Thursday, October 20, 2005

TOP TEN SCHOOL RULES FOR TEACHERS



You think it's a joke, don't you? Or at least a bit exaggerated. Go here and you will see every one of the ten rules multiply documented.






DANCE AND COOK TO QUALIFY FOR UNIVERSITY!

Top marks in cooking and dance could help West Australian students into university law degrees, ahead of those who studied physics and chemistry. n education lobby group opposed to the state's new curriculum yesterday described the 50 new subjects being finalised by WA's Curriculum Council as nonsense. The changes mean that old subjects that did not count towards tertiary entrances will be scrapped.

Curriculum council acting chief executive Greg Robson has described the rewritten courses as intellectually rigorous, providing real challenges for students who reach the top levels in each course. "All we are trying to do is recognise a broad array of achievement," Mr Robson said. He said he understood that some teachers were reluctant to accept that food science and technology was as worthy a subject as physics but that view was out of date. "It makes a lot of sense to acknowledge high standards wherever they are. "There is a huge difference between a highly-talented chef and what he or she prepares and the average Joe like me who has trouble cooking a steak."

Among the new subjects being drafted are physical education, food science and technology, dance, religion and life, building and construction, children, family and the community, Australian indigenous languages and recreational and environmental studies. But People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes claims it is outrageous for subjects such as food science and technology -- no matter how challenging -- to be considered on a par with the sciences and mathematics. PLATO co-founder Greg Williams said until universities set pre-requisites for entry to courses that presently did not have any, the system would be open to manipulation. "I don't have a problem with these courses coming into the calculation of a student's tertiary entrance score -- they can put needlework in as far as I'm concerned -- but I have a problem with the fact that level 8 physical education is being considered equally as difficult as level 8 calculus," he said.

The new courses are part of the state's outcomes-based education model in which no student can fail and everyone achieves at least one of eight levels of difficulty. Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson has been highly critical of OBE and the introduction of similar models in other states. The State School Teachers Union is generally supportive, claiming the present system treats students, who are not destined for university, as second-class citizens. Under the proposed OBE model, any subject can be examined for university entrance, with only those students who achieve at the top three levels (six, seven and eight) in each subject considered for a tertiary place. "In theory you could do metalwork, woodwork, cooking and English and if you get high enough 'levels' in those you can get into one of the most demanding university courses that doesn't set any prerequisites. And at the moment that includes law," Mr Williams said.

Mr Williams's criticisms come as a delegation of university physicists prepare to meet Mr Robson and other Curriculum Council chiefs today to discuss concerns about OBE. Introduced to West Australian primary schools 10 years ago, the OBE model has similarities to those systems already in place in NSW and Victoria. The council claims universities have backed the new courses saying these will provide students with greater opportunities than current subjects.

Source

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"


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