Something is awry in our schools...
... but we can't quite put our finger on it. Perhaps that is because the questionable ideas that are hurting our children and schools are hidden inside a buttery croissant to cloak the poor quality filler and junk.
I enjoy the perspective of Peter Greene, a teacher from central Pennsylvania. He puts bold ideas out there, which is important. They get our wheels spinning.
They make us think.
A lot of Mr. Greene's ideas are worth considering, even if he uses the word "poop" to make
his point. I imagine he wanted to use a bolder synonym...
In this post, Greene makes an unappetizing metaphor. "If you wanted to trick someone into eating poop, you would not just hand them a bowl of poop unless you also had a gun to point at the person's head. No, it would be easier to trick them by hiding the poop inside something yummy like soup or a casserole. Or you could make a poop sandwich. Just hide the poop between two perfectly good slices of tasty bread (white, rye, pumpernickel-- for purposes of this metaphor you can use whatever bread you like, as I have no idea which bread would go best with poop)."
Not a fan of the imagery here? Me neither, but it sure rings true. Just because an idea looks good without deeper inspection, does not mean it is a good idea. His examples include the latest love affair with grit, high standards (of course we all want high standards), high stakes testing, and using student test scores to evaluate teachers.
He continues:
"Pro-public school advocate: Do not eat that poop sandwich! It's a poop sandwich!!
Other guy: But the bread looks totally okay."
"People are coming around, slowly. They are lifting up the bread and declaring, "Hey! This is poop in here!" And reformers, getting greedy and sloppy, keep putting less and less bread with more and more poop, making their poopiness more and more obvious."
If it looks like it, and it smells like it, and it kind of tastes like it, stop eating it!
Speak up to your school leaders and school board. They need to know you are on to the fact that something is awry in our schools, even if you can't quite put your finger on it.... yet.
Read more by Peter Greene (poop-free) here and here.
I enjoy the perspective of Peter Greene, a teacher from central Pennsylvania. He puts bold ideas out there, which is important. They get our wheels spinning.
They make us think.
A lot of Mr. Greene's ideas are worth considering, even if he uses the word "poop" to make
his point. I imagine he wanted to use a bolder synonym...
In this post, Greene makes an unappetizing metaphor. "If you wanted to trick someone into eating poop, you would not just hand them a bowl of poop unless you also had a gun to point at the person's head. No, it would be easier to trick them by hiding the poop inside something yummy like soup or a casserole. Or you could make a poop sandwich. Just hide the poop between two perfectly good slices of tasty bread (white, rye, pumpernickel-- for purposes of this metaphor you can use whatever bread you like, as I have no idea which bread would go best with poop)."
 |
| There is power in illusions. |
He continues:
"Pro-public school advocate: Do not eat that poop sandwich! It's a poop sandwich!!
Other guy: But the bread looks totally okay."
"People are coming around, slowly. They are lifting up the bread and declaring, "Hey! This is poop in here!" And reformers, getting greedy and sloppy, keep putting less and less bread with more and more poop, making their poopiness more and more obvious."
If it looks like it, and it smells like it, and it kind of tastes like it, stop eating it!
Speak up to your school leaders and school board. They need to know you are on to the fact that something is awry in our schools, even if you can't quite put your finger on it.... yet.
Comments
Post a Comment