“Accountability, as written into federal law, [is] not raising standards but dumbing down the schools”

Meanwhile, in school-land, the tests themselves are trundling along fairly painlessly. Helped massively…

Heather – thanks for links.

http://web.me.com/eelpie/SusanKing/susan_te_kahurangi_king_A406.html#5

Looking for a means of sending a message to Hilary Stace.

Hilary Stace
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sog/staff/hilary-stace.aspx

Temple Grandin has been on TED Talks.

There is a documentary in progress on Susan King. (http://www.susanking.co.nz/). Most of her art from school was given away; usually before family saw it – they now have the conundrum…

Okay, so now I really need to know, are we including the kitten's tail in the length of the kitten?

And if the tail is included are you measuring to the end of the tail proper or including the fluff on the end? 'Cause that would add at least another…

but if you want full marks you're just gonna have to measure that sucker

Okay, so now I really need to know, are we including the kitten's tail in the length of the kitten?

Q: Which object would be about 12 inches long?
a) a road
b) a jet plane
c) a kitten
d) a baseball bat

The use of 'would' in the question can imply hypothetical conditionality, any object would be 12 inches long under certain conditions. Is this how the question was…

I attempted to empirically determine this just now, but the kitten in our courtyard would not hold still for my measuring tape.

Initiative points for taking it into the field, but if you want full marks you're just gonna have to measure that sucker. By any means necessary.

National Standards…

A lion cub or something like that, maybe, but a kitten?

I attempted to empirically determine this just now, but the kitten in our courtyard would not hold still for my measuring tape.

Icehawk, the reading homework is great! We do get the same thing -…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMhGNKJ-5OY

I like my 8-year-old's nightly reading homework from Northland School (that's the suburb Northland in Wellington, next door to Karori). My daughter's supposed to spend some time reading a book each night. Any book. Her choice. Many available from school if she wants. Just read.

Strangely, National Standards gets…

Quoth the raven, 404, dude.

Sorry about that. If you go directly to www.theory.org.uk/
Trading Cards pops up immediately, in the middle of the front page. There is other good stuff too.

Take a look at what David Gauntlett is offering on his media theory site, at www.theory.org.uk/cards.htm

Quoth the raven, 404, dude.

Okay, I last looked quite a few years ago, and the biggest problem was card-stock. The places doing it for not-gougy were using those cards we used to buy…

In Verona 'tis love's existential
sweet Capulet's throng referential
while down in the Hague
it's that virulent plague
Camus' nihilist hordes pestilential

custom+playing+cards

Take a look at what David Gauntlett is offering on his media theory site, at www.theory.org.uk/cards.htm

Anyone able to add insight as to the impact of this outsourced teaching/parenting programme?

Custom-printing playing cards is, I have had reason to learn, hugely expensive and a massive PITA.

Great Art is never cheap.

A quick google for custom+playing+cards throws up a few companies that don't seem eye-gougingly expensive (but certainly more than I'd casually fork out for a laugh), and the process…

If anyone can think of a good one that uses 'existential', 'reverential' and 'pestilential' (in reference to 'The Plague'), then post it…

see me in Wellington in March

That would require precise timing. Will be passing through wtgn twice on the way to and from driving around the Sth Island in the first two weeks of March.

*weeps with envy*

(Actually, come to think of it, I did that anyway. Just, on top of homework.)

I think I'd prefer either 'top trumps', or something like the Iraq 'most wanted' playing cards.

This idea came up during the interview David H and I did with Wammo during the book tour. Custom-printing playing cards is, I have had reason to learn, hugely expensive and a massive PITA.

Emma could say more about werewolf – but you might have to buy her a drink somewhere real first.

*sigh* There was a game in which people failed to heed my advice to kill Keith as soon as possible, just to be on the safe side. Oh the humanity, etc.…

And you'd have to be careful never to let the ace and eight of spades, the ace and eight of clubs, and the queen of diamonds in the same room together.

Cool!

makes ya think they don't love us no more

Sniff. We missed youse so much we came right back. And in my case, that was despite trying to come to grips with the new demands o Twitter at the same time.

I can divulge one Foo experience easily (because it…

Public Address trading cards. With bubblegum

I think I'd prefer either 'top trumps', or something like the Iraq 'most wanted' playing cards.

Although to get the requisite numbers, you'd probably have to pull in PAS regulars, or other members of the MSM or blogosphere.

And you'd have to be careful…

Well, morning campers (oh, it's afternoon already). And I'm glad the limericks didn't go entirely unnoticed, I was starting to get loquacious limerick lassitude.

And they've been back a whole day and haven't spilled any of the goss'

makes ya think they don't love us no more.

Chatham House rules ensure that information can only be passed on in the same circumstances in which it was acquired: face to face, inebriated, popping out for…

Isn't that how all relationships end?
Not with a bang, but a whimper...

heat death then...
xxx
Max. Entropy

ps: here is the blueprint for the next set of National's National Standards – Checkout chic...
and shelf-help courses anyone?

Wonderful post Jolisa. Scary and sad at the same time.

Isn't that how all relationships end?

Not with a bang, but a whimper...

(Although I did greatly enjoy the Camus limericks.)

Where's everybody gone?

They went to Foo camp.

The basterds!

They didn't invite all of us – I'd've helped wash dishes honest.

And they've been back a whole day and haven't spilled any of the goss'

makes ya think they don't love us no more.

Surely that is a strange typo for "With single malts.

Islander, you would have fair boggled at the range of those on the table over the weekend. Though probably not at their facilitiating effect on many conversations and negotiations.

Next: Public Address trading cards. With bubblegum.

Finally some entrepreneurship from you lot. You've gotz to start cashing in on the fan base or I swear I will, bootleg style.

Surely that is a strange typo for "With single malts.Or whatever turns you on."?

would your lad be Woz or Jobs?

He's a bit of a style freak, so perhaps the Jobs end of the spectrum — a resemblance only enhanced by the megalomania that comes from living, like all lucky children, at the absolute geographical centre of the universe.

(Each a different universe,…

Where's everybody gone?

Some of us were.. camping.

Jolisa, got to meet your brother in passing over the weekend – collecting the set.

similarly disgruntled bespectacled buddy

But would your lad be Woz or Jobs?

I should have just rented them a garage in Palo Alto and left them…

Where's everybody gone?

Well, for me, it is one of those moments on PAS when I don't have anything useful to add. But you go for it guys, and keep us entertained.

Here's my attempt at a Camus Limerick. Points for trying maybe?

__A philosopher there was named Camus
His shakespearean angst did imbue
but alas poor…

Can you tell me if the US schools mentioned in your post included disabled students? If so, how were they affected by the testing regime.

Ian, that's a good question. In general, students with learning disabilities/differences are better off in public schools than private schools over here, in the sense…

I searched in vain for limericks about Camus, despite the extremely promising rhyme scheme and topic. Perhaps our Alien LIzard can oblige? But I was relieved to discover that ol' Alber' was…

Camus moment

Camus can do. But Sartre is smartre.

Don't be A Stranger, now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD1uGPkxQfA

My mother was a teacher of 40 years so has seen many a policy come and go – and then come around again. I thought she…

Can you tell me if the US schools mentioned in your post included disabled students? If so, how were they affected by the testing…

sexy-stentialism counts

Multiple regression analysis?

I'd settle for having my children raised by the Village People.

of course you realise YMCA
is just CAMPY and mixed up
...with the P missing!

a thoroughly modern milieu...

...it takes a planet to raise a child
but those villages help as well...

I'd settle for having my children raised by the Village People.

Today my mother died. But someone will have to explain it to me: I didn't read Camus for the lolz.

I wondered about that too, but I think Danielle was trying to refer to "la petit mort" where Camus says "Maman est mort". The first means "the little (feminine) death"…

There is one moment that will stay in my mind forever as all three caught the same wave all the way to the beach with grins to their ears, and squealing, unbridled happiness.

...it takes a planet to raise a child
but those villages help as well...
:- )

waves…

'aujourd'hui, maman est morte' joke

Come again?

Camus moment

I was desperately trying to work out how to include an 'aujourd'hui, maman est morte' joke somewhere in this thread. (Or at least threadmerge it with the female ejaculation conversation: sexy-stentialism?)

But if they're not depressed and anxious and focussed on material goods and money, how will they become good consumers and workers?

Boy, Mark Fisher is really doing a number on you, isn't he? :-)

Steady on man, that's dangerous talk. We go down that path, children might stop getting depressed and anxious and all that.

Damn that's sobering reading. During the holidays we spent a week without TV, Nintendos, Wii, Internet access, with a table tennis table and boogie boards. There is one moment…

'Oh no, I'm a sugar bowl!'

LOL!

Isn't learning supposed to be fun? At least until High School, surely?

Steady on man, that's dangerous talk. We go down that path, children might stop getting depressed and anxious and all that.

Just realised my teapot reference may be too obscure for younger or differently cultured readers... Think "headless chicken." But teapots are funnier.

Not sure whether this is unique to our 'community', but there seems to be a version of the little teapot which starts off as usual, and then nobody…

Is there anything in the standards which will prevent inquiry based learning?

Not wanting to channel Marvin the paranoid android or anything, but there is nothing in NCLB that actually prevents inquiry based learning either.

If you read the description on paper of our old school, you'd think it the…

Then I got depressed about it for a day or two, hence the silence.

I did wonder about posting, as it's…

It's just that a child…

recordari – so *much* of family nurturing is also teaching however, from babyhood up

I agree with that. But perhaps my naive utopian idealism holds that every child is capable of learning things, as long as they find the inspiration and enjoyment of learning. It is why I favour inquiry…

And you are so right: I could never get my head round (still cant) why a very large proportion of ANZers despise intellectual/scholarly learning – is it the sports-worship thangy? But why should a deep interest in any kind of sport cause…

got through school without learning to read or write and didn't see what the problem was

Depressing but all too frequent. There has always been an anti-intellectual/anti-education strain in New Zealand life. Recall, for example, the mana bestowed on Norm Kirk for his lack of education.

What would a good…

Like I say, why not go the whole hog and publish results that reflect the aspect of a childs life that is far more influential than school: their parents...?

Some days I despair of the parents of some of the children I teach. Today I heard of a parent who…

Like I say, why not go the whole hog and publish results that reflect the aspect of a childs…

We chose to send our kids to the Catholic school which is known for being…

We also questioned the value of the homework. He didn't want to…

Or, it seems, any idea that the things being measured are people.

And children, at that too.

As mother of a child who was always in the bottom percentile on the Plunket graphs (well, actually she slid off the bottom of the page), I can only imagine the distress and anguish of seeing 'Plunket charts' for learning.

You know, Kate, that's what came back to me when…

especially once they've been wisely integrated into the system by people in our MoE who know just how lucky we are, Frederick

We love you too Giovanni :)

As mother of a child who was always in the bottom percentile on the Plunket graphs (well, actually she slid off the bottom of the page), I can only imagine…

o. do excuse me.

u didn ....hear a .... thing

These are typically right-wing ideas, because they assume that success is a matter of hard work rather than a combination of factors.

They assume the playing field is already level and unsurprisingly it looks just as they expect it to. Any who refuse to succeed must therefore be lazy or…

I hope you're going to re-write that and freelance it somewhere.

Wholehartedly agree. Try te Listener first. Go on – perhaps Ms Black will choke on her cornflakes.

Wow, thank you for that Jolisa. Public Address over the last few days has quietly outdone itself.

We plan these campaigns in real-time collaborative space in Google Wave, which gives us the ability to present cohesive, collaborative and complementary messages at critical times.

Actually, that's not even true at all.…

I guess if the policy goal is to ensure there is still an underclass to service the (relatively) rich it is highly successful...

And thank you for providing some evidence to support my terrible prejudice :)

As a Gen X I…

I suppose…

Similarly, in NZ the standardised testing can show which…

it was simply the overall philosophy, which was about contents and hurdles and rules and making the child fit in the peg hole

I think that a lot of this Government's thinking on education comes from an imaginary and ideal type. I don't want to disparage this, because they can…

Bright & bored kids can...be bloody disruptive or just – so-sadly- give-up.

When I first went to school, I could read and write, quite well. What I couldnt do, was see.

And eyesight tests were not a given in 1952.

There are some kind of tests....

The connection between the tests and every other facet of school became clearer and sharper as time went on.

I was thinking while reading that it sounded like your child went to my…