Peter Greene reliably reads all the studies, think tank reports, foundation proclamations, and other stuff that pours forth from the Think About Education Industry.
In this post, he is thinking about something else, something very important: his 18-month-old grandson.
This is a young man with a long list of studies, reports, and policy briefs. Well, diapers, not so much briefs.
As Peter writes:
He is, at 18 months, a Man of Adventure. He knows many exciting activities, such as Putting One Thing Inside of Another Thing, or Stomping Vigorously Upon the Ground. He knows the word “dog” and is involved extensive survey of just how many dogs there are in the world, which also involves working out which survey items are dogs, and which are not. In the photo above, you can gauge his mastery of Spoon Technique as applied to Ice Cream. This is part of his extensive study on What Can Be Safely and Enjoyably Eaten.
While outdoors he devotes his time to Running Studies, by which I don’t mean the management of studies, but the study of actual running. A popular game– Walking Up The Top of the Hill, followed by the sequel, Running to the Bottom of the Hill (“Hill” here defined as “Stretch of mildly tilted ground”). This dovetails with another one of his spirited experiments on the question of When Is It a Good Time To Applaud and Cheer? (The complete answer has not yet been compiled, but it clearly includes “after you have made it to the top of the hill” and “after you have run down.”)
Peter knows that somewhere there are people with Very Important Titles trying to figure out ways to determine whether this child is improving. What test should be devised? How should he be measured? Will he ever amount to anything if he doesn’t have a battery of tests to rate him, rank him, and enable comparison to children of the same age in other states and nations?
Peter has it right of course, along with many parents and students/researchers into early childhood. Too bad people with Very Important Titles–PVITs–including advisors to B. Sanders and H. Clinton do not see what should be obvious.
Yes. We still will have our work cut out for us in the long run.
Will this child even exist if it’s data is not available and ready to be monetized?
Bill Gates is concerned…
If a child runs through the forest, and her skills are not measured… is our children really learning?
Love it. My 18 month old grandson loved site-seeing, and told me, when I accidentally left the back door of my new mini-van open,: “Nana, wha a good idea… I can see ‘evwething.’ ” By two years old he was into studying written language and READING …my first grade primers. Now at 17, he is ‘studying’ colleges to pick one that can prepare him for the 21st century… luckily his parents are doctors and he can afford one, unlike the majority of his contemproaries.
Doesn’t that imply we all should support Bernie’s free college for everyone? Until then, shouldn’t he really repudiate his privilege and grovel with the grimy at the local community college? Or even better, NOT go to college, but learn a construction trade? Or even better than that, hire himself out as an anti-Trump protester? Then he’d be doing the nation some real good instead of go along to get along going to college.
Dear Peter,
Don’t worry about your grandson and data and ranking and anything else.
As long as you have a spare $40,000 or so lying around each year, just send him to the private schools like the one Bill Gates sends his kids, or Arne Duncan.
Then your child gets to be a child as long as he likes. Those children are much too “special” to have to take those pesky tests or be evaluated.
Can’t afford that fancy private school that doesn’t believe in that data where the funders of “reform” send their own children? Then your grandkid is SOL. He is only as good as the data says he is and don’t you forget it.
So this is why I can’t get behind Democrats. . .because they all want sweeping pre-K initiatives.