William Heard Kilpatrick wrote a 1914 critique of the educational methods of Maria Montessori, The Montessori System Examined. Google has the book, available in free ebook versions.
The Montessori Method also is available online at no cost.
Posts Tagged ‘education k12’
Kilpatrick’s Critique of Montessori
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020Currie-Knight on Integration in Schools
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020In a podcast, Kevin Currie-Knight argues, “We’ve waited long enough for government to prove to us they can desegregate schools. . . . If we give (families) the option of disconnecting their school from their ZIP code, there’s every reason to think we’ll get more integration in schools.”
Colorado Learning Pod Regulations
Friday, September 11th, 2020“Governor Jared Polis signed an executive order . . . temporarily suspending statutes that require certain licenses for adults wishing to supervise children.” This pertains to “learning pods.” Why not make this change permanent? It’s really hard to organize something like this, and the arbitrary expiration date will discourage people.
Trump on the 1619 Project
Sunday, September 6th, 2020As I Tweeted, “It’s so weird how putting politicians in charge of education makes education political.” A small-account anonymous Twitter user posted, “california has implemented the 1619 project into the public schools. soon you wont recognize america.” Donald Trump replied, “Department of Education is looking at this. If so, they will not be funded!”
My personal view is that students studying this aspect of history would do well to read the New York Times‘s material as well as a critique, such as that offered by Phillip Magness.
But I certainly do not think this should be a national political issue.
Allegedly Racist Content in Acellus Educational Materials
Sunday, August 30th, 2020On August 23, 2020, the principal of Aliamanu Elementary School announced the school no longer would use Acellus educational materials because of their “racist content.”
Hawaii News Now ran a story about this and included various images allegedly from Accelus.
The Chico Enterprise-Record also has a story, as does the Hawaii Tribune Herald.
Change.org has been trying to get Acellus removed from public schools.
Various people have criticized Acellus founder Roger Billings.
Accelus claims on its web site (as of right now) that 4,200 public schools use their courses.
Farrar Williams doesn’t like the program for other reasons.
September 14: Fast Company has an article about the Acellus mess.
Progressive Eugenics
Wednesday, July 15th, 2020“The widespread acceptance of eugenics in the United States, especially by progressives, is a troubling part of U.S. history unknown to many Americans.”
Vouchers for Religious Schools
Tuesday, June 30th, 2020This is a very big ruling: “In a landmark 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that a state court may not strike down a school choice program simply because it permits families to choose religious schooling.”
Yet, as I have continually pointed out, this is not a straightforward win for liberty. There are real church-state issues here: A voucher program that funds religious schools forces some people to subsidize religious institutions that they oppose.
As a practical matter, at least in Colorado, the result likely will be to shut down voucher programs. However, there’s some chance some school district will embrace vouchers. I can even imagine a statewide ballot measure.
The Tanya McDowell Case
Saturday, June 13th, 2020Tanya McDowell got five years in prison for sending her child to the “wrong” school district and for drug charges. Obviously that’s obscene. But it’s not accurate to say the sentence was just because of the school. She also had a previous criminal record for bank robbery.
Denver Police Out of Denver Schools
Thursday, June 11th, 2020The Denver Board of Education voted to remove Denver police officers from Denver schools. I think that’s a good thing, especially given nothing is preventing the board from hiring their own security personnel.
David Sachs reports, “Denver’s in-school officers ticketed and arrested over 4,500 students over the span of five school years between 2014 and 2019, according to the resolution. Eighty percent of the students were Black and Latinx, according to Padres & Jóvenes Unidos, a group concerned with educational equity that has led the movement against in-school policing for more than a decade.” I find it very hard to believe 4,500 students really needed to be ticketed or arrested at school. (However, Sach’s and Melanie Asmar’s claims about racially disparate treatment don’t account for possible disparate misbehavior.)
Remote Learning Didn’t Work
Sunday, June 7th, 2020“The Results Are In for Remote Learning: It Didn’t Work.” But this is not an indictment of remote learning per se, but only of the rushed attempt to recreate the traditional classroom remotely. Meanwhile, I’ve found some really excellent online learning opportunities for my four-year-old.