Let's Fix Education / by Bruce Deitrick Price
Savvy, practical insights on where our Education Establishment went wrong and how most schools can be improved.LET'S FIX EDUCATION explains the many dysfunctional theories and methods operating within our schools. This podcast is intended for parents, teachers, and community leaders who want education reform.
Each week, LET'S FIX EDUCATION examines another problem in our public schools, such as: Constructivism. Learning styles. Sight-words. No memorization. Cooperative learning. Prior knowledge. Reform math. The dilution of knowledge. Common Core. Project-based learning. Student-centered, etc. In fact, there are DOZENS of counterproductive learning and teaching theories, all made worse by ideological motives.
Bio: Bruce Deitrick Price is a novelist, artist, and education reformer. He has analyzed the problems in education for more than 30 years. Price is the author of "Saving K-12: What happened to our public schools? How do we fix them?" (190 pages) His main education site is Improve-Education.org. For more information about book and author, visit Lit4u.com. Newest novels are "Frankie" (about a harmless robot) and "The Boy Who Saves The World" (about a boy who saves the world).
"Bruce Price’s SAVING K-12 is a MUST read! It is precise, concise and powerful. Action is required…for the sake of our children, our grandchildren and the future of the American Republic!” Robert W. Sweet, Jr., long-time President of The National Right to Read Foundation
Let's Fix Education / by Bruce Deitrick Price
Episode 163: More Good Ideas For Going Back to School
Episode 163: More Good Ideas For Going Back to School
Wed., August 14, 2024
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Let's reclaim the classrooms and fill them with joyful learning.
To understand why the schools are so bad, you have to understand that the professors in charge do not care about intellectual or academic content. Sorry, that's the tough reality. Let's turn it around by teaching content every chance you get.
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PRECISION: One of the world’s great drum corps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7jsVsUNWsM
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NO PRECISION: "Constructivism is a Big Fat Con"
https://www.nonpartisaneducation.org/Review/Essays/v13n1.htm
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Listen to PODCAST or read TRANSCRIPT.
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Here are two ways to help my reform work…
Visit Education Reform
for a 2-page explanation
of what everyone can do.
When you need a smart gift,
give Saving K-12 .
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Word-Wise Education
757-455-5020
Bruce Deitrick Price
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Bio: Bruce Deitrick Price is a novelist, artist, poet, and education reformer.
(For a list of literary titles, visit Lit4u.com.
Under construction but worth a look.)
COMING SOON: "THE BOY WHO SAVES THE WORLD"
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Let's Fix Education explains to Americans why their schools are so bad. The people in charge prefer mediocrity because they are socialists of one kind or another. If people work together to promote real education, we'll have it.
LET'S FIX EDUCATION by Bruce Deitrick Price
Episode 163 -- Wed., August 14, 2024
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More Good Ideas For Going Back to School
The big news recently is about AI. It has problems, but I think this is good news. You can't push a button and automatically assume that what comes out of AI is guaranteed to be accurate. Warn your students that they have to know enough to edit and fix problems before the teacher sees them.
Six months ago, I had a dark feeling that our school system would let children become dependent on AI. Schools would have an excuse for teaching less and less. But that's not the world now, thankfully. Everybody has to try harder. I like the sound of that. (On the other hand, now we understand why Elon Musk is nervous about AI.)
So let me sum up my two rules for education radicals. Assume that the Education Establishment is often lying. That's what I write about for 20+ years. It's fun to figure out the weird sophistries they sneak into everything. Secondly, there are lots of teaching assists lurking unseen around you. Look for them and act on them.
Anything that breaks up the simple-minded hegemony of uninspired experts is welcome. Anything that puts pressure on K-12 maestros is a plus for the whole culture.
I'm obsessed with the thought that we can do so much better. Last week I wrote an episode called “exploring the world through topography.” For example, show children several different typefaces and tell them to pick the one they like best, and draw their name in that style. I.e., create a logo for a company named after them.
To keep this discussion in context, remember that our school system is nuts about teaching SEL, DEI and anything non-academic. So I'm saying, forget all that, and look for all the chances to teach content, real content.
English is the biggest language on the planet. Most languages have one word for everything. English sometimes has six or 10. We took words from every language and now we need a thesaurus to tell us our choices. I ran into a big cluster of words meaning friend. Even with younger kids, you could tell them three or four of these words and challenge them to create sentence that capture the difference between different levels of friendship: buddy, companion, partner, crony, pal, schoolmate, amigo, sidekick, teammate.
Discuss precision as a way of encouraging precision. There's way too much intellectual sloppiness in K-12 education. Kids can be late. They can skip work all together. It's not so bad if they cheat. OK, show them examples of precision, of careful design, of doing things a certain correct way. For example, a high-level drum corps. (Link below.) Personally I have always been fascinated by small watches. Rolex and such companies have websites showing what's involved in fixing such a watch. Tiny gears that have to be assembled with a tweezer.
Ask children if they thought they could learn to do something like that, or if they would enjoy it? Or show them a cuckoo clock or a big grandfather clock and say, what about this? Could you learn how to fix this one? Or show the children two watches or clocks and let them vote on which is best, and then present arguments for their view. I think it's important to let children know that there are many areas where you have to show judgment, and for that you have to have knowledge. That's the beginning of critical thinking.
Blueprints are a fascinating thing. A large building might have thousands of blueprints, for the wires, for the pipes, for the structural steel, for the windows, for the alarm system, for the water system. There are so many systems inside of the building and you have to have everything specified exactly.
You could show the students any large building or even a large car and tell them that this car probably has 5000 parts. A large jet plane might have 100,000 or 200,000 and there are blueprints for every single component of this car: electricity, fuel, and everything has to be worked out carefully on the sketches and then on the blueprints.
Next: I want to do an episode on structural steel, which is where the modern city started.
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NO PRECISION: "Constructivism is a Big Fat Con"
https://www.nonpartisaneducation.org/Review/Essays/v13n1.htm
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Video showing the value of practice: DRUM CORPS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7jsVsUNWsM