Flak. I'm getting it.

I think I could be described as "outspoken." This can cause a few problems. For instance, when discussing educational issues in the realm of public school teachers.

While bandying back and forth about CSCOPE (click here for more information on this curriclum) with a few other educators on facebook recently, I was taken aback at the outright hostility I got from one teacher when I asked how much she knew about the history of education.

Clearly, I've touched a nerve here. We all want to feel like our college degree makes us experts in a field. But, sadly, our teachers' colleges are based on the same progressivist model as are our public schools. And just as vital history is being omitted from our young students' days, the same can be said at the collegiate level. Indeed, I have yet to find an educator who received ANY information on who John Dewey really was and what he really believed. Bloom? We use his taxonomy but we couldn't tell you much about his philosophy or WHY he was taxonomizing the brains and thought processes of young students.

Look at this quote from Samuel Blumenfeld's book Is Public Education Necessary?:

"An institution for this purpose (a teaching college) would become, by its influence on society, and particularly on the young, an engine to sway the public sentiment, the public morals, and the public religion, more powerful than any other in the possession of government."

That was written by a man named James Carter, a public education activist in Boston in the early 19th century, a time when Boston didn't NEED public education nor want it.

So we have a problem. We have a huge hole in the body of knowledge which is supposed to equip us to be good teachers. I say let us leave behind the practice of defending an institution which is rife with collectivism, socialism, and behavioral psychology. Let us move forward and educate ourselves in order to better serve our students.

You will find a list of recommended resources to begin your journey here on this blog. Be you a teacher, a parent, a concerned citizen, a statesman, or a student, this is the beginning of your journey. I wish you well and wish you a lack of flak.