A large new federal study that surveyed 2,500 teachers finds drastic changes between kindergarten in 2010 and in 1998, before massive increases in federal demands on schools. These young children spend more time sitting and listening to their teachers and completing worksheets, and drastically less time learning about music, art, and science, as well as drastically … Continue reading Study: Kindergarten Students Play Less, Do More Worksheets
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Students At ‘Top Universities’ Don’t Know Anything
Patrick Deneen has taught at prestigious universities, including Princeton, Georgetown, and Notre Dame. Yet he says his students don't know anything, even though they have great grades and resumes. ask them some basic questions about the civilization they will be inheriting, and be prepared for averted eyes and somewhat panicked looks. Who fought in the … Continue reading Students At ‘Top Universities’ Don’t Know Anything
You Can’t Treat School Like A Cafeteria
A literacy researcher writes about the common educational fallacy of providing students "personalized learning" that "follows their interests," explaining how the lack of a coherent, carefully structured curriculum that builds upon itself year after year mentally handicaps children. The fundamental point is one that few in education seem ready to address: Great lessons may not add … Continue reading You Can’t Treat School Like A Cafeteria
The Big Box Model Of Education Is Over
This 2012 article by Walter Russell Meade discusses the breakup of the old models of our economy and why we can't go back. If anything, it is even more relevant today than it was in 2012 because it helps dissect the Donald Trump phenomena. To our purpose here, however, some insightful critiques of typical schools. In … Continue reading The Big Box Model Of Education Is Over
Study: Screens Distract Readers From Understanding The Bigger Picture
Reading on-screen prompted young adults to focus on details over context, finds a new series of experiments. Screen reading "led to greater focus on concrete details, but less ability to infer meaning or quickly get the gist of a problem," reports Education Week. This made them worse at making judgments about things like which car was … Continue reading Study: Screens Distract Readers From Understanding The Bigger Picture
You Can’t Just Google Context
It's becoming cliche for educators to proclaim that they don't want to teach children knowledge, because people "can just Google for information." What they don't understand is that information comes in various forms, and some are better than others. As Lindsey Brigham writes on the CIRCE Institute's blog: In contrast to the meandering, holistic, and … Continue reading You Can’t Just Google Context
Here’s What’s Missing In Our Diagnosis Of Education’s Problems
Peter Augustine Lawler has recently written for National Affairs an article about what's wrong with higher education that depicts just as perfectly what's wrong with elementary and secondary education. He begins by discussing how technology is eroding jobs, turning people both into technicians and taking away lower-wage opportunities that put one on the path to higher … Continue reading Here’s What’s Missing In Our Diagnosis Of Education’s Problems
America Can’t Endure Without Civic Knowledge
America's founders considered it crucial for the preservation of our republic that the American people be well-educated. Yet we have not been well-educated as a people for decades. Jamie Gass, of the Pioneer Institute in Boston, notes statistics well-known to those who pay attention to the state of American education: Our high-school and college students hardly know … Continue reading America Can’t Endure Without Civic Knowledge
Job Satisfaction for Artists Versus Doctors
The Wall Street Journal published an article today discussing life prospects for young people who love art, from music to painting to dance. It largely critiques two stereotypes about professional arts: That few jobs are available in these fields and that pursuing jobs that offer more money makes people happier. Two findings of this study, involving … Continue reading Job Satisfaction for Artists Versus Doctors
How Common Core Directly Promotes Moral Relativism
Here is yet another example of how modern, progressive education puts children on the path to moral relativism at a young age. A philosophy professor writes in The New York Times of his son's encounters with portions of Common Core, the reigning curriculum model for nearly all U.S. public and private schools. When I went to … Continue reading How Common Core Directly Promotes Moral Relativism
Redeemer Classical School 