Re: Heritage blaming teachers for edu-jargon!?!?

[CMWUNCHEEL@aol.com]

The moronic author of the article doesn't even correctly quote the jargon 
he's dissing! VA doesn't have "standard units of learning," but "standard units 
of credit" - same as before the current SOL program (and meaning plain old 
credits earned by passing the required courses) - and "verified units of credit," 
meaning standard units  + passing associated SOL tests. 
Roxie
P.S. Disraeli had only the quote at the beginning. (He's dead).

In a message dated 3/6/04 3:17:28 PM, kristina.pelletier@maine.edu writes:

<< It seems Benjamin Disraeli hasn't bothered to read the "systems" 
guidelines,

policies, and manadates that govern education. Teachers are forced to use

"ed-jargon, becuase the freaken government requires it. Its seems Disraeli and

others, are eager and quick to blame teachers. I am sick of it. 


Quoting Susan Allison <sueallison@comcast.net>:


> This one is really rich!!!   Check out this piece that uses the American

> Diploma project to blame teachers for edu-jargon?!?!?  Who do you think

> thought the jargon up to begin with!  Achieve Inc. and the standardista

> crowd!

> 

> http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20040305-081332-7409r.htm

> 

> The Washington Times

> www.washingtontimes.com

> 

>

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--

> 

> Flunking the jargon test

> By Ed Feulner

> Published March 6, 2004

> 

>

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--

> 

>     With words, we govern men. 

>     -- Benjamin Disraeli. 

>     A teacher's job is to educate. To enlighten. To inform. But that can't

> happen if students -- and their parents -- don't understand what the teacher

> is talking about. 

>     That's the problem with "edu-speak," a form of jargon taking over in our

> nation's schools. Teachers are called educators. They give the children

> "assessments," not tests. And students no longer simply "read." They engage

> in "sustained silent reading," or "SSR." 

>     Students in Virginia, to take but one example, need 22 "standard units 
of

> learning" to graduate, along with six "verified credits." When I was in

> school, we called those "classes" and "state exams." 

>     All this jargon is specifically designed to be confusing. "It reinforces

> the divide between schools and families," education consultant Anne 
Henderson

> told The Washington Post. "Parents are like, 'What in the world does all 
this

> mean?' " 

>     The children are probably wondering that, too. Consider the first 
graders

> in Maryland who were recently told a math lesson "was a good warm-up for

> showing our enduring understanding that a number represents a quantity." 
That

> seems to mean: "You should know that a number is an amount." Why not just 
say

> so -- and in terms the first grader might possibly understand? 

>     Of course, none of this confusion would matter if we were talking about

> something trivial. For example, if we want to call a garbage man a

> "sanitation engineer" and say he picks up "refuse" instead of trash, who

> cares? All that matters is that the garbage goes away. 

>     But educating our children is possibly the most important job there is.

> And faddish trends such as "edu-speak" are causing us to fail at it. 

>     A recently released international survey ranked American eighth-graders

> 19th in math and science. We badly trailed the Asian tigers Singapore, South

> Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan. And, since India and China weren't

> included in the survey, the reality is we're probably not even in the

> worldwide top 20. 

>     The news doesn't get any better for high schoolers. "For too many

> graduates, the American high school diploma signifies only a broken 
promise,"

> according to the American Diploma Project, a partnership of Achieve, the

> Education Trust and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. "Employers and

> postsecondary institutions know that it often serves as little more than a

> certificate of attendance." 

>     That's unacceptable. All high-school grads should be able to write and

> speak clearly. Every one of them should be able to solve advanced math and

> science problems. 

>     And it's achievable. But it won't happen unless teachers focus on

> instructing students, instead of confusing them. They'll also need to 
involve

> parents in their child's education, rather than alienate them with

> incomprehensible jargon. They need to really teach if we're going to improve

> our education system. 

>     But instead of learning how to manage a classroom and educate our

> children, as The Washington Post reported recently, our teachers are 
learning

> to "vertically articulate," "differentiate instruction," and "give 
authentic,

> outcome-based assessments." Whatever all that means. This has combined to

> make today's educational system a race to the bottom. 

>     As a nation, we spend about $454 billion on K-12 education -- an average

> of $9,458 per student. That's a lot of money. 

>     If we expect to see a return on that investment, all of us -- parents,

> teachers, students -- have to be able to understand what instructors are

> saying, and what they're teaching. 

>     It's time to shelve the "edu-speak." As Disraeli said, we use words to

> govern. We can't afford to make it all but impossible to understand what

> those words mean. 

>      

>     Ed Feulner is president of the Heritage Foundation. 

>      

>      

>      

>      

>     

> 

> 

> 

> Copyright © 2004 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

> 



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Date: Sat,  6 Mar 2004 15:16:28 -0500
From: kristina.pelletier@maine.edu
To: arn-l@interversity.org
Subject: Re: [arn-l] Heritage blaming teachers for edu-jargon!?!?
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