Dropping an egg from unreasonable heights is a traditional and worthy assignment.  The ‘flying’ part may have been a misunderstanding or merely an option.

We tried that assignment back in first-year engineering, over four decades ago.  My team used a stretched piece of plastic as a parachute to drop an egg coddled in a tennis-ball can.  The parachute ‘flight’ was fine, but the can broke away and smacked on its side instead of landing squarely to protect the egg. 

Our rueful summary was that flying was easy and safe, but landing could be dangerous.  It was an excellent learning experience.

Frank,we can’t just gripe.
Of course you’re right above the above however…

Write us a post on your vision for improving instruction and special training for a teacher to instruct math and science properly.

You are here to inspire,it’s important.
That poor teacher’s training was crap and last year she may have taught phys Ed and English.
It’s our kids and our country.
I think the key is to develop a model for Teacher Training.
The universities take money to train our teachers and they get a vacuous experience.
If you’re a board member don’t give up,be more positive and HELP.
You’ll get great funding from a foundation for that…
In spite of the fact there’s no improvement,maybe one day there will be.
We’re in a war and a “boys Club” culture runs the country,start there,get a team and COUNTER!
Some Ex Deans object to Fullan’s gang I’m sure…

Well said Jo Anne; I fully agree with you. 

Merely complaining about it won’t help.  Let’s get organized, raise awareness and come together for the good of our children.  And in the process, we hope a better system might arise which will put our most excellent teachers back on track, and allow for better classroom resources and better instruction at the teacher colleges. 

If we all spent a day (as I have) speaking to professors who teach teachers at the college/university, we might better understand why the education system is an abject failure.  There is no evidence based instruction as part of their training; they are told to just do what they think is right.  Mentoring programs which involve more experienced teachers are frowned upon, and few exist.  And when the prevailing pedagogy and constructivist attitudes at this level dictate the failed, child centred, inquiry based bunk to be utilized, it clearly demonstrates how these new teachers are doomed to struggle.  Is it any wonder so many leave this career a mere few years after they enter schools?

In the meantime, ensure your own children have a firm grasp of the fundamentals by teaching them at home, or enroll them in a learning centre.  It’s the only chance our children have for a firm foundation in knowledge which is crucial to later day success in the real world.  Hold School Administrators and District officials accountable by insisting that proper methods are used in the classroom.  And if there is a grassroots initiative in your community that you can offer your support regarding better education outcomes, please consider becoming involved, so we all might have a better chance of making it better for our kids, or our grandchildren.

No, Tom, it was a specification in the assignment - it had to be an airplane.  Being well versed in airplane design and able to negotiate the innumerable intricacies thereof, and having designed successful aircraft, I had to get my jaw back up off my knees when I read the assignment.

Anne and Tara are right-on.  In the mode explained
in Dr. Eric Berne’s delightful (yet very profound) book “Games people play”, my post was a game of “Ain’t it awful!”

OK, guilty as charged.  But in my defence, I have to say that I’ve done some of most of what Anne and Tara suggest, with few and slow observable results.  Ain’t that awful?

Seriously, every improvement, including those well
put by Anne and Tara, has to be preceded by some
“Ain’t it awful” question, however worded.  What is
not excusable is to agree, yes, it’s awful, and then
walk away.  Instead, we then have to say, OK, it’s awful, NOW WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT?

That’s why SQE was founded, and why it provides,
thanks to the dedicated labors of many, especially Malkin Dare, tools for home-schoolers and others like “Stairway to reading”.

DO?  Well, there’s quite a bit a citizen can do:

Monitor the School Board’s agenda and ask for time to address them when a suitable item comes up. 

Watch the papers and write the Editor (they want letters) when you have a chance.  Use available information to help in this - such as the fact that independent (“private”) schools are slowly gaining ground in Canada.  Listen, watch, and study!

Talk to your Member and to your School Board Director - let them know that you know something too.  Enlist neighbours to help you do this - representing two or ten others is very impressive with politicians.  Votes, y ou know!

Study up on striking facts you can use in these interviews, such as that StatCan tells us that 53% of Canadian adults are innumerate - can’t do simple arithmetic.  Don’t be put off cuz you have no kids in school - you pay big tax bucks for education and you’re entitled to talk to educators as their employer.

Be encouraged and encouraging!  Progress is slow but visible - example, Taxpayers Coalition was a big part of the pressures that halted the double-digit tax increases in the 90s.  We have the Education Quality Assurance Office (EQAO) and the Teachers’ College which, with all their warts, are a start toward improvement.

Nuff.  Sleep tight.

Cheers,

Frank Gue.