The cost of a college education

In the last few months, the subject of cancelling (college) student loan debt has been popular and amongst its proponents has been the assetion that "college should be free". But should it? After all, providing an education of any type at any level has a cost which someone has to pay. What this slogan is really declaring is that "someone else shoud pay for my education" which of course raises two interesting questions. (Not begs, but prompts. Begging the question is something else.) The first is "why?" and the second is "who?".

Bullies, lipstick and pigs

A school near me has just held its "anti-bullying week" and the phrase, "lipstick on a pig" comes to mind. Such a campaign may raise awareness, but it will not change behavior.

Classroom Star Charts; are they a good idea?

We've all seen them, we've possibly all used them, especially at pre-school and elementary levels. But are classroom star charts a good thing? 

By star-charts, I mean the list of names with a star or check-mark showing who has done their chores or who has read a book or who has had perfect attendance this week. But do they really reward success or good behavior? Or merely compliance? Do they encourage competition, and healthy competition at that? Do they motivate? Or are they just "name and shame" in another guise? 

Covid learning loss - preschool

I've been reading several discussions and reports of studies about students starting G1 or returning to G1-3 who lost certain development or who never achieved it because of two years of disruption due to Covid. I can't find where I noted them right now, but as soon as I do I will post the links below.

The failure of Nickleby - again

I was a loud opponent of No Child Left Behind, ("NCLB·" or nickleby) prior to its introduction, post its introduction and today. My principal complaint is its contentions that all the problems with US public education were clearly the fault of teachers, that they needed a big stick and that this big stick should be testing. 

The problem with book burning

When I say book burning, I do not mean literally mean the immolation of tomes, although in a wider sense this is included. I am referring to current moves to remove specified books from libraries and from schools, and again by extension certain authors and certain ideas. And when I say "the" problem, I do not mean that we have one and only one, but that there is one sine qua non.

What's in your wallet - update

Regular readers will know that I am boycotting Capital One and why. Well, there's news.

Hiring couples

A conversation at my weekly get-together over coffee with a former colleague turned to a problematic situation at a friend of a friend's school. This school had hired a wonderful new deputy principal. However he had come with a spouse who was not so wonderful and therein lies the problem.

School jenga

Current protests about and against public school boards bring two things to mind. Firstly, these are all public district schools which is of course the root of the problem. Public schools must by definition (and by law) be all things to all people, so including "a" will upset the supporters of "b" and excluding "c" will ignite the followers of "d". The second is the jenga-like nature of schools: it is rarely possible to change just one thing.

Teachers and porn

I recently had news of someone I knew vaguely at high school and then at college. He was a few years older than me, but I knew who he was and we bumped shoulders at various times. Ten or so years ago he lost his position as a school principal because a district-wide IT update lead to the discovery of porn on his school computer. He claimed innocence, hired an investigator, found it was so, and received both compensation and an apology payment for the lack of due process and reputational damage. Now he is in the news again, this time for porn on his cellphone.