From the conference website:

“Conference is an opportunity to hear new ideas, share resources, but most of all to develop a community among those who are interested in ways to promote education to everyone interested in learning without the involvement of compulsory institutions. It is hoped that attendees will actively engage in supporting other individuals and organizations through a process of transparency whereby best practices can be shared and the viability of educating without compulsory schools will be firmly entrenched and legitimized. Organizations are encouraged to bring brochures as well as flyers about their upcoming events for distribution. Everyone is encouraged to network. The event is free and open to the public.”

The speakers for the event are: Dr. Peter Gray (author of Free To Learn and a Sudbury school advocate), Patrick Farenga (author of Teach Your Own and a homeschooling/unschooling advocate), Cevin Soling (filmmaker, The War on Kids), and Peter Bergson (founder, Open Connections learning center in PA).

I hope you’ll share this information and come to the event if you’re near. If not, send me a few sentences and a URL about a group or organization you know that supports alternatives to compulsory education and I’ll include it as a free listing in our event program.

IncitED is the crowdfunding community for education where teachers and education supporters can fund, share, and replicate important education initiatives worldwide. Visit IncitED at http://www.incited.org.

Like us on Facebook to get regular updates about how we’re supporting the work of educators: https://www.facebook.com/IncitEDTheCrowdfundingCommunityForEducation.

During the last week of April, we’ll be launching two exciting campaigns: Open Road Learning Community for Teens and Imagining Learning.

Open Road is a replication of North Star Self-Directed Learning for Teens that’s opening in Portland, Oregon, and is already accepting students. Follow their progress on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OpenRoadTeens.

Imagining Learning is a grassroots initiative to collect the voices of young people as they discuss what they want for their education. Each Imagining Learning Listening Session produces beautiful art as students create their visions for the future of education. Follow their progress on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imagininglearning.

Now, when I wrote the first post, I said that 23 cases of rape and sexual abuse had relations to taxpayer-funded schools. Since, that number has risen to 105 cases documented in mainstream media, with the U.S Dept. of Education giving a more sobering figure of 83.33% of RAPES going unreported to law enforcement by schools and school districts while 73.43% of SEXUAL ASSAULTS going unreported to law enforcement by schools and school districts. However, the fact that of those 105 media documented cases, 25 were “gang rapes” and 26 were rapes committed at the behest of a high school athlete, which raises the highest amount of concern. Not because these males were “promising” or because they had “bright futures,” but because somewhere there is an expectation of acceptance for high school aged boys to gang up and “be boys” because of their position or for whatever untold reason.

With figures like those, it’s no wonder why 2 in 10 girls fear being sexually abused or raped at school by another student or why 6 in 10 girls are victims of rape while at school at the behest of another student. Yet, instead of taking these figures and addressing the issue for what it is,  we are teaching young girls how not to become victims, which is basically teaching them how to survive in a scenario where they are defenseless and are always at fault for the actions of the uncontrollable. This in its own is nothing more than a state sponsored form of educational neglect and neglect to humanity that dangerously resembles a form of hate crime against females who have promising, bright futures.

However, another issue that often gets left out of sexual education because the majority favoring of abstinence only sexual education, is that too many young girls don’t know what rape is, who to turn to in the event of an rape, and what exactly to do after they become victims of rape. Moreover, for some reason, there is no large emphasis of “see something, say something, do something” when it comes to these types of crimes. Further, in too many cases, do youth stand around or walk by when they witness these types of heinous acts because of the lack of empathy that youth possess today.

Conclusively, our schools are becoming breeding grounds for a sense of excusing for rapes and sexual assaults. Too many youth carry an apathetic sense when it comes to these types of crimes and too many youth do not know what to do in the event of these crimes. This large disconnect in empathy and knowledge is detrimental because it will perpetuate rape culture within global society. There is no reason with numbers like these, for an inadequate response from schools, governments, and from society as a whole. These numbers reflect a sobering reality that there are millions of youth out there who think that rape and sexual assault is acceptable to commit, and for 180 days they all spend hours together in an enclosed setting with increasingly less adults to keep a watchful eye.

No longer can we rely on the apathetic blame game known as victim shaming in response to rape culture…as it will only allow rape culture to consume American culture. No longer can this happen, because that consumption will mark the beginning of a perpetual war against this nation’s young girls and women. 

*School= any facility or event sponsored by schools or their districts including bus stops and buses 

Are we ‘school-year’ wise, but lifetime foolish?

Immediately after finishing the first video chapter of “A Year at Mission Hill,” I went over to the school’s website and read their mission statement. I was first struck by just how beautiful it is; their care and dedication to “helping parents raise youngsters” for a democratic society is evident in every single line.

But in thinking about how to make schools like this the rule rather than the exception, this part in particular stood out to me:

Toward these ends, our community must be prepared to spend time even when it might seem wasteful hearing each other out. We must deal with each other in ways that lead us to feel stronger and more loved, not weaker and less loveable…

There is so much in the whole statement that I would love to parse and consider, but the piece about time really struck me.

When we think about what schools need to succeed, money is usually the first thing that comes to mind. That’s especially salient in our austere and inequitable circumstances, where virtually everything, down to the physical condition of some schools, reminds some students, families and educators that there are those who view them as “weaker and less loveable” than others. But time is perhaps just as important, though much more rarely considered.

To be clear, funding is important. Teachers and principals are people (imagine!), who need to earn a living in order to take care of themselves and their families, and contribute to the communities in which they live and teach. Funding is also needed for the tools and other “things” that facilitate learning experiences. It also “buys” time in a certain sense, insofar as it allows school communities to hire enough people to cover a full course schedule that includes planning and collaboration time, or to keep classes at a reasonable enough size that students and teachers can take the time they need to interact with and learn from each other.

Yet aside from conversations or negotiations about longer school days and years, which often focus on the idea of spending more time on “traditional” academics (or worse, test preparation), it’s pretty rare to hear thoughtful discussions of just how time in school should be spent.

As a person who is very susceptible to demands of the fast pace of present-day life, I definitely understand how powerful those demands can be. I also appreciate how time can become the casualty of a very well-intentioned sense of urgency around making the most of every instructional moment, making up for “lost” time for students who struggle, or simply the desire to avoid disappointing other people by “falling behind.”

But just like the decision to buy a cheap product over a more moderately-priced yet higher-quality one might be “a penny wise but a pound foolish,” I think some features of our dominant schooling culture are often a school-year wise, yet a lifetime foolish.

For instance, I remember having to fight to protect practices like holding a morning and afternoon meeting in my elementary classroom. Though they were essential to the classroom community my students and I built, we were also subject to strictly-enforced mandates on our time (exactly 75 scheduled minutes for math; exactly 90 scheduled minutes for literacy, additional whole-grade intervention time, etc.). That may have made sense to outside administrators who assume all learning time is created equal, but teachers know that it isn’t.

Investing time in thoughtful community-building actually preserves instructional time by reducing the amount of time students spend feeling upset over un- or poorly-resolved interpersonal issues, and reducing the amount of time teachers spend on negative discipline. Over a lifetime, it pays off by helping students grow up to be conscientious adults who are less likely prone to causing unnecessary conflict, and less likely to resort to violence or other destructive approaches when conflicts do arise. Having the time to learn and practice pro-social interpersonal skills serve students long after they forget the random bits of testable information they’re taught.

While keeping to a rigidly-defined, “academics-only” schedule may make sense in terms of preparing students for tests or finishing units “in time” by the end of the school year, it doesn’t make sense if that comes at the cost of developing all of the other habits of mind, hand and heart students will need to thrive in the rest of their lives.

So how can we secure and protect the time students, teachers and the rest of the community need to build schools by and for a compassionate, democratic future?

It starts with asserting our values, and letting those values drive our goals (as the Mission Hill staff clearly have done). This also requires recognizing and confronting why the dominant arrangement exists as it does. The industrial schooling model we’ve inherited isn’t designed to foster democracy, personal autonomy or collaborative decision-making. It’s designed to foster the exact opposite.

Making autonomous or democratic decisions about the use of time, in particular, runs directly counter to one of the key aims of that model: getting future workers accustomed to working according to an unnatural schedule, under unnatural conditions, according to someone else’s dictates. Most of us have internalized that approach to time, so we will have to be incredibly intentional about reorienting ourselves in order to overcome that.

We’ll also have to be very intentional about preserving and strengthening the collective innovations we’ve historically come up with to protect our rights to self-determine our time, among other resources: our unions, parent-teacher associations and other democratic structures that help us as individuals find the safety and support needed to negotiate these issues with people who could otherwise exert power over us.

Fortunately, that process itself can be part of the learning; revitalizing our participation in democracies small and large will not only help us marshal the resources needed to better raise children, they’ll also allow us to model those processes for them.

Since then, I’ve tried to hold myself accountable for posting about the work that my kids and I do together, which I love and in which I believe. I want to take the energy I’ve put into criticizing “what is” and channel it instead into documenting and sharing “what (I think) should be.”

At the same time, I’ve been writing more of “The Evaluation.” It’s the piece of writing that has most sustained my interest and attention.

Sometimes, I try to be clever just to be clever; it’s a flaw (one of many). I had this big plan to gamify a release of the story at EduCon 2.5. Interoffice mail envelopes addressed to future phantoms and taped under tables. Easter eggs. Stuff.

But that’s kind of silly while life, teaching, and learning in the United States remain sadly, deeply vexing.

It’s not that I’ve giving up on what we do. It’s not that I don’t find joy in the work. It’s not that I’m turing my back on play or any of the other things that should be in our schools and classrooms.

It’s that right now is a time for me to be critical.

Kids deserve care, health, and safety. The deserve to be able to make things – including what we think of as “mistakes” – while building futures that matter to them.

We keep talking methods without talking motive. We keep punishing kids who want to be free and who want information to be free.

It will be okay if schools eventually go extinct because we will still have people teaching and learning together in community. However, it will only be okay for schools to survive if they become something better – more human and humane – than they are now. And then, maybe, society will follow.

We want our schools to be community centers. We want them to be democratic institutions – safe and engaging places where kids discover “the best of what’s been thought and said” and then go on to make discoveries of their own. But our schools – systemically – are not these things. They never have been. They have only ever carried the potential for being so because of the good people teaching and learning in them. Schools will never realize their potential by being schools.

School cannot act, so we must – and we must act in ways that are antithetical to schooling and the public school system as embodied by the federal department of education, state departments of education, and school boards that are compliant with test-driven state and federal agendas.

Inquiry is an act of rebellion. Unpacking a problem instead of shipping a kid to ISS is a revolt. Learning to live with a less so we can learn more together is a revolution. Moreover, unless we do these things, we will never really see or understand how they are so in the eyes of our colleagues and handlers and the parents and students who have been sold the phony goods of standardized schooling. Equities of access, care, information, and pedagogy are not the same as the equities of pacing guides, seat time, standards, and test-bank questions.

In the end, none of this is really about schools or society; it is about us and our kids all together and whether or not what we expect is really what we need – if playing our roles is the best we can do.

If we refuse both to reevaluate our work and enact inquiry, democracy, and care in our classrooms, then not only is “The Evaluation” what I believe we can expect, it is what we may deserve.

And while there is still time, it is yours.

Update: Bethany Nowviskie has most graciously reformatted The Evaluation in multiple formats over here.

I would like to remove some rocks from your field so that you can plant more wheat.

And those hills I see that are part of you, I have some trees in mind for them

and flowering grasses, so that you won’t erode when the elements pour.

Are we not lovers? Cannot I speak to you like this?

Do I need to ask your permission to hitch up my ox and sing to him as I improve your vast terrain?

The title to your heart came to my office. In looking at it a great interest in your soul developed.

The care of your soul became mine.

So I would like to remove some stones from your meadows, then an orchard you could grow,

and the world, and the world then, will come to taste your riches.

So You Can Plant More Wheat
A poem by Hafiz
Translation by Daniel Landinsky

————————————————————————————————————————————————

As I have been grieving and holding tenderly the deaths of the young people and those who cared for them at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I have found myself contemplating the reactions of those who are directing their attention toward ending the proliferation of assault weapons, increasing school security or even suggesting teachers carry weapons in the classroom.

Just a few weeks ago, right after the completion of an Imagining Learning Listening Session (that we are conducting with teens about change in education), a student spoke before her class saying, “We can’t even open our windows and breathe fresh air. We can’t go in or out of our school without going through security. It’s like we are in prison.”

I have heard this many times from students during our Listening Sessions.  In one of the visions, another group painted a cage and beneath it wrote, “I know why the caged bird sings,” referring to their experiences with their school’s security. I am concerned that this latest tragedy will cause us to introduce even more restrictive security and further increase a sense of student confinement.

I do not write this lightly, for what would we want for our children other than to have them safe? I join the voices calling for national introspection and legislation on assault weapons.

But within that introspection, let us also acknowledge that the presence of security in our schools is an admission, to our children, that we are not dealing with the core problems within the communities around them.

In the Listening Sessions, we hear, over and over, that they are visioning safe communities in which to live –  outside of school, as well as inside.  One of the themes that comes from the Listening Sessions is “safety”.

In another of the paintings by a group of students, they envisioned a learning experience based upon a “Foundation of Love.” Many of the paintings have the word love, or bright colored hearts in them stressing their strong desire to go to school surrounded by Love.  Almost all of the paintings have a word or a symbol for care.  Living within a loving and caring community is a theme across the board.

“THE CARE OF YOUR SOUL BECAME MINE”

Isn’t this commitment by Hafiz, the promise we have made to our young people who have entered in their innocence into our schools? Do we not – as adults – not just educators, but as adults – have the sacred responsibility of creating spaces for our children that are vibrant and nourishing? Spaces where they can grow without fear and from which, ultimately, “the world will come to taste their riches?”

If we truly could come to a place in our hearts where “the care of their souls became ours,” would we hold the current situation differently? How would we interpret the numbers that tell us the state in which so many of our young people in public schools find themselves? How would we hold that 25 to 42% of the bright lives in school drop out each year? How would we hold a 33% engagement rate? How would we hold the “classroom to prison” pipeline? How would we hold those who are so deeply wounded and troubled that they cause disruptions in learning, they bully or even create irreversible harm?

How do we turn the mirror on ourselves and face the reality that it is us? It is not a time for blame or judgment.

It is a time to shift our attention and recognize that the many issues, both tragic and critical are not just “problems” to be solved, but also messages from our young people of the deep harms that they are facing as they are growing up.

In this moment of grief, let us take the time for deep and serious reflection.  Let us ask ourselves the questions that Hafiz has written of in his profound poem.

What are the rocks (the issues) that we should be removing from the fields (their lives) that our children must walk through each day, so they can plant more wheat (live in a state of thriving rather than surviving?)

What are the trees and the flowering grasses that we would plant, so our children could withstand the elements when they come (so they become more resilient, resourceful, and flexible)?

How would we create learning journeys that honored “their vast terrains” (inwardly, our children are much more than what we usually see)?

What is the fruit that would come from the orchards our children would grow? (given a chance for full expression, what possibilities could they create in our communities and other’s lives)?

In Listening Session after Listening Session, we hear answers coming forward from young people (ages 13 – 19). They are possessed of a profound wisdom that in most cases we have not heard and we have certainly not acted upon collectively.  Not only are their young hearts telling us of their problems (through the behaviors we turn into statistics), but, when given the invitation, they offer a visionary understanding about how to change.

Looking at the statistics and seeing them as problems to solve, can limit us to looking at symptoms only and often lead us to solutions that, over time, continue to compound the problems. Let us open spaces to listen to our young people. The “solution” lies within them.

Why not begin with a National Day of Listening to Young People? Let us begin that day in an inviting but neutral space, not wanting to fill it with our own ideas and beliefs, but instead asking their beautiful voices to fill the space within us with their visions of a future that they would fully embrace. If we stand in curiosity, genuine openness and authentic respect, they will respond.

How will we balance the need to keep our children safe today with the knowledge that increased security measures lead to an increasing sense of disconnection and separation from what our young people already feel? Will we work to solve the deeper systemic issues or build ever-greater walls of separation in the name of protection? Let us begin by listening.

Hafiz’ poem is a song of belief. It is a call to Love. Let us work together with our children – in partnership, in peace and from our hearts – to move toward creating communities and educational systems that will ultimately demonstrate that The Care of Your Soul Became Mine was the principle from which all of our decisions flowed.

——————————————————————————————————————————
Charles Kouns is the Founding Steward of Imagining Learning, an educator and the father of three. Imagining Learning is creating a national collective voice of the wisdom of young people about how they would transform education. Kouns leads Listening Sessions across the country with teens, ages 13 – 19. Listening Sessions are appreciative visioning sessions where teens co-create their vision for the transformation of education through painting. Their visions can be seen at http://www.imagininglearning.us

So on Mondays I have two of our local middle school helpers in my room….and sometimes they show and sometimes not (when they are overwhelmed with homework, for example.) Today they both were here, and the 6th grader brought up the shootings, asking had we heard about them.  The eighth grader responded with yeah, she had heard about it, but it apparently wasn’t a big deal to her at this point, days later. I asked the younger one if she had seen it on the news, and we talked about how it had been all that was on  pretty much all weekend. Both helpers, though, seemed okay and didn’t seem to want to dwell upon it, but I did find it interesting they brought it up. Then the 6th grader said there had been a school dance Friday night.

Boy, did I feel for THOSE chaperones. The kid I was talking to said that was pretty much all anyone talked about at the dance…here I was worrying about kids’ feelings 3 days later and those teachers had had to deal with it fresh. Wow!

I certainly hope I never have to live through anything like that–but if I do, I hope I do it with half the bravery and grace of the Sandy Hook faculty and staff.  They were quite simply, amazing.

Then I check my email and find one from a friend…a quickie about what people prayed for during our daily minute of silence–that we could keep kids safe, that it never happens to us and our kids–or kids anywhere–and that broken locks get fixed.

I have to say that the story of the teacher who hid her kids in her cabinets and closets and faced the gunman disturbed me the most. It really made me think about where I’d hide any kids with me. Gives new meaning to the term learning space and thinking about how to arrange a classroom.

But, what would I pray for?  What HAVE I prayed for? That we find kids who are lonely and reach out to them.  That we all build relationships with kids-and parents–so that no one ever feels the need to go on the rampage. The relationships those Sandy Hook teachers had with their students will forever be a model for us all. I’ve prayed that teachers understand that school isn’t about power and control, but caring and building, and helping everyone be their best intellectually, socially and psychologically. We all have to care and build skills and strengths and self worth like those teachers have. I’ve prayed that principals and coaches and anyone above a teacher listens carefully when we express concern about a child being a loner or angry or being obsessed with firearms or wanting to hurt another being–or when we see someone who always writes about war and armies and killing…. The mental health aspect is crucial to our conversations–all of us anywhere. (See Sandy Hook Shooting: Why Did Lanza Target a School?
http://ideas.time.com/2012/12/15/sandy-hook-shooting-why-did-lanza-target-a-school for some research on school shooters.)

I’ve hated the discussion centering on guns.  It’s not the tool, it how the tool is used. It’s just like we all say about technology–when a kid misuses it, we don’t strip it from them, we center on teaching correct ways of using it and helping them understand the whys and wherefores of their behavior being wrong. I didn’t grow up in a gun household, but my children did. My grandson’s passion right now is hunting, and he is more knowledgeable than his dad will ever be about tracking, the woods around their house, changes in their land and seasonal behaviors of some of the animals around them. He knows more about guns than I ever will–or ever want to know. I like what he is learning, and I have faith that he will never be on a rampage, because of the person he is and is becoming.

Instead of making this tragedy an issue about gun control, why can we not make it around mental issues, relationships and centering on what’s right, with people making good choices for themselves? Why can we not look at this as a wake up call to examine our own behavior and see who we leave out–purposefully or inadvertently? Why can we not be present in the moment listening, instead of using this situation to further a personal (or organized corporate) agenda?

Right now, I need to have time to grieve, to think of all that could have happened–and be thankful most of it did not. While what happened was absolutely terrible, we are all thankful it was no worse. I need to have time to hug my family, my students, my colleagues and say thanks for my well-being–and theirs. I need time to be happy with my kids, to enjoy the upcoming time off,  and not be inundated with petitions to sign, politics to worry about and admonitions to hear. I need to be able to talk with and listen to my students–to see what they are thinking and feeling to help guide them through what can only be for them a confusing, stressful time. I need normalcy and laughter. This last week before winter break does not need to be filled with darkness and sadness, but it absolutely should be filled with reflection and thoughtful rumination on what we can do to reach and teach every single child who walks through our doors–to make them feel loved  and valued and honored for the good they have to offer. I want every kid to feel the confidence to say “I know karate.  I can lead.”  (But I DON’T want them to ever have to do so!)

I’d rather spend my energy processing and revisiting how to get better and how to reach more and how to connect in deeper ways that make a difference in someone’s life.

After all, that’s why I became a teacher–to make a difference.

Ohio Virtual Academy/ Gay-Straight Alliance

From: Ohio Virtual Academy High School

Gay Straight Alliance

1655 Holland Road

Suite F

Maumee, Ohio 43537

October 22, 2012

To: East Aurora School District 131

417 Fifth Street

Aurora, Illinois 60505

ATTN:  Mary Anne Turza

Stella Gonzalez

Annette Johnson

Richard Leonard

Raymund Hall

Anita Lewis

Ignacio Cervantes

Dear East Aurora School District 131:

The actions in which your Board of Education has engaged in are actions of momentous bigotry that rang the bell of injustice so loudly that the rings have spread across this great nation and into the ears of your school districts allies and Trans/Gender Non-Conforming population. These children are children of your district, are residents of your great state, and are residents of this great nation and for that they deserve assurance to the right to attend school and feel safe while doing so.

Your Board of Education’s actions have showed where your allegiance resides and it is not with the students who attend your schools. All students regardless of who they are, who they love, and who they identify with are supposed to have access to a education that is free and appropriate that resides within a environment that is least restrictive as stated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. When students walk, into your schools they should not have to fear for their safety or mental wellbeing but your actions have made such possible and for that, your actions are actions of depravity.

Your actions have put your board and the school district’s schools in a position where their actions may come under severe limitation when addressing the injustices that take place within your schools. Your actions have begun a continuation of a legacy of failing students and that legacy is one that will commit students to a perpetual reality of suffering and hopelessness during the best and most youthful years of their lives. Your actions show unwarranted disregard for the safety of your students who have decided to share their hidden identities with the people who they attend school with because those who wish to attack them now know that there is no severe administrative reprimand or reckoning for their actions. This act of injustice is an act that will, if not already committed, infringe upon your districts Trans/Gender-Non Conforming student populations’ right to freedom of speech that is administered under the First Amendment of the Constitution. With that, it is imperative that you know that once the first student has that right trampled upon or is insulted/assaulted because of who they are there will be no amount of recourse available to soothe that pain and remove those memories.

You have an endowed obligation to your student population regardless sexual orientation, perceived sexual identity, or the absence of, and for your board to turn your backs on our nations most vulnerable youth is a true testament to the amount of ignorance that exists within these days. Your obligation is to these students, to your constituents, to your state, this nation’s future and when you start denying students the rights to attend safe schools you endanger that obligation. Your obligation does not lie with the Illinois Family Institute or any other outside organization that mongers unwarranted fear and misunderstanding in the name of religion or partisan belief. It is imperative that you restore these rights to these students so they can feel safe at school because that is the only way they will obtain an equitable education.

We, the Gay-Straight Alliance at OHVA, beg of you to stay true to the promise of bettering the lives of the children that reside within your district and their children that will come in the future. We beg of you to ring the bell of hope and sanity for these students at a time when they have few advocates and are most vulnerable in a world that levels a sense of perpetual hate against them. These children, these students, are people first, Americans second, and members of their sexual identity third and you must not allow those identities to come under attack.

With Grave Passion,

Ohio Virtual Academy/ Gay-Straight Alliance

Jabreel Chisley- Member of GSA at OHVA and the Institute for Democratic Education in America

Gabrielle Cremeans – Member of GSA at OHVA

Alyson Kate Lanning- Member, Leader of GSA at OHVA

Kat Sparrow- Member of GSA at OHVA

CC: Tiffany Townsend

I recently saw this bit on the Colbert Report...it would be funnier if it weren’t accurately reporting something that is actually happening.  It is unbelievable to me that we, as a society, choose to medicate (meducate) instead of challenging the system and fixing the problem.

As educators, it is up to us to fix this problem.  I would love to believe that politicians will wake up and change the education environment. I would love to believe that this problem will work itself out.  Unfortunately, doctors like Michael Anderson are choosing to anesthetize children to get through their schooling and to “level” the playing field.  This can’t be the answer…how will that be helpful to our future?!

I believe that together we can personalize education for every child. It is possible to help children find their passion in learning without drugging them.  This can be a reality!  Medicating children to get them through school can’t be the answer.  I think that  The Learning Genome Project.  is a really great start to transforming the landscape of education. To personalizing learning in a way that helps children find their giftings and fall in love with learning.  Yes, this is a shameless promotion, but it isn’t for me, it is for all of us.

Excerpt from “Attention Disorder or Not, Pills to Help in School”

by Alan Schwarz New York Times, page 1, October 9, 2012

full text available at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/health/attention-disorder-or-not-children-prescribed-pills-to-help-in-school.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&emc=eta1

When (American paediatrician) Dr. Michael Anderson hears about his low-income patients struggling in elementary school, he usually gives them a taste of some powerful medicine: Adderall (a mixture of four amphetamine salts¹)…

Although A.D.H.D is the diagnosis Dr. Anderson makes, he calls the disorder “made up” and “an excuse” to prescribe the pills to treat what he considers the children’s true ill — poor academic performance in inadequate schools. “I don’t have a whole lot of choice…We’ve decided as a society that it’s too expensive to modify the kid’s environment. So we have to modify the kid.”…

Dr. Anderson’s instinct, he said, is that of a “social justice thinker” who is “evening the scales a little bit.” He said that the children he sees with academic problems are essentially “mismatched with their environment” — square pegs chafing the round holes of public education…

About 9.5 percent of Americans ages 4 to 17 were judged to have it (ADHD) in 2007, or about 5.4 million children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention²…

According to guidelines published last year by the American Academy of Pediatrics, physicians should use one of several behavior rating scales, some of which feature dozens of categories, to make sure that a child not only fits criteria for A.D.H.D., but also has no related condition like dyslexia or oppositional defiant disorder, in which intense anger is directed toward authority figures. However, a 2010 study in the Journal of Attention Disorders suggested that at least 20 percent of doctors said they did not follow this protocol when making their A.D.H.D. diagnoses, with many of them following personal instinct…

Dr. Anderson said (ADHD diagnostic criteria)…were codified only to “make something completely subjective look objective.”…

“This is my whole angst about the thing,” Dr. Anderson said. “We put a label on something that isn’t binary — you have it or you don’t. We won’t just say that there is a student who has problems in school, problems at home, and probably, according to the doctor with agreement of the parents, will try medical treatment.”

He added, “We might not know the long-term effects, but we do know the short-term costs of school failure, which are real. I am looking to the individual person and where they are right now. I am the doctor for the patient, not for society.”

After reading Mitt Romney’s white paper on education, after the sixth page I became alarmed, after the 10^th page I became scared, by time I got to the 17^th page I was downright terrified. In Romney’s dream for education in America, he pays no respect to the obvious, drives for generic choice, increased standardization, decreased regulation, and deliberate undermining of unionization and teacher professionalization. He dreams of an educational system where he calls for reform and goes toward deform in the way that he actively blames teachers for educational inequalities and works to defund public education. In his mind, teachers are the sole reason that education is failing students, unions are the active perpetuators in academic failure, and the only way to combat this is to reduce funding for education thus reducing the reach and capacity of the educational system, increase efficiency, and take on models like KIPP at the national level.

However, one who understands the shortfalls of the educational system would understand that in order to combat educational inequity and inequality is to combat poverty, the school to prison pipeline, and the school desk to welfare pipeline. In order to offer effective reforms for education we need to offer support to combat every one of these issues and the many sub-issues that lie within these issues. Duplicating a system on a national level that is known to discriminate and offering a system, which undermines progress and threatens innovation is beyond detrimental.

Public education is indeed in need of a comeback but this is not a comeback. This continuous attack on public education, its students, and its educators is quite the opposite. This is something that we cannot continue to cultivate because it is beyond detrimental to the success of tomorrows children. If we want to address educational inequity and inequality in America, we must do what is right and stop pandering to what is wrong.