Thursday, June 02, 2005

'Why Johnny Can't Read, a horror story

'Disposition' Emerges as Issue at Brooklyn College - May 31, 2005 - The New York Sun - NY Newspaper. Apparently in the Brooklyn College School of ecucation, if you disagree with a racist, bigoted prof, you get punished. ( I suppose hatefilled, bigoted statements in class about whites can be considered racists, but that's my worldview: Any bigoted statements about any race is racist.) The story covers "dispostions" evaluations at Brooklyn College. Unless you have and express the same political philosophy as the faculty at Brooklyn, you won't survive the school. It seems that the College believes that training prospective teachers most heavily includes political proscelytizing.

I thought the job of Schools of Education was to teach teachers to teach. For some, not so, and rather surprising what you read when you go to the various websites. The results of my unscientific study are:

The "christian" colleges are honest about their preference for getting out the teachers with Christian Values. What do you expect, they are avowedly, unashamedly Christian schools? Most wait a while to get around to the 'christian worldview" and actually talk about teaching educators.

The College of William and Mary may be outstanding because they never mention any conservative or liberal buzzwords. They proudly talk about the committment of the school to putting out the best educators possible.

The first priority of the University of Colorado, Boulder is "to promote the distinctive identity of the school by building on the already visible contributions of individual faculty members and by emphasizing our shared commitment to evidence-based policy and practice and to democracy, diversity and social justice; " (their italics, not mine). I thought that was the first priority of various political groups.

Indiana State University says "A professional college of education is distinctive in that it responds to societal imperatives derived from the public trust to educate a nation. An enlightened school of education acknowledges that its foremost focus is the general populace and the investment the public has made in public education as central to the preservation and advancement of a democracy. The character of our social fabric, the degree of our civic responsiveness, and the extent of economic vitality are inextricably tied to the quality of our elementary and secondary schools. " Yep, you sure are going to be a skilled math teacher by going there.

The Mission of the (BYU) David O. McKay School of Education is to improve learning and teaching in the school, as well as in the home, church, and community worldwide (Well they are Mormon and not ashamed of it.


"The (Virginia Commonwealth University)School of Education is committed to excellence in the initial preparation and continuing development of professionals for leadership, teaching, service and scholarly inquiry in culturally diverse settings across the life span. The School emphasizes early childhood through secondary education and lifelong learning; scholarship that extends knowledge and improves practice; and collaboration that connects the School of Education to the field of practice and supports schools and relevant educational and human service agencies." Sounds like a place you get educators from.
The faculty of the School of Education at Oswego State University believes that the role of schools is to promote authentic learning by all students. The role of educators in meeting that goal is to function as socially conscious catalysts for change who create and sustain school environments where excellence is cherished and social justice flourishes. These beliefs reflect the mission of the School of Education.

The act of weaving a braid is a visual metaphor for the interactive, recursive and transformative nature of the teaching and learning process. Educators continually weave strands of knowledge, practice, reflection, collaboration and leadership, thus creating a complex braided school fabric in which authentic learning is an everyday reality for diverse students. Concern for social justice anchors the educational process; it is the knot at the top of the braid." Gonna be a good political operative from that place.

University of Missouri, Kansas City
The mission of the School of Education is that of empowering professionals as reflective practitioners committed to a more just and democratic society." Gee I though "empowering" went out decades ago.

At Bakersfield Univesity you could become a governement regulation writer but not a teacher: The mission of the School of Education is to strengthen the foundations of democracy and equal educational opportunity through quality programs which prepare committed education professionals and counselors in the context of a linguistically and culturally pluralistic society.

PHILOSOPHY

The philosophy of the School of Education has as its basis confluent education that perceives learning as the merging of cognitive, affective, social, and psychomotor domains. This belief underscores the premise that education nurtures and promotes intellectual growth and the emotional, social, and physical well being of all students with a special focus on diversity and equity." Anyone out there actually understand that?

I got this junk from the schools' websites. Most think their jobs are educating educators. Some don't think the School of Education has much to do with teaching.

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