Secure Schools? Ultimate School Randomness

I wasn't going to, I wasn't going to, I wasn't going to write anything about schools today but then I just had to. Secure Schools is the heading to the letter I recently received from my middle school daughter's middle school; 'Safe and Caring Schools.'
What happened to plain old school?

I mean, if I were a parent starting my kids out with public school and I got that letter-it would start warning bells ringing in my head. It would imply to me that school are not safe-otherwise why have to define them as 'secure' in the first place?

The letter went on to explain that schools in the Hamilton- Wentworth District have a new policy in place.
Schools love school words. The latest on that piece of paper "being used by schools, police and members of the media across Ontario when there is a situation that impacts the safety of students" are these three "terms":

Lockdown: Potentially violent situation at the school
Hold and Secure: Safety situation in the neighbourhood external to the school
Shelter in Place: Potentially environmental hazard outside the school.

In addition to these charming terms I, and other parents are now supposed to familiarize ourselves with, (I feel really reassured now!! Not!) we were each given a card that will fit in our wallets with the terms on it as well as instructions "where to go for info when your child is in a secure schools situation... and a secure schools HOTLINE.
"When your child is in a secure schools situation"????? What does that mean?

Oh! Stupid me! Now I get it. What they really mean to say masked behind this twisted lingo, is should one of these horrible scenarios arise, we will make everyone feel better; rather than being honest and saying 'unsafe, insecure' school, we will say that they are in a 'secure school situation." Brilliant. Makes us feel we really are in safe hands.

How To Be Alone

I knew there was a reason I subscribed to this Youtube channel...

Math is a creative and messy human art

Paul Lockhart is a mathematics teacher at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn, New York. He writes:

What I find so pathetic about our math education system is that it reduces a lively, creative, and messy human art form to a sterile set of notations and procedures, then attempts to train students to master them and become "technically skilled." Of course it fails even on its own terms because there is no coherent narrative - the teacher doesn't know where the natural logarithm came from, what its problem history is, what it means within the context of modern mathematics, only that it's on the test and the students need to "know" it. So the students cram some formulas into their heads for a day or two, pass a test, and promptly forget them. Of course most people can't retain dry, meaningless hieroglyphic information that they had no role in creating or contextualizing, so they get classified by the teacher (and by themselves) as "bad at math." (I worry that the most talented mathematician of our time may be a waitress in Tulsa, Oklahoma who considers herself bad at math.

http://radiofreeschool.blogspot.com/2009/09/more-laments-about-math.html

Even more school randomness-Healthy on OUR terms!

Proud of his mother's fine baking, my friend's son wanted to bring in brownies to celebrate his 13th birthday with his class. Turns out that with the new School Board's Nutrition Policy (based on the Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide and the Ontario Ministry of Education’s nutrition guidelines), this is now forbidden.

Never mind that Mom uses only the best: whole butter churned by her own two hands, 'free-run' eggs from the local farmer, and fresh ground organic flour. Sorry, but the ingredients are simply not in keeping with the nutritional guidelines outlined in the policy. There is too much fat, not enough fiber..... blah, blah booorring.

To permit or not to permit?

"To determine whether a specific product may be sold in schools, it is necessary to read the information on the food label (dead give away here-the brownies are homemade and they don't even have a label. Fail!)– particularly the Nutrition Facts table and the ingredient list – and compare this information with the nutrition criteria." Policy No. 7.20

So basically 'dead food,' processed packaged food is okay as long as the ingredients of the 'food' meets the nutritional criteria that the school as implemented. 'Diet Pepsi' is okay because there's no sugar in it-(never mind the harmful effects of the aspartame it contains).

The irony to me is that this is exactly how education is delivered at school.

Here is an apt metaphor: a 'balanced' diet to be administered in quantities and in content according to ministry approved curriculum. You can't have too much of this - or too little of that.

And most of all, there must be no chance at enjoyment. No FUN allowed.

too late for some of us, but the future of math is here!

Boing Boing Founder Mark Frauenfelder on DIY, Mistakes, and Unschooling

More School Randomness

"So what do you do in school?" I asked my little niece who is going to be 5 next month and who has started going to school 3 times a week, for half days.

She looked down at her hands; "We colour." "Really?" I said turning to her mother who said enthusiastically,"Tell Auntie about the Beech leaves you learned about."

Oh you went on a hike?" I asked excited for her. "No.The teacher showed us a picture of the leaf in a book."
My sister and I looked at each other. It's fall outside for goodness sake! And the leaves swirl gracefully, dropped down from tree heights, grazing the pavement and the road; auburn, flashy red, umbra and topaz.
And out on the trails, it's a magical carpet to take you on a wondrous adventure.

The well intentioned teacher and her little book can never provide the authenticity of an outdoor experience of being immersed in the real thing.

I watched my sister's face fall in disappointment. For her, unschooling is not an option.

But I can't help wondering if whatever money she needs to have is really worth leaving a child's imagination/development at the mercy of a system that is not capable of anything more than the superficial experience.

School Randomness

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Goethe (If indeed it really was his quote-which is still being debated).

Nice quote. A weird place to deliver it though -at a high-school 'Salute to Excellence' where, lets be honest, you are getting an award because you jumped through the hoops.
Not exactly a measure of genius and boldness and all that brilliant stuff.


I was at this school at the awful hour of 8.30 am to see my daughter receive her award of excellence along with at least 300 other kids.

"You're good at school. You hand in your work on time. But will you be good at life? "

This was a question asked by a trustee of the Hamilton- Wentworth District School board at the opening ceremony  to the grades 9, 10 ,11 students receiving their awards.

It was a good question to ask but to me at least, ironic in many ways. It sounded like the case of "those who have put out their eyes now blame them for their blindness."

What can we understand by that?  Only that the school doesn't prepare you to be good at life-but to be good at school.

What an exercise in contradiction because seriously, who believes that school prepares you to be good in life? Nobody, even the school people. So why ask? 

She went on to ask that they "question society, ask the bigger ideas." And I thought, why not start by questioning the institution of schooling?

On the stage stood the banner of the school, awkward, archaic, Alius Alia Via Ad Astra Ascendit- Each Reach For The Stars In Their Own Way (but we only honour the ones who have 80% or higher).

All the time, "our talented school orchestra" (comprised of mostly kids that can afford private strings lessons) played Handel and in the aisles the students, sweating and standing waiting to receive their bits of paper, cursed and swore, and as my daughter reported, called one another 'fag' and 'homo.'

These uninterested, bored, teenagers were told by principal, school trustee and other school folks alike that they "will change the world to a world of equality, equity, tolerance, love" and what have you.

  Ironic that an a salute to excellence where the emphasis is as usual placed on the academic who are still lets face it, considered better and smarter than so called 'non academics' that they kept talking about a place of excellence "where you know who you are and have a strong sense of self-a place that speaks to your inner self."

What were they trying to say? That you've got school smarts-but that you need to use these smarts to make a better place.

Did I need to wake up early to hear this?

And really, is it only the ones with school smarts who can make this world a better place?