There are questions we don’t ask because…? Maybe we never thought about the possibilities and couldn’t form the question. Or, maybe we thought about the possibilities and decided that what we imagined couldn’t happen – even if the changes wrought would make a significant contribution. This is a true story, my story as a young educator who explored that space between Thinking About The Possibilities,…
Author. Educator. Father. World Traveler. EdwardFBerger.com is where I share my insights into the world of education.
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NOW THE EVIDENCE IS IRREFUTABLE… While America was asleep at least three groups have moved to control American Education: Group one, the most damaging, is motivated by gaining access to the tax dollars citizens pay for public education. They hide behind a pretense of serving children and building America’s future. They are ruthless pirates who have no allegiance to anything but their own wealth and…
A cultural lag. For many years education leaders have been pointing out the flaws in this top-down, mean-spirited, child and teacher damaging, ideological, and harmful nonsense laid on our schools. The USDOE has given access to the top levels of our education leadership and policy making to people who have never been vetted or elected, have no experience, no certification, nothing but massive amounts of…
Organizing Communities To Save Good Schools by EdwardBerger on May 16, 2013 Destroy the good to reform the weak? What can communities that have good schools do to stop the destruction of their schools and the weakening of their societies? Is the movement to reform education driven by educators working for children, or forces determined to destroy the American Dream and establish a new type…
To get the most out of this blog, view Ted Talks 2011 – Knowledge Is Power. #1: Sir Ken Robinson; and #5: Salman Kahn, and the Kahn Academy. I selected these two excellent presentations for many reasons, but the most important reveal is when Bill Gates comes on stage with Salman Kahn. His reaction and comments – those of a major player in the reform…
I finished reading Reign of Error as my family explored Colorado’s beauty, not long after stopping at 12,180 feet above sea level, overlooking the Continental Divide and Trail Ridge Road. That eagle’s view of beauty, and my mind’s view of America, made the book even more special. From that vantage point, with Diane’s information filling my head, I thought of the America We The People…
Last week I posted a blog about testing those who are having a major impact on education in America. Are these people qualified to affect the lives of children? To reorganize or destroy schools? To evaluate teachers? To introduce alien and unproven processes and top-down edicts on all schools? What must they know and be able to demonstrate before they are credible? Should they be…
Let’s start evaluating the qualifications and accomplishments of the self-appointed education reformers. On my list of those to be Tested, Bill Gates and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Walton’s and the Walton Foundation, Eli Broad and the Broad Foundation, Michelle Rhee and the Students First organization, also Bloomberg, Parents First, etc., … you can add other reformers – deformers – to this list…
What do we do to change the effectiveness of our schools? In loco parentis we guarantee every child the same care and opportunities that we good parents provide for our children. What does that mean? Take Bill Gates as an example of the dichotomy between what he does for his children while ignoring the basic human needs of other children – especially when the other…
Ask any of the present education reformers who are set upon destroying our schools how education works. Ask what our schools do for our kids, their families, our communities, and our nation. Ask any of them what actually happens in classrooms: The socialization, and the mastery of foundation skills for individuals to use to be able to contribute to themselves and to society. Ask the…