Comment Re:The pass/fail system (Score 1) 1382
There are ways around having different levels of kids in one classroom that is actually beneficial to all levels of kids. Many schools look nothing like when I went there 12+ years ago. Much research has gone into teaching to different types of learners. Your better teacher/schools will have learned about these things and will use them in class.
In areas where they use the multi-age model (or even looping- where the teacher goes to the next grade level with the students,) learning at your own pace without feeling the stigma of being left behind is very possible. However, this requires training for teachers and administrative support- which is not the priority in many school districts. From a teacher's point of view, it presents problems in keeping materials and developing units. If you teach the same/similar things for a couple of years, you can develop quite a cache of resources, ideas, knowledge and project ideas. If what you teach changes every year, it requires more prep time.
[In my experience, teachers don't like change, especially the older ones. I meet with so much resistance in my building when it comes to school improvement!]
I also do not believe in ADD. I differ with you as to how to deal with the 'fabricated phenomena.' Most kids I meet expect to be entertained at all times in class. There's no way I can do that. It all goes back to work ethic. Kids who have work ethic have it on purpose. They know how to pay attention and why they should. Paying attention is a learned behavior, not something 'you either have or you don't.' Just as anyone can learn to draw, anyone can learn to pay attention.
There is significant research, however, linking kids who play video games or who stay on a computer for several hours each day to a lack of social skills and a shortened attention span. While I'm not against gaming, I am in favor of limiting the gaming activity and encouraging social interaction and physical activity. Classrooms aren't video games and kids need to learn to function in the real world as well as they do in fantasy. They need to see that people can react in more than just the prescribed/progammed ways in a video game.
In areas where they use the multi-age model (or even looping- where the teacher goes to the next grade level with the students,) learning at your own pace without feeling the stigma of being left behind is very possible. However, this requires training for teachers and administrative support- which is not the priority in many school districts. From a teacher's point of view, it presents problems in keeping materials and developing units. If you teach the same/similar things for a couple of years, you can develop quite a cache of resources, ideas, knowledge and project ideas. If what you teach changes every year, it requires more prep time.
[In my experience, teachers don't like change, especially the older ones. I meet with so much resistance in my building when it comes to school improvement!]
I also do not believe in ADD. I differ with you as to how to deal with the 'fabricated phenomena.' Most kids I meet expect to be entertained at all times in class. There's no way I can do that. It all goes back to work ethic. Kids who have work ethic have it on purpose. They know how to pay attention and why they should. Paying attention is a learned behavior, not something 'you either have or you don't.' Just as anyone can learn to draw, anyone can learn to pay attention.
There is significant research, however, linking kids who play video games or who stay on a computer for several hours each day to a lack of social skills and a shortened attention span. While I'm not against gaming, I am in favor of limiting the gaming activity and encouraging social interaction and physical activity. Classrooms aren't video games and kids need to learn to function in the real world as well as they do in fantasy. They need to see that people can react in more than just the prescribed/progammed ways in a video game.
