"When he lectured in the United States, Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget would invariably

[elleng]

get what he called “the American question” from a member of the audience. After he had explained various developmental phases that young children go through in their understanding of concepts like length and volume, someone would raise their hand and ask, “How can we accelerate a child’s progress through the stages?”

Baffled, Piaget would explain that there is absolutely no advantage to speeding up a child’s progression. The point of knowing the stages is to be aware of what stage a child is in, so that we can create the conditions and offer the guidance to help her move to the next one.

It’s not a race.

One of the most insidious results of the testing madness afflicting education has been an emphasis on speeding toward a particular outcome—a reading level, a cut score—without taking the time to ask what is sacrificed in that rush."

Too many kids are rushed toward the level they're "supposed" to be on by the end of a given grading period, with little attention given to the path they're walking to get there.


. . .1. Focus on the path, not just the destination.

2. Honor growth above proficiency.



https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-the-problem-with-hurrying-childhood-learning/2018/04?

[vanlassie]

1. So True.

[BigmanPigman]

2. Teachers know this.

There are levels of development and that is a fact. You can't push a 6 year old to read at a 4th grade level but that is what states are requiring and teachers have no say at the table. When I taught 1st grade teachers in my district were forced to determine each student's reading level as soon as school started when they had been assessed only 3 months earlier before summer vacation. It is a colossal waste of time. Teachers are forced to "teach to the test" so kids can score higher in particular areas without allowing them to develop and comprehend the content. Teachers are beyond frustrated by this practice.

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

[ymetca]

4. Schools and Prisons

arrived at about the same time, it is said.

I've always felt that the fatal flaw of any education system existing in a so-called "democracy", is that almost no democratic processes are even practiced. How can you get good at it if you don't actually practice it?

If you think it would be impossible to "run" a school using democratic principles, then just admit you don't really believe in those principles. See, a real school is not a machine that "runs" anything at all. Get it?

I've had good, really good teachers, who get this, but we've constrained them so much, and elevated the meritocracy ideal way beyond anything meritorious at all.

[Roy Rolling]

5. One of my biggest regrets

I skipped my senior year of high school to enroll in college. I wasn’t prepared and that one year of acceleration meant little in the long run. I made good grades, but that meant little.

[Skittles]

6. I moved back and forth between American and England while growing up

the different levels of education at different schools took some getting used to!