I Speak of Dreams

Don't Know Much About History

Are the current generation--born say between 1985 and 1990--exceptionally ignorant? Well, maybe, but probably not:

According to recent papers by two researchers, it turns out Americans have been deeply ignorant of their history for a very long time, while still creating the strongest, if not the brightest, country in the world.

A test administered in 1915 and 1916 to hundreds of high school and college students who were about to face World War I found that they did not know what happened in 1776 and confused Thomas Jefferson with Jefferson Davis. A 1943 test showed that only a quarter of college students could name two contributions made by either Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln, leading historian Allan Nevins to fret that such a historically illiterate bunch might be a liability on the battlefields of Europe in World War II.

Scott sent me to the WaPo article (registration required) , the researchers are

They Do Too Have it In For You

When you were in high school, did you ever feel like a teacher or administrator had it in for you? That somebody was trying to entrap you? You might have been right:

One Patrick Conroy, who was the assistant principal at L. C. Mohr High School (also known as South Haven High School), (600 Elkenburg St., South Haven, MI 49090 (269)637-0593) had a stash of drugs in his office. He planted some marijuana in the locker of a student he "knew" was dealing drugs, so the kid could be arrested and expelled. Unfortunately, the drug sniffing dog didn't pick up on the marijuana (maybe it was too old?). Later, he told the dog handler that he had planted the pot in the student's locker. The police responded by raiding his office.

Culture Wars on Campus

Stanley Fish on Intellectual Diversity

But if the palm is to be awarded to the party that persuaded the American public to adopt its characterization of the academy, the right wins hands down, for it is now generally believed that our colleges and universities are hotbeds (what is a "hotbed" anyway?) of radicalism and pedagogical irresponsibility where dollars are wasted, nonsense is propagated, students are indoctrinated, religion is disrespected, and patriotism is scorned.

The left may have won the curricular battle, but the right won the public-relations war.

This battle has been going on for at least two if not three decades. Neither side has distinguished itself with honor.

David Horowitz is proposing an Academic Bill of Rights. Is this really necessary, or is it the right making public-relations hay?

(I started out at Butterflies and Wheels.)

Standards of Reason in the Classroom

Are the independent schools (and later, universities) really left-wing indoctrination centers?

When the semester was over, I wondered whether John's story was the stuff of which right-wing legends are made. Would he remember the seminar as the class in which his right to free speech and debate was trampled by politically correct groupthink (even though he spoke more often than any other single student)? He couldn't possibly contend that I'd graded him on the political content of his remarks, because he'd gotten an A for the course. But there was no question that he felt embattled, that he didn't see any contradictions in his argument about the internment camps, and that he had begun to develop an aggressive/defensive "I'm not a racist, but these people . . ." mode of speaking that would someday get him either in serious trouble with some angry hyphenated-Americans or the job Dinesh D'Souza held at the American Enterprise Institute. In the last couple of weeks of the term, I found myself speaking to him almost solicitously, as if to say, "You know, if you understand so little about how some of your remarks might be taken by members of racial minorities, and yet you say so much about them, you could be in for some rough times. You might want to read a manual on tact, perhaps."

This is a long description of a class taught in the fall of 2001, written by a professor of literature, and his meditation on the percieved polarization of left and right.

Cheating 101

The Kimbel Library at the Coastal Carolina University, has a good list of research paper mills

This list of active Internet term paper and essay sites was compiled as part of a Teaching Effectiveness Seminar on cheating, plagiarism and Internet paper mills. The list is provided as a convenience for faculty, in order for them to be aware of the vast variety of resources out on the Internet that are tempting their students.

This is the link to the Teaching Effectiveness Seminar. Parents ought to read this to get up to date on what constitutes cheating and plagiarism, and how much easier it is today.

Chasing Grades

Ramin Setoodeh who I think is either a recent grad or still enrolled at Stanford, wrote a story outlining the use of the "A+"--not just an A, worth 4.0, but worth 4.3 on your GPA.
(note: link requires registration)

At Stanford, the A-plus grade is weighted differently from a regular A. It's worth 4.33 points while the A is worth 4.0.

Now, at several other schools around the country, students are seeking the same opportunity. The University of Vermont and Indiana University's eight campuses are reviewing student requests for A-pluses that carry extra weight. Arizona State will begin offering the weighted A-plus in the fall.

Few colleges award the A-plus. Of those that do, most — such as UC Davis — don't give the grade more weight than the standard A. But Stanford has been awarding A- pluses that carry extra points for more than 25 years, according to university Registrar Roger Printup.

So, you stress and worry through high school that your GPA isn't high enough, and then there are even more opportunities for stress and worry--your neighbor might have a 4.2 GPA. Yours is only 3.95! What to do!?!?! 3.99 is the cut-off for that law program you want to go to!!!!

No wonder grade inflation is rampant. Or is it?

Study Guides

I'm not sure how I got here, but here is a collection of study guides for many popular young adult novels.

Here is the guide for the very popular fantastic book The Thief

In what world is The Thief set? How did the author create this part-magical, part- realistic setting?

Describe Gen. What kind of person is he? How much do we really know about him?

Is there a traitor in this novel? More than one? What motivates a traitor?

What is the Queen of Attolia like? What kind of plans do you think she has in store for Gen?

Which story of the old gods did you like the most? Why do you think they were included in the book?

Jennings on Cheating

This is a column from the Jewish World Review's columnist Marianne M. Jennings, who is also a professor of legal and ethical studies at Arizona State University. Redently, she gave a speech on why downloading songs for free is wrong, why cut-and-paste papers written by others is cheating, and other ethical matters. What she found was the barbarians have overrun the gates and are ruling the city.

54+ semesters of grades and 13 years of columns did not prepare me for my speech vis-à-vis cheating and ethics at a local high school. The school shall remain nameless because the few decent students, faculty and administrators there should not be painted with the broad brush of corruption I shall now heave upon the canvas of public education. Suffice it to say that the school was in greater Phoenix and was not a victim of urban blight.

A week prior to my high school oratory, one of the administrators explained that I would speak to juniors and seniors while a motivational speaker spoke to freshman and sophomores. One group enhances its self-esteem by jumping around for a Tony Robbins wanna-be as rap music blares. Meanwhile, I explain that downloading music from the Internet is wrong.

They asked if I had a video they could show to the "kids" to get them excited because, "Our other speaker is very dynamic." How about a Sesame St. video brought to you by the letter "F" for "felony? Sadly, I had no infomercial for the cherubs.
[snip]

There was growing insurrection as I outlined the consequences of cheating. They booed, and then they laughed hysterically. The infomercial administrator called in security to man the aisles. I had visions of pitch forks storming the stage. They soon stopped listening. A couple in the front row needed abstinence training, most particularly its importance in public auditoriums.

Go read the rest. It is really dismaying, both the behavior of the students and the pandering of the school's faculty.

Educational Jargon (again)

In the May 1, 2002, Education Week published an article called Edu-Speakby Daniel Wolff , which was highly critical of the jargon teachers use and the underlying assumptions below.

The implication is that teaching is neither a craft nor an art, but a science—comprehensible to experts only. Ten years ago, "we knew" that children learned to read by using whole language. Our district, for example, declared that if children were surrounded with good books and were read to regularly, they would learn to decipher. But when PIE offered a writing workshop to underachieving 8th graders, we discovered that most of these students (1) could barely read and (2) were from low-income families. Which left us wondering if whole language only worked with children from the district's wealthier, better-educated families. Now, as the pendulum swings, "we know" that some children need the old sound-out-the-words, learn-the-rules approach. The conclusions may vary, but the meaning stays the same: "We know" and you, as a parent, don't.

While Wolff is talking about public schools, the same jargon and assumptions flood independent schools.

Chic Streetman

This guy came to Al's school yesterday for an assembly. They have a good theater program and wanted to bring the benefits of theater to the whole school.

I began designing exercises to stimulate creativity using the stage as a metaphor for getting up, "getting down" and feeling good about ourselves. We examined Michael Jackson's wiggle, Groucho Marx's comic crouch, Ray Charles' free weaving, John Kennedy's stately display and much more. We tried them on and threw them off. We bought none of it. We borrowed. We made it our own laying the groundwork for building self-confidence, effective communication and community interaction. The result was Chic Street Man's School of Performing Arts.

My motto is "Even vegetarians have a little bit of ham". A little bit of ham is healthy. It's what makes us want to communicate. We attach this ham to the ordinary vehicles of communication, the way we talk, body language, eye contact and temporarily exaggerate to get a good look at our own willingness to be connected. It's fun. But more than that, it works.