An educrat’s edubabble that makes a teacher’s life more difficult since they really must fellow orders and mandates of the educrats.

“Not everyone is concerned. Beate Planche, a superintendent with the York Region school board, said some children enter kindergarten ahead of their peers academically, and they can benefit from exposure to the Grade 1 curriculum.

?We feel that combined grades at any level can be a very wonderful learning experience for kids,? she said.

Combining full-day kindergarten and Grade 1 does require in-depth planning from teachers, she said, but it?s not ?unrealistic.?

?I?m not trying to be Pollyanna about it. ... I?m saying that it?s a reality in our school system and there?s a way to make it extremely successful,? Dr. Planche said.”

This educrat is a Pollyanna of the first degree, focusing on what should be, rather than dealing with the positive and negative realities of split classes.

Lots of complaints by parents, teachers on split classes, but few research studies to confirm the realities of split classes. From what I have viewed, split classes is common in the big provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia, and there is certainly numerous articles expressing concern about split classes.

From the EFTO, a well-balanced article on split classes.
“But the lead author of the elementary curriculum for science and technology unequivocally states that the curriculum and combined grades don?t work. There?s no question the two don?t mix, says Graham Orpwood, a professor of education at York University.

“It?s a funding problem, not a curriculum problem,” he says.

“The question should not be asked `how do you teach this curriculum in combined grades?? The answer to that is it doesn?t work. The question should be `how do you eliminate split grades in order that the curriculum can be taught properly??”

He suggests adjusting the funding formula to eliminate split grades instead of downloading the problem onto teachers and the curriculum.

“This is not a teachers? problem, it?s a government problem,” Orpwood says.”
http://professionallyspeaking.oct.ca/march_2002/high_expectations.asp

There is a variety of viewpoints from teachers, a mixed bag where the majority of teachers are pointing out the opposite of the above, that it is the curriculum.

As a parent, my children were never enrolled in a split class, but I can see split classes being a major concern for parents, and their children. My concern is split classes has become a solution to keep schools from closing, based on current funding formulas and student-teacher ratios, rather than correcting the funding formulas by allowing more autonomy for schools and teachers. My major concern, is that students who are struggling in school, must relied on the more capable students for help first, rather than going to the teacher. The teacher becomes the last person to go for help, and I believe this method does nothing for addressing the learning weaknesses, that often are reinforced by depending on the more capable students to help the weaker students. I also believe, a split class under the current centralization of all things in school, also prevents timely remediation in reading, writing and numeracy problems, by the adults in the school.

I can already picture a conversation if my child was ever placed in a split class.  My concerns with reading and writing, would be gloss over by the teacher, in favour of focusing on independent learning strategies, and group work, under the current regime of a public education system. It still does nothing for children who are experiencing trouble in the foundation in reading, writing or numeracy.

The Heavy Hand Of The State Is Not The Answer ?

Look at this editorial on obesity in the Globe and Mail, April 26, 2011. 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/the-heavy-hand-of-the-state-is-not-the-answer-to-obesity/article1999925/

This is the strongest editorial I?ve ever seen in the G&M that is so very libertarian—advocating maximizing individual rights and minimizing the role of the state.

Even though the editorial is about health, let?s pull out some statements and apply them to education.

?  People in a democracy should be free to make bad choices ?

?  The attitude seems to be that only the government can rescue children from bad habits.

?  Keep in mind that the heavy hand of the state is not the answer to every ill.

Here is Malkin?s insight:

?It is well accepted in business circles today that successful managers try to push decision-making responsibility down to the lowest possible level, since it?s the people on the front line who know what?s working and what needs to be done to make it work better. The success of private schools is eloquent testimony to the wisdom of this approach.?

She describes ?subsidiarity? which Wikipedia defines as: ?Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority.?  Read the whole article: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/subsidiarity

We need more politicians understanding that principle and declaring for it.  We need more politicians that promote the public interest and not their own personal or party?s selfish interests.

In this Federal Election, May 2, 2011, we have 24 candidates running for the Libertarian Party — 9 in BC, 15 in Ontario. Subsidiarity is a fundamental part of good government as seen by libertarians. 

I?m a Libertarian candidate in the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country riding.  I?ve had a fantastic experience at all-candidates meetings in this huge riding and some people have actually thanked me for introducing them to this generic term ?libertarian?.  Tonight I was pleased to show the audience the Globe and Mail editorial which had these exceptional insights to offer about the proper role of government.

The trouble with Malkin-I admire her immensely-HOWEVER-The only way you will get the alarm bells going off about the decline in quality public education and the deep need for some parent power, charter schools and vouchers is by raising money to fund a media campaign.

I recommend that in 6 months we reconvene,we find out the cost of funding a Canadian “Cartel”,we get a budget from an ad agency,PR firms don`t work,you can pay them forever without getting results,find out with your administration what you want your messaging to be,like the 5 points with Paul Bennet`s Students First Movement in Nova Scotia,should you become National,Ontario is such a closed shop and the problems you try to help with are national,there needs to be Radio and Television ads to get the parents aware.They are not,when Michael Bloomberg says to a parent in the movie the Cartel,“why do you say your son`s school is so good,your kid can`t read and write”?

I would love to see Malkin get her just desserts.I am willing to help fundraise.Let`s make a plan.Sooo many businesses are disgusted with the deterioration they see,even my hairdresser,in the business for 30 years,says he has to give young people a literacy test to work in the Salon because most can`t read well enough to deal with colour preparations.Everyone sees it.Dream big Malkin,you deserve better than banging your head on a brick wall.

I am inclined to agree with Joanne, a film based on the American Cartel, may just be the thing needed to galvanized parents coast to coast. As to who would produced the film, why not used the young budding film producers just getting on their feet, hoping for their big break?

From a parent’s perspective, parents are not aware of the decline in quality in public education, and how it impacts the future of their children. The connections to Joanne’s example of literacy testing for hairdressers, and the reading levels of our high school graduates is one such example.  So many other connections can be pointed out, that has a direct link to the decline in reading, writing, and numeracy skills of students in the public education system.

The connections of the power gained and the power lost between the parents and the four arms of education - the unions, teachers’ colleges, the school boards and the ministries of education, parents must become aware of them. Aware of them, and start to voice them out loud, rather than staying silent to keep the status-quo. The four arms of education have evolved into an entity, where parents, children and communities serves the needs and desires of the public education system, rather than having the four education arms served the needs of the children, parents and communities.

One such example currently in my province. The teachers’ union want to run a pilot program for paid lunch time supervisors, since they believed that supervising is no longer a part of a teacher’s duties. It is how teachers duties have evolved to serve the best interests of the public education system, and not necessarily the welfare of the children, parents and the community.

“parents are not aware of the decline in quality in public education, and how it impacts the future of their children.”

With all due respect Nancy I have to disagree with that statement. Parents are usually the first to clue-in to the fact that the education system is failing their children.

However most parents a) have no idea what to do about it, b) understand the choices available to them, c) will not educate themselves well enough as to the power they have at their finger-tips to change things…if they wish.

Sometimes the barrier to change are lazy parents themselves who want others to do the legwork and are too easily pacified by the system which has honed its defenses against parents for years.

In Ontario parents have been bought off for their silence and when once about 12 years ago there was a rising tide of disgust and activism parents could really seem light at the end of the tunnel largely because we had a gov’t in place that recognized education reform and expanded choice.

That groundswell has moved on and recruiting a new younger educational reform advocacy force just isn’t getting the attention it should IF it exists.

Where Joanne hits the nail on the head is that in order to grow needs bodies and cash. Cash that too many don’t have these days thanks to a still volatile economy.

Also, as the population ages the people with disposable cash are saving it in case they need it for health issues or retirement.

Education is moving further and further down the list of issues concerning Canadians.

I did not make myself clear, that parents are the first ones to to clue in that the education system is failing, but are not willing to voice their concerns for various personal reasons or the the very structure and set of protocols prevents parents from voicing their concerns in a frank and honest way. Parents who do, learn fast to choose their words and strategies carefully, in a public education system that is designed to limit participation of parents. their power and influence on the direction of education in the schools. Throw in the built-in protocols that forces parents to followed the prescribe set designed to control what parents can do or cannot do in every aspect of schooling, the thought processes, knowledge of parents can be control and handled more efficiently by the public education system.

Bottom line, reforms, changes to education is done on the timetable of those who work within the education system, direction is their own, serving the best interests of the public education system, and lastly to make all aspects of education in the K to 12 highly politicized and ideological, to control and limit output coming from the general public.

I believe the groundswell exists in Canada, where the public education system will get the attention from the public. Most of the public, especially parents think they are alone, like I did for a few years when I was first advocating for my child, and the school educrats constantly telling me no one else sees it as a problem or you are the only one complaining. When parents started to come up to me, a few years later telling me they agree with me, I did asked them why they did not voice their feeling sooner. The gist of the responses were of the same nature. They were afraid to voiced their feelings in fear what the school and board might do.

A film is just the ticket, and the avenue to kick start the parents and others who are concern with the state of public education. It is the perfect avenue where people can start to voice their thoughts out loud without fearing what the school and board might do. Parents need to know that they are not alone, in their concerns, and the public education system has done a very good job across Canada, to isolate the public from all aspects of the public education system.

One such example, as I sift my way through some very dry stuff from the Council of Ministries of Education, Canada (CMEC), the educrats are hard at work, stating that the low literacy and numeracy skills are only affecting 10 % of the student population, and all caused by the SEC factors. Not a word on curriculum, instruction, and teacher training, that plays a far stronger role in keeping low literacy and numeracy skills at the current 42 % and rising. It is statements like this, that filters down to the lowest levels, where parents concerns over the reading, writing and numeracy skills of their children, the responses from schools and boards are in line with the 10 % figure. It is the rosy picture that is being constantly portrayed by the public education system, as the correct one, and not the ones who are voicing a decline in the quality of the public education system.

I took my first credit loans when I was a teenager and this aided my business very much. However, I need the financial loan over again.