tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post8194333390445426486..comments2024-03-26T23:57:42.268-04:00Comments on SpeEdChange: Social Change and the American Schoolirasocolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01412837280249622430noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-52078891166076820612009-07-01T13:33:19.220-04:002009-07-01T13:33:19.220-04:00Interesting coincidence: You post this, and then F...Interesting coincidence: You post this, and then <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/" rel="nofollow">Facing South</a> 'blog reports on the <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/07/voices-free-minds-free-people-promotes-youth-education-for-liberation.html" rel="nofollow">Free Minds Free People</a> conference. Interesting pullquotes like this:<br /><br />"Cobb, a visiting professor of African Studies at Brown University, began by making a connection to another moment in U.S. history 50 years earlier -- the Civil Rights Movement. The first step needed then, he said, was to shed the mental obstacle of fear. He set the tone for the rest of the conference by focusing on developing education as a tool for building social justice. He also made a case for grounding current work in history: Since educating slaves was illegal in the South, education went underground, he said; as a result, when slavery ended black Southerners already had hundreds of schools in place, helping pave the way for the modern public education system."<br /><br />Enjoy.HomerTheBravehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18261248973011130957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-90665700143786590262009-07-01T08:57:15.373-04:002009-07-01T08:57:15.373-04:00Ira,
For one thing I agree with Tomaz - this is ...Ira, <br /><br />For one thing I agree with Tomaz - this is a crazy world - and also crazy times for education and schools. But it is also of a large window of opportunities. That is why I am so motivated by the debate.<br /><br />Good ideias and suggestions. And what is most important (I think) we should go after resources that are free of charge and open source. It will make a great difference - for sure.<br /><br />But still remains in the heart of the matter the human side. We have to prepare and challenge teachers and educators alike to come into the revolution boat!Volney Faustinihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02837998775174460552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-49936742780793570402009-07-01T08:28:49.379-04:002009-07-01T08:28:49.379-04:00Hi Ira
I tweeted a summary, wrote my own post in...Hi Ira<br /><br />I tweeted a summary, wrote my own post inspired by yours (http://human.edublogs.org/2009/07/01/edu-panacea/) so I won't labour much further.<br /><br />Yes. Confusion and edu-trivia is fogging the view. <br /><br />I read some of the stuff that is coming out of NECC (eg. the 'great debates') and most of it is I have to say an awful lot of recycled edu-babble and technicalities.<br /><br />Don't get me wrong, I would love to be there but probably for the beers with people after the 'great talkers' and edu-powers-that-be have finished showing off their wares. <br /><br />As long as we teachers see ourselves as merely 'educators' we will remain confined to the classrooms of yesteryear (oh, maybe they'll throw a couple of computers there and call it 'modern'). We are cultural workers and ones with a great deal of responsibility to stop and think a little (or a lot).<br /><br />As said over Twitter, I look forward to sharing a few beers one day either in Oz, US or somewhere else in this wonderfully crazy world of ours.<br /><br />Thanks for the inspiration mate, best wishes.<br /><br />TomazTomaz Lasichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12880337651682658215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-68091102106603388882009-06-30T19:56:37.968-04:002009-06-30T19:56:37.968-04:00Excellent post Ira. I agree we need to open up sch...Excellent post Ira. I agree we need to open up school and make it more available both physically and online. My biggest gripe when people try to reform schools is that they only look at fixing the "education" piece and forget all the roles schools have took on.<br /><br />I don't believe we should be in all these rolls and need to return a lot of ownership of child upbringing/learning back to parents and the community. However, this is a huge social issue and needs to be addressed and not just waved away in some move to turn schools into online learning place utopias that many edtech enthusiasts seem to think will solve our youth's social learning crisis.<br /><br />I think you said it best at the end:<br /><br />"We can make schools better, but schools will not fix American society. And individuals crying in the dark won't fix it either. Americans, as a group, must start to believe that they, through their own government, can improve life in these United States."Greg Caspersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13122347236232312732noreply@blogger.com