on the corporate model. Doug’s private school of high tuition is dependent on keeping the rich Chinese parents happy and contented. If not, his private school will have no choice but to close down, if the wealthy Chinese parents saw declining education quality, and decided to switch to another school (brand), in the same way as a customer switching laundry detergent. The public K to 12 education establishment,  the only customers they need to keep satisfied is the sitting government who control the taxpayers’ purse. Keeping students and parents satisfied is a losing game to the K to 12 education establishment because it leads to decrease bargaining power for the K to 12 education establishment. One can’t have parents and students dictating the terms for the K to 12 education establishment, because that would lead to the break-up of the monopoly and their authority in all things education. More importantly, the end to the gravy train the K to 12 establishment has enjoyed over the years. Or another way of putting, the K to 12 education establishment, don’t want parents acting like the wealthy Chinese parents with first class citizenship papers.

“There are endless surveys that show very high satisfaction rates with the world’s best school system.”

http://www.csse-scee.ca/CJE/Articles/FullText/CJE24-3/CJE24-3-Guppy.pdf 

http://nall.oise.utoronto.ca/res/65ScottDavies.pdf

Article one says no evidence of decline.

Both say private tutors mainly based on giving your child an edge. Nothing new there.