E.D. Kain reviews “The Finland Phenomenon,” a new film on Finland’s sane and successful approach to education:
To be honest, I finished the film feeling a bit angry – angry that for all the talk of school-choice in our current education debate, the choices available to me and to my children (not to mention the countless people far less fortunate than myself) are really false choices. No matter whether you attend a public school or a charter, you are really bound to the modern testing regime.Emily Yoffe’s review of Race to Nowhere in Slate:
At a screening I went to, at a school in Montgomery County, Md.—which has one of the highest ranked school systems in the country—the parents who took to the microphone afterward could barely contain their outrage.Alfie Kohn on “Ten Obvious Truths We Shouldn’t Be Ignoring”:
If we all agree that a given principle is true, then why in the world do our schools still function as if it weren’t?How to sell recess and gym to school administrators:
Physical education classes may be scarce in some schools, but an activity program combined with school lessons could boost academic performance, a study finds..
2 comments:
Regarding Finland...I thought his remarks about trust were interesting. I've had some experiences as a parent that really make me skeptical that those in education(at any level) are trying to do the right thing.
I'd also like to know more about the national curriculum.
KD -- Pasi Sahlberg has a list of resources about Finnish education here (some of them are, alas, in Finnish). It includes a publication on the national core curricula for basic school and for upper-secondary education, though I'm not sure how up-to-date they are.
Interesting point about trust. I would describe our system as being based more on resigned acceptance, or learned helplessness, than on trust.
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