Wednesday, February 11, 2009

"One size fits all" education.

No Child Left Behind regulations are built upon the belief
that there is an irreducible curriculum that "fits all".

There is not.

And upon the premise that just because something is important,
students will want to learn it, and/or that
students can be made to learn even against their will.

In effect, a horse can be led to water, and more over, that
it can be made to want to drink,

simply by our conviction that
drinking is vitally important to the horse's best interests.

Neither premise is true.

Any curriculum that a child does not want to learn,
whether is it on the irreducible list or not,
is offered pointlessly.

Worse actually, because all it really does
is annoy them.



At some point,
that specific aspect of the problem needs to be considered,
as we plan to meet the needs of all students.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Amen, and well said!
With mental retardation, mental illness,ADD, drug abuse, gifted minds, English Language LeEarners, Quadriplegics,....no way can 1 size fit all!