tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9539359.post111207729311924154..comments2023-10-24T10:06:05.391-05:00Comments on Instructivist: Divergent aimsInstructivisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01652458042291988959noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9539359.post-1112286423766165002005-03-31T10:27:00.000-06:002005-03-31T10:27:00.000-06:00Regarding Jonathan Kallay's comment:"...there is d...Regarding Jonathan Kallay's comment:<BR/><BR/>"...there is definitely not enough discussion about the basic premises of primary and secondary education."<BR/><BR/>I agree wholeheartedly, and Instructivist has made some good headway with this post.<BR/><BR/>"The magic formula for educating more people, better has not yet been discovered and probably does not exist..."<BR/><BR/>Though there is nothing magical (in the Harry Potter sense) about their methods, there are schools all over the country that are educating virtually all of their low-income and minority students to high levels of academic achievement: see "No Excuses" by Casey Carter, available at the Heritage Foundation's website. We educators need to study and emulate these successes rather that presupposing the task of educating all children to be impossible.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9539359.post-1112204093236716102005-03-30T11:34:00.000-06:002005-03-30T11:34:00.000-06:00"While I question the very existence of an 'educat..."While I question the very existence of an 'educational establishment' ..."<BR/><BR/>How can there not be an educational establishment?<BR/><BR/>What would you call all the state boards, superintendents, instructional officers, ed schools, dozens of interlocking letter soup organizations, myriad consultants and gurus, methods textbook writers, etc?Instructivisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01652458042291988959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9539359.post-1112140982602548612005-03-29T18:03:00.000-06:002005-03-29T18:03:00.000-06:00While I question the very existence of an 'educati...While I question the very existence of an 'educational establishment' and your use of the 'educationist' label, there is definitely not enough discussion about the basic premises of primary and secondary education. Too many people take their understandings of what schooling is about for granted.<BR/><BR/>One of these ignored conflicts is over the idea of equity in education, which you rightly bring up often. Unfortunately, you also dismiss the idea as a product of 'left wing indoctrination,' an oversimplification that does not exactly encourage debate. 'Who should education serve?' is a very complex question. If the answer is, as many people do believe, 'everyone', then it is difficult to justify an educational system that only educates a small portion of the population. The magic formula for educating more people, better has not yet been discovered and probably does not exist(understandable given that no one really agrees on what "well-educated" means). Yet, rather than 'disparaging subject matter, explicit instruction and academic achievement,' this is what educators are trying to do.Jonathan Kallayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00441445357463093869noreply@blogger.com