You can read the full article, but it goes something like this: an irritated high school senior starts a Facebook page that’s a venue for fellow student to vent about a particular English teacher. A few days later, the post was removed and life went one… until two months later the student was suspended for “cyberbullying” and had a blemished placed on her record. Now the student wants to suspension removed from her record, so she’s in court.

Redefining our “life”

Many students (and teachers) are under the false impression that their personal and academic/professional lives are separate things. What’s more, they also believe that their real and virtual lives are separate things. In fact, they all mix and influence each other, as the case mentioned above demonstrates.

Have you ever Googled your own name? Try it. It’ll be like taking a walk down memory lane of your online life. You’ll see your various social network profiles, any projects you’ve been involved in within the last few years, blog posts, etc. If you can type it in, so can your students!

Be careful with what you give out

In creating our online image via all those great social networking sites, we start giving out little nuggets of info here and there. Soon they may accumulate to a mountain of info.

All this is fine and dandy until the day one of your students decided they want to “friend” you. Hmm… do you ignore them and pretend it didn’t happen? Didn’t you want to be a “cool teacher” who is up with all the new social trends and have a relaxed demeanor in and outside the classroom.

So, you click “accept”. Soon, all your other students want to friend you… and you accept. Now what? They can see you family photos, see the comments you make to your friends from high school and college (not always appropriate for the classroom, of course).

Now you find yourself censoring everything you put up. Now this whole social networking thing isn’t so much fun anymore. Sure, you can part stuff as “private” but it’s just not the same.

The stuff you have no control over

Perhaps far more dangerous is not what you will put up about yourself, but what others will. This little video is one of my favorites, it explains everything:

Remember those pictures of you dressed like a woman in that college party? They are up for grabs now.

The flip side of the coin

Then again, if your students have access to your Facebook profile, you have access to theirs, don’t you? Enjoy the power

I thought you’d all find this amusing…

What’s KIPP?

Wikipedia says,

KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program, is a nationwide network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory public schools in under-resourced communities throughout the United States. KIPP schools are usually established under state charter school laws.

At the writing of this post, KIPP’s website said it had 66 schools in 19 states and the District of Columbia with over 16,000 students. And, they’re growing, starting summer school programs across the nation and the time addressing the needs of low-income minorities; over 90% of its students are African American or Hispanic/Latino while more than 80 percent are eligible for federally funded or reduced lunches.

KIPP’s Results

KIPP offers several pages of their website about what makes a KIPP school different from other schools, but what stands out most is KIPP’s results. They are impressive:

• on average, entering fifth graders are at the 40th percentile in math and the 32nd percentile in reading; after four years, they are at the 82nd and 60th percentiles, respectively.
• less than 20% of low income kids go to college nationwide; at KIPP, it’s 80%.
• 100 percent of KIPP eighth grade classes are above their district averages; when they began KIPP, they were all at least a year behind in performance.

KIPP’s philosophy

The school has what it calls its Five Pillars:

1. High Expectations
2. Choice & Commitment
3. More Time
4. Power to Lead
5. Focus on Results

Gladwell puts it more simply: the key to the success of KIPP’s students is the fact that they work virtually non-stop. Classes typically run from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday with classes every other Saturday, too. After school, there’s hours of homework. On top of all that, a huge chunk of summer vacation is taken out, so kids are working hard while their peers have free time. To Gladwell, KIPP schools resemble Asian schools in the hours and hours of class time followed by hours of homework. The daily rigor ends up meaning that a child lives, breathes, eats and sleeps school. Is it any wonder they have good grades?

Is this what we want?

The above mentioned ASCD article best exemplifies the mixed feelings towards KIPP in the educational community. The title, “KIPP Praised, But Questions Linger” in itself is telling. The post finished with a sounds question: are KIPP schools “the most promising schools in America”?

I believe a lot of people read this question as, “do I want my school to like KIPP?” I’ve never been to one, but I believe many people imagine they are comparable to Asian schools. I personally don’t hold this view, but reading some of the criticisms does make it seem like KIPP schools discourage independent-mindedness. Maybe, in the end, we are just too attached to summer vacation.

Western values vs Asian results

As Westerners, we pride ourselves on individualism and cooperation, not authority and hierarchy. Yet, we admire the achievements of Asians in math and would like our students to emulate those successes. Perhaps you just can’t have one without the other?

In a way, KIPP proves that this is not true. We learn that Western students, no matter what level they start at, can make up for their disadvantages if they want to and are given the opportunities. At the same time, is that which helps low income students the same thing that will let all students success?

One size fits all?

When ever we enter debates like this, there seems to be an unstated assumption that if X model of school succeeds, then all other schools will follow suit. Should all students be offered the same education or should students be given a chance to accelerate in a specific topic over other subjects? Is there a “right” way to educate our kids? No, of course not! Perhaps KIPP is great for lower income kids, but maybe it wouldn’t be so successful with higher income kids (maybe they don’t need the extra edge it gives low income kids because they already have a different edge).

The main focus of KIPP seems to be about one thing: giving opportunity to those who may otherwise not have it. KIPP gets kids to a point where they can be accepted and compete in college, a dream the parents’ of these kids have for them. It’s clear that KIPP is successful, but the big question is if the KIPP model is sustainable for years to come. Any thoughts?

Related Links:

• New Outliers in Urban Education
• Malcolm Gladwell’s secret of success – Chron.com
• School Matters blog
• Quick and the ED

1. abolishing Sats tests and league tables in English schools
2. a ban on all advertising aimed at the under 12s and no TV commercials for alcohol or unhealthy food before the 9pm watershed
   stopping building on any open space where children play
3. a high-quality youth centre for every 5,000 young people
4. a civil birth ceremony conducted by a registrar in which parents publicly accept the responsibilities of parenthood
5. free parenting classes available around the time of birth
6. free psychological and family support if relationships struggle
7. rules making it easier for parents to stay at home to rear their children
8. limit individual freedom of young people to counteract “excessive individualism”

The makers of the study recognize how controversial it may be but believe that these topics are taboo in today’s society.

My two cents

My personal opinion is that what they are saying makes a lot of sense, but will be rather difficult to implement, both for society as a whole as well as the individual family. For example, my wife would like to go back to her teaching job after her maternity leave ends and I support her decision; not just for financial reasons, I would like to support her in developing her career because she finds it fulfilling.

However, this requires the child to be left without her parents for long periods of the day. We are lucky because we have family that can take care of her, but not everyone is so lucky.

A greater question

We can’t address these issues without getting to the core of our societal values. I’m not sure I have the best answer, but we should start a discussion and try a few things out to see what works. In the end, do our government policies reflect our societal values?

Are they really better?

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are given every 4 years to dozens of 4th and 8th grades around the world. Below are the top 5 countries from the last three TIMSS.

Still not convinced? A 2007 BBC news story contrasted two unversity entrance exam questions, one from a British test, the other from a Chinese test. Can you guess which one is which? (I know it says which is which, but pretend like you don’t see it)

But why?

There’s a bit of a debate out there as to why exactly. David Chen on his blog attributes it to Asian parents who are more likely to discipline their kids than Western parents, curricula highly focused on math and science achievement, and the schools that are “oppressive, draconian environments”. Another blogger partly attributes it to the Chinese language, where numbers are more logically synthesised than in English and many other Western languages, for example, French. Gladwell also recognizes this explanation but, as the blogger, believes that the amount of work is the key factor involved in their mathematical success.

Gladwell’s reasons

In Outliers, Gladwell acknowledges that linguistic advantage may help Asians do better in math but he considers the amount of effort and time they contribute to schoolwork is a far more significant factor. Asians spend more time in school daily and go to school more days in the year than most Westerners. Their curriculum also places greater focus on math.

Gladwell attributes this diligence to cultural tradition while Western’s approach to education is as well. It appears that agrarian cultivation traditions have a great impact on educational cultivation. In the West, crops like wheat require the land to lay fallow for sometime during the year in order to regenerate. Asia, on the other hand, is a rice economic and rice paddies can be tended to all year round (the more it produces the more fertile it becomes, the opposite of Western crop lands). In many ways it’s a precise science and the slightest slip up can cost you. Overall, there seems to be a direct correlation between effort and output with rice paddies. In Western crops, on the other hand, you are far more dependent on rain and the weather.

As a result, Asians treat their minds as rice paddies, constantly cultivating and harvesting. Westerners treat it as cropland that needs to rest for long periods of time, hence we have long summer vacations.

Proverbs

Gladwell cites a Chinese proverb that illustrates his point about work ethic in Asia,

“No one who can rise before dawn three hundred and sixty days a year fails to make his family rich.”

He also cites a Russian proverb that illustrates the opposite (I cannot find it at the moment so please post it as a comment if you know it). But, it you look around the internet for Russian proverbs, you’ll find both lazy ones and diligent ones. But, can you find Chinese proverbs that advocate laziness? (I skimmed only a little but didn’t find anything).

Related Links

• Digg result for “Why Asians Are Better At Math”
• School Information System on “Rice Paddies and Math Tests”
• “How Much Does Talent Matter?”
• Criticism of Outliers

Why start a blog about education? In the flurry of work and responsibilities, its important to keep your cool and find your peace. One of the ways I find it is by going home in the evenings knowing I did my best to contribute to my students’ education. I don’t feel that way everyday, and I’d like to change that.

I’ve decided that I want to become an educational mastermind. What’s that? It’s an educator that is current with all the new educational techniques out there, is inventive and creative, approaches education with passion, and is respected by both his peers and students alike.

In this blog, I plan on exploring education and being an educator. I’ll give my thoughts, ideas and opinions. Most importantly, I want to make it salient, practical and pragmatic; by reading this blog, you’ll learn specific techniques that will help you become a better educator.

I’m not writing this blog to be an authority, far from it in fact. I’m writing it because I don’t have a clue about a lot of this stuff, but I have an interest. Maybe I’ll learn a thing or two, and hopefully you will too. We’ll learn from teach other, and that’s key.