My advice is to read across the curriculum. I posted on this.
At CEP, Jack Jennings is a shrewd guy. All I can say is that I look forward to seeing the report come out on Tuesday. I love the timing, for my own idiosyncratic purposes.
Always an interesting topic. While we want to be more educated like the Asians, they want to more rounded educated like us.
Like everything there needs to be a balance.
Education (Updated 3/24/06) - Two Fine Examples - SAT Scores & Incentive Pay for Teachers - NOT!!
Education - Math Sucks! Especially My Instructor (TA) & (updated 3/12/06) Professors paid not to teach
Education - State Scores way behind Federal Scores & Michigan to Roll Out Education Improvement Framework ???
The nation's students do glaringly worse on a tough federal test than they do on state exams in reading and math, raising doubts about how much kids are learning
I really don't like the idea of narrowing the curriculum. It makes me think of having to go to PE everyday and only working on my abs, because they're so pathetic---and never getting to do anything else.
On the other hand, how much longer are we (as a nation) going to accept the lack of equity in our educational system---let alone the number of students who don't leave it with basic reading and writing skills?
Why is this even a question? What's the point of teaching them history if they can't read a history book?
It's about time to acknowledge that not everyone learns at the same pace. Kids who can't learn to read, write, or add in the same amount of time as others will just have to do only that until they move on.
Is that what you would want for your own child, if he or she were the one who was not learning reading/math quickly enough?
Is that what you would want for your own child, if he or she were the one who was not learning reading/math quickly enough?
There is ample research that shows that if a child is struggling with reading and/or math by the end of fourth grade, he or she is educationally dead for all intents and purposes.
Learning how to read fluently and with understanding and how to solve mathematical problems are critical skills that every child MUST know. period. There is no getting around it.
Now, what we have here, and which is all too common in education, is a false dilemma. When children are struggling with math there is no need to cut out all the other subjects and repalce them with more math and reading. There is an alternative -- replace the math and reading insructional programs with something that works better. About three hours is all you need to teach reading and math if you're doing it properly, leaving plenty of time for science, history, and the other fluff that gets taught below the high school level.
Cutting out all subjects but math and reading and "teaching to the test" are merely indicators that the school does not know how to teach effectively.
Commenting by HaloScan
