Frazz by Jef Mallett for August 31, 2011

No, it’s the fact you HAVE to do it that makes it different and less fun…….

When I did my student teaching back in the 70’s, open classrooms were all the rage….No desks, just learning areas (science, math, history, etc.), that kids would have to work through at their own pace.

Caulfield should be unschooling, it sounds like.

I had teachers who could make Canterbury Tales exciting (and dirty).

some people think that budget cuts will lead to higher test scores. that and removing union rights to teachers will be beneficial for the kids.

The new trend is back to no structure; children study whatever they care to study and no tests . It’s called the no class classroom!

Funny, the school district where I live and sometimes work has been firmly under the control of conservative Republicans since, oh, about the time of Noah. Yet you’ve perfectly described our situation as well..Something tells me party affiliation has nothing to do with this.

Leon, it sounds good, but improvement in the Core Curriculum Standards and Career and College Readiness Standards on which teachers’ pay will be based and the principals’ jobs will depend won’t let that happen for long. Not only are the students structured, but so are the teachers and what and how they teach.

Lewreader,

You’re teachers didn’t make The Canterbury Tales dirty, Chaucer did.

I was the only kid in my kindergarten class who came in already knowing how to read (back then, reading wasn’t taught until 1st grade and there was no Sesame Street). It blew the teacher’s mnd when I asked for a book and even more when I chose a real book from the school library instead of “Pat The Bunny”. When I got to 1st grade, I was so far ahead of the other kids that I had trouble paying attention and the teachers actually thought I was retarded and tried to hold me back. And this was not at a public school. I would have been better off at the neighborhood public.

You must be part of the group that vwdualnomand was speaking about.

and I mind sitting at a desk for 5 hours a day