Making Sense Of It All

I'm not a fan of homework as a general rule.  I believe it's misused by teachers.  Teachers feel pressured to have additional data points in the gradebook.  I heard a great comment the other day on a podcast that said, "Originally, grades were used by teachers to communicate with students in a quick and efficient manner.  Now, grades use teachers and have totally overrun the education process.     I like practice.  Kids should practice a lot.   Practice reading.  Practice drawing.  Practice solving word problems. As a coach I used to carefully plan practices.  I would plan out practices to the minute and I expected that with the correct practice my athletes would get good results.  I never sent the kids home and said, "Okay, we weren't able to get to everything today so I want you to take your mom in the backyard  practice your form tackles for 30 minutes." If you told me that an athlete found a coach that would work...

My wife just came back from the meeting with the new football coach.  He seemed nice, had a good vision, was positive about his philosophy toward kids keeping their grades up, etc.  He also handed out the schedule and told the parents that there would be a two week window for parents to plan their vacations during the summer. What? I want my son to participate in sports but since when does that mean that we need to let the sport dictate the schedule my family will keep?  That got me thinking.  Why is sports such a big part of my family's time?  We spend more than 4000 a year on sports when you factor in fees, travel, babysitting etc.  It's a major investment. Shouldn't we have some say in our child's participation?  I guess we do.  We can keep them out of it.  But then you're the weird Dad that won't let their kids play sports.  I'll accept that there are benefits to participating in sports.  Learning to work hard, sacrifice, re...

I heard a parent tell me they wanted to make sure their teen had the freedom to choose for themselves.  It's a seductive idea.  Teens are becoming independent and want to test their limits and try new things. What better way to let them grow than making their own choices. I believe the teen years are the time when teens need the most involvement from parents.  They need clear lines and firm expectations as well as consequences.  This is a time when parents need to be at their most aware but, sadly, too many step back and expect their teens to navigate the turbulent waters of young adulthood alone. Imagine a time when you were at your most vulnerable.  These were the times when we needed guidance the most.  I believe we make a mistake when we step back from our kids and their parenting in an effort to give them "freedom". 

The voucher system is a free market system meant to encourage competition in schools and I support the idea from a "free market" point of view.  The problem is that people think that a voucher system will have an immediate affect on kids and improve their test scores by giving them access to "better" schools.  Most of the kids that are looking for vouchers are in a system that is broken and have been raised in that system for such a long time and are so far behind that a voucher won't help them much. When a student moves from a bad school to a great school the effect is like trying to jump on a moving train. The recent study that found that student who move from bad schools to good schools still struggle in math.  Duh---  The study assumed that the problem was the teachers.  You take a student that is 2 years behind in math competency and you put him in a class where everyone is on level.  Is it any real surprise that he's going to struggle?  If an...