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Tag: Common Core

  • Bobby Jindal for President 2016?

    Bobby Jindal for President 2016?

    Republican Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal threw down the gauntlet this week when he announced that he has switched positions on his opinion on Common Core standards for education. For those of you who don’t have kids, Common Core is basically a Federal standard for what school kids should know at the end of each grade level. This, theoretically, would institute a level educational playing field from one state to the next.

    Jindal supported the Common Core standards initially, but is now backing a more conservative approach, saying that the federal government is too involved in the process, and that such matters should be left up to the states.

    “[T]he Common Core standards did originally grow from states wanting to increase standards so our students can better compete with the rest of the world,” Jindal said in an opinion piece for USA Today. “But a few things have happened along the way. First, the federal government became increasingly involved. Unless you are fighting a war, the kind that requires tanks, submarines and jets, you really don’t want the federal government involved.”

    Jindal’s shift was widely seen as a political move to position himself as a potential 2016 presidential candidate.

    Could Jindal be a contender in the 2016 GOP primary?

    The Nation notes that Jindal is serious about running. He has positioned himself to take advantage of the huge vacuum left by Chris Christie falling from favor. He speaks out against President Obama any chance he gets — which any serious GOP candidate would have to do — and he hits all the right talking points: slashing entitlements, income tax reform, privatizing Medicare.

    Jindal jumped into the public eye in 2009 when he was chosen to give the official Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address that year. Those responses seldom have the production values of the SOTU itself. But Jindal caught all manner of flack for his goofy entrance to the podium and over-eager delivery. He was also derided for the resemblance between his demeanor and that of “Kenneth the Page” on the television show 30 Rock.

    Thanks to these 2 fluff points, the content of Jindal’s remarks went relatively unnoticed. Jindal has largely gone unnoticed outside of Louisiana, but is now assembling the machinery necessary to launch a primary campaign.

    Not everyone is happy about that.

    Image via YouTube

  • Cursive Handwriting: Is it Still Necessary to Teach?

    Cursive Handwriting: Is it Still Necessary to Teach?

    Think about it. When was the last time you wrote in cursive other than to pen your signature? With the universal use of computers, smartphones and plain old print writing – is cursive handwriting dead? And if it’s hardly used by the adults who learned it way back when, should we bother to continue to teach it in schools today? Or should we spend that time instead teaching students how to type on keyboards?

    The cursive handwriting debate rages on. A group called the Common Core believes changes in the curriculum need to be made, more time and attention towards higher testing standards and keyboard skills should be mandated, in lieu of teaching cursive writing. Morgan Polikoff, who is an Assistant Professor of K-12 policy and leadership, at the University of Southern California contends, “If you just stop and think for a second about what are the sorts of skills that people are likely to be using in the future, it’s much more likely that keyboarding will help students succeed in careers and in school than it is that cursive will.”

    However, the flip side deems learning cursive still a necessity. Idaho State Rep. Linden Batemen argues, “Modern research indicates that more areas of the human brain are engaged when children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard. We’re not thinking this through. It’s beyond belief to me that states have allowed cursive to slip from the standards.”

    Now, seven states want to make sure that cursive stays in the curriculum: California, Kansas, Indiana, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Utah. Perhaps those states agree with Bateman’s argument that “The Constitution of the United States is written in cursive.” The Representative believes that if students do not learn cursive, they will have issues in the future interpreting historical documents.

    People’s reactions on Twitter have been mixed:

    Tell us what you think. Is teaching cursive still a necessary part of education?

    Image Via Wikipedia Commons

  • Cursive Handwriting: What are the Pros?

    Cursive Handwriting: What are the Pros?

    There has been much debate about whether or not cursive writing is still relevant in the digital age. Some supporters of the Common Core curriculum say that with the small amount of time in classrooms and higher testing standards than ever, that cursive is just something that needs to go in order to lighten the weight.

    However, there are many who say that cursive is necessary. Cursive handwriting used to be thought of as a sign of intellect, education, and eloquence. Advocates, such as Linden Bateman, State Representative from Idaho, contend that cursive has proven necessary to good brain function. “Modern research indicates that more areas of the human brain are engaged when children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard. We’re not thinking this through. It’s beyond belief to me that states have allowed cursive to slip from the standards.”

    “The Constitution of the United States is written in cursive. Think about that,” Bateman said. Bateman, himself, habitually handwrites 125 beautiful letters each year.

    This has become quite the consideration according to the Huffington Post. The Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights are all written in cursive. Not that the Constitution hasn’t already been trampled, but these are supposed to be the documents that we are supposed to live by everyday. Future generations will only be able to read transcripts of these documents, and the awe and inspiration of the originals will be lost on them.

    Now, seven states, California, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Utah, have made it known that they are going to keep the cursive requirement, according to AP. This, along with the renewed requirement for students to memorize multiplication tables, is part of a growing “back to basics” movement.

    Scholars argue that if cursive is allowed to fall by the wayside, their successors in the coming generations won’t be able to read or translate valuable documents, letters or journals from the generations before. A link could be broken.

    Cursive is also touted as being helpful to the creative process. Kristen Purcell is an associate director for research at Pew’s Internet & American Life Project. She said fellow researchers found it shocking that 94 percent of the 2,462 Advanced Placement and National Writing Project teachers that were surveyed said they “encourage their students to do at least some of their writing by hand.”

    The reasons for this, the teachers said, were that most standardized tests are still in paper-and-pencil format, and also teachers believe that having students write by hand helps them slow down their thinking. It also encourages deeper and better thinking.

    Perhaps some deeper and better thinking is in order for those of us who have grown up learning cursive just like the generations before. Is it really unnecessary and dispensible, a waste of time?

    Image via wikimedia commons

  • Rupert Murdoch: Questioning by UK Parliament on Hold

    Rupert Murdoch’s return to the Media Select Committee of the UK parliament’s House of Commons has been postponed in light of anticipated phone-hacking trials related to Murdoch’s news companies. Murdoch is being called back to the Committee to be questioned again about secretly recorded comments he made about bribes involving British newspapers. The postponement was advised by the News Corp chairman’s lawyers who want to wait until the criminal trials against News Corp publications News of the World and The Sun have concluded.

    This pushes Murdoch’s return back until at least July 2014 and depending on appeals and other trials, he may not appear until 2015. The Committee agrees with the advice, concerned in their own right that the criminal proceedings could be prejudiced. The recordings were secretly obtained during a meeting between Murdoch and over 20 Sun journalists, now accused of unlawful payments to public officials to obtain stories.

    The first of the criminal trials begins on 28 October and involves eight defendants. Among those are Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of News International (now News UK), and Andy Coulson, former News of the World editor. Both have pleaded not guilty.

    Amplify in Schools

    Murdoch is also gaining coverage for an initiative by News Corp’s education arm Amplify that is piloting use of tablets in schoolrooms. The company has invested hundreds of millions in the new venture and supporting educational games and technologies, including their own Amplify tablet.

    The investment, highlighted in a Mashable Spotlight report, is based on the increasing prominence of digital technologies in classrooms and considering the American school system’s country-wide move to Common Core, a set of K-12 curriculum standards, the new venture’s timing may pay off.

    Other forums will host the debate over this move toward tablet-lessons: Are they affordable for lower-income schools? How do schools protect against privacy and hacking? Do they improve students’ retention and learning? And so on. Meanwhile Amplify—whose CEO is a former New York City schools chancellor—is conducting pilot projects and focus groups in schools across the country.

    [Images via Amplify official website and Rupert Murdoch official Twitter.]