Taylor's First Law

I've had a theory for several years now, but I haven't been able to articulate it to my own satisfaction -- until now. I had to hear educators describe what they do, not as "teaching" but as "moving" students, from one reading level to the next, from one grade to the next, from one school to the next. And they do, or at least the teachers do whom I happen to be in a position to overhear, and when one says it the rest know immediately what is meant.

...and it came to me.

You're jealous of what the rest of us would refer to as "real" scientists. You want to think that education is a hard science like, say, physics. You want education to be Newtonian.

Sir Isaac Newton's First Law of Motion (loosely expressed and simplified to an Earthly environment where gravity and friction are assumed and constant) is this: An object at rest tends to remain at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force. Force generates motion. Apply enough force to an object and it moves.

Since I'm formulating this theory, I'll call it:

Taylor's First Law of Education
An inert mind tends to remain inert, unless acted upon by an intellectual force. 

You encounter a dozen or two inert minds in your class (I wish that brutal description weren't accurate); You apply intellectual force to these minds, in hopes of generating academic movement. Sometimes it works. *

In lieu of the newtonian "foot-pound" with which to measure physical force, I propose the "thought-grade" with which to measure academic force, or influence. You apply, say, .006 thought-grades (6 milli-thought-grades, or 6 mtg) of intellect to each student each day, and at the end of 180 school days, the student has received one complete thought-grade of influence, and therefore moves one grade upward.

Actually, that's 1.08 thought-grades, maybe 13 extra days, but there's not a teacher alive who wouldn't grant the existence of intellectual friction. Everyone knows, for instance, that the week before Christmas break is a waste of time.
_____
*   It would be a perfect theory if we understood why it only works "sometimes." That's the difference between Physics and Psychology, and why education is not, in fact, a newtonian science.

Whose 'Noles?

More universities haggling with high schools over trademarks

High schools that share logos with universities may soon find themselves shopping for new mascots.

Florida State, which last week reached a settlement with the Rockdale County Board of Education prohibiting Salem High and Memorial Middle from using the Seminoles logo, isn't the only university aggressively protecting its trademark.

The Atlanta-based Collegiate Licensing Company, acting on behalf of the University of Florida, sent a similar letter to two Palm Beach, Fla., high schools last fall. And the University of Mississippi forced a Tennessee high school to drop its mascot of 50 years, Colonel Reb, due to trademark infringement claims.

I've seen plenty of high school mascots and logos that were copies of collegiate or professional teams' logos. I, like most of you (I'm guessing), assumed the schools had actually asked. I should have known better.

The likely response is "but they're schools".

"It was a matter of principle for me," said [Rockdale] board vice chairwoman Jean Yontz, who cast one of two dissenting votes. "We're not making money off the the Seminoles, but now we're going to have to take money away from education to pay for this."

Making money is beside the point. If a logo has value to the high school, it seems disingenuous to claim that it doesn't have any to the college. In the eyes of the law (which must mean something), co-opting someone else's intellectual property is theft. It the intellectual property owner doesn't protect its right to control how its property is used, it loses that right and the material becomes public domain. The courts have been consistent over this point for decades.

Why America's taxpayers are enraged

Bates School
Originally uploaded by Larry the Biker

Why America's teachers are enraged - CNN.com
I really shouldn't say anything: I have too many friends who are teachers.

The much-publicized film "Waiting for 'Superman'" made the specious claim that "bad teachers" caused low student test scores. A Newsweek cover last year proposed that the key to saving American education was firing bad teachers.

Yes, I've know how much public school teachers hate "Waiting for 'Superman'". I haven't seen it, so I won't defend it. But isn't it just a bit disingenuous for teachers to claim that they have nothing to do with students' low test scores?

And how can anyone say that it's a bad thing to fire bad teachers? Are they blithely asserting that there are no bad teachers? (I never met a teacher yet who thought so.) That there is no way to tell? (Likewise.)

In every other service career it's expected, in some cases legally required, that there will be some kind of evaluation of job performance. Criteria for success are clearly defined, transparent to the consumers of those services, and publicly available. I can't think of a single reason why teaching should be exempt from this. This is the flip side of desiring more commitment from your students' parents: You have to be able to prove that our children are actually better off spending eight hours a day with you than being home schooled, or even being locked in a cage in the basement.

Would you let your fourth-grader wear this backpack to school?

Backpack too racy for Pasco elementary school

[The child's father, Fred] Ferrer said Quentin, a fourth-grader, wore the backpack to school for about two years without any complaints. Last week, though, another parent noticed the illustration and complained to a secretary, who brought the backpack to the attention of teachers who told [Principal Ken] Miesner.

Read the article. Dad's a real piece of work.

Technologies come together in unpredictable ways

Kinkajou Projector from GOOD.is on Vimeo.

Now tell me again how the Promethian board is absolutely necessary.

It's pandemic!

Cheating Brit teachers gave wrong answers - UPI.com

British education officials say teachers at three schools were caught helping students cheat on a standardized test when kids gave the same wrong answer.

Perhaps the teachers had just transferred to Britain from Atlanta.

How's your lesson plan coming along?

Frazz free online comic strip library at comics.com

With school starting earlier, is summer lost? | ajc.com

With school starting earlier, is summer lost? | ajc.com

“As an unreconstructed Yankee, I hate the Georgia school schedule,” said Chris Murphy of southeast Atlanta, whose two daughters go back to school Aug. 9. “It’s hot outside! I’m just glad I’m not a teacher.”

A native of Binghamton, N.Y., Murphy spent his childhood summers canoeing and fishing. School didn’t start until after Labor Day.

Many schools in the Northeast and West Coast still hew to that calendar, which makes it “unfathomable” to Murphy that so many Georgians spend one of the hottest months inside the classroom.

Spend it outdoors, dude. You'll figure it out. It's no coincidence that the term "air conditioning" was coined by a man from North Carolina (no, really), even though the process itself was invented in New York. (Thank you, Mr. Carrier.)

“This [shorter summer] is an educational fad,” said Vivian Jackson, of Marietta, co-founder of Georgians Need Summers.

Today’s shorter summers are often thoroughly programmed, giving children less time to be bored, and, eventually, inventive. Summer ennui is important, said Tina Bruno, executive director of the San Antonio-based Coalition for a Traditional School Calendar. “You don’t appreciate the structure of school until you are bored at home.”

It's not enough that they go to school, they have to "appreciate the structure"?

Sounds like parents need summer more than the kids do. They're pining for an idyllic pause in the year that no longer exists. (And the original reason for school to be out of session for the summer--so the kids would be home to help Mom and Dad with the crops--went out with the Industrial Revolution.)

Welcome to the planet Earth. We have much to teach you here.

Laid-off educators offered state help in finding new careers | ajc.com

Revonda McKnight will finish a degree in early childhood education next year and had looked forward to teaching.

She likes working with children, school hours and "having the summers off." But she's been thinking of going in a new direction since she was laid off from her job as a paraprofessional at Powder Springs Elementary School.

"I'm thinking I might want to do something else at this point," said McKnight, 42.

Well, yeah, being laid off from one job could be seen as a hint to look for something else.

So they're attending classes at Chattahoochee Tech. Well, that'll help keep THOSE teachers employed...

It takes a strong hit from the money machine

Georgia again files bid for feds' education cash | ajc.com

Georgia officials offered no dramatic changes Tuesday in their second attempt to qualify for the Obama administration's $4 billion Race to the Top schools fund.

It's an effort that could bring $400 million to Georgia.

In meeting a federal reapplication deadline for the fund, which rewards states that embrace education reform, state officials instead fleshed out ideas federal reviewers previously found vague.

[But control of local schools is in the hands of local authorities. Right.]

Everything Old is New

AJC: School uniforms: The look of change in ’09:

When the new school year started last week, students at Gwinnett County’s Simonton Elementary had a new look - a uniform look.

Hannah Montana T-shirts, blue jeans and sandals were out, replaced by collared shirts in black, yellow and white with coordinating shorts, skirts and slacks and closed-toe shoes.

Miles away in Clayton County, the trend toward uniform dress, which was already in the elementary and middle schools, became the countywide standard as it moved into the high schools.

My son, a senior in hgh school, has been wearing uniforms since sixth grade. I guess it's only news when it hits suburban schools.