Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Ed Schools

Most of them teach pablum, or worse. Joanne quotes E.D. Hirsch with a statement with which I can only concur:

He attacks the education school as “theological institutes where heresy is viewed as an evil that its members have a civic duty to suppress. The anti-curriculum movement’s sense of righteousness, of being in possession of ethical rectitude and privileged truth, often have a religious flavor. Pro-curriculum heretics are to be seen as fallen souls who want to impose soul-deadening burdens on children and discourage lively, child-friendly teaching. Subject-matter-oriented people are by definition authoritarian, undemocratic and right-wing. ”


It's not just the anti-curriculum heresies that must be banished from those schools, as my own experience bears out.

6 comments:

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

Just got back from reading your "darkie" post. Anything you say in that meeting could be used against you, and nothing you say will "clear" you of the perceived crime. So... what happened?

Darren said...

You and I agree on that point--so I refused to meet with him.

Anonymous said...

This echoes the message of "The Saber Tooth Curriculum" by J. Abner Peddiwell, published in 1939.

hmmmm said...

Did you get credit?

Darren said...

Yes. I also got an A in the class. I also volunteered to take the instructor's evaluations to department office. Of course I read every single one of them--and only one of them was positive. The rest weren't just bad, but scathing.

I also had the instructor's niece as a student last year. There were no problems with that.

karadimos said...

I am extremely glad you and others are addressing this issue, which was initiated by Hirsch's article. It drives to the heart of multiple issues we must face in our world.