1. Time

Time is never time at all
You can never ever leave
Without leaving a piece of youth- Billy Corgan

X= Time

1:1 Ratio

1: Hour= 1 Hour 1:Day= 1 Day 1:Year= 1 Year

Federal Laws require states to mandate schooling for ages 5-18.

Pre K Ages 2-4 years Old not mandatory but funded and encouraged.

0-8. *Considered the most formative years with the fastest neurobiological development.

8-13 Early Adolescent

13-18 Adolescent

18-24 (Adults expected to work or go to school)

US Compulsory Education by state. (Laws requiring mandatory education). Average 5-18.

physical growth, cognitive development, emotional and social development, language development, and sensory and motor development.

Average retirement age: 67

0- A Wicked Problem

A Wicked Problem- (Education).

“refers to an idea or problem that cannot be fixed, where there is no single solution to the problem; and "wicked" denotes resistance to resolution, rather than evil (*). Another definition is "a problem whose social complexity means that it has no determinable stopping point". Wikipedia

A wicked problem IS- Circular O

Wicked Problem Examples: Education design, financial crises, health care, hunger, income disparity, obesity, poverty, terrorism, and sustainability.

Video. Highlight (3min35sec): A circular/ paradox to wicked problems is Transparency. Transparency of- Intention, Process and Objectives.

Original Question: What is the Purpose of education? What is the intention? The Process and Objectives?

I.School discovered a paradox- often conflicting and paradoxical results.

My intention is to draw attention to education as a wicked problem. This is my process and my objectives are to create, live by, and lead by examples of wicked-loopholes. Loopholes are by means of understanding the nature of education today and ‘bending the curve’.

Wicked solutions to wicked problems. Understand the problem FIRST.

On to Step One. Time. The Problem of Time and Education.

*”wicked denotes resistance to resolution, rather than evil.” Although, if evil is defined as “profoundly immoral” (by Webster), and education is immoral (with proof), then education can be considered___________. (Debatable, but I have a hunch I could win that debate).

science of reading

Prediction. (Use NAEP data scores to buy a new product.)

After Common Core (is that still a thing?) and new 2024 standards (for a very old system); get familiar with the “new and improved” Science of Reading. If you have not heard it tied to NAEP reading assessments, I predict you will.

Bread Crumbs: Lexia. As in- how to help kids with reading- from dyslexia, hense “Lexia.” Is a new product for the educational market. Here are the links to crumbs-

Veritas Capital A private investment group, to “vitally important areas, such as healthcare, education, and national security, is core to Veritas.” Owns-

Cambium Learning Group

Cambium Learning Group, Inc. provides digital education solutions to school districts, educators, students and parents. The company’s solutions target preK-12 literacy, science, math and intervention and serves approximately 75% of US school districts in all 50 states and customers in over 170 countries.

The “new” Science of Reading- brought to you by-

Lexia which is owned by Cambium/ Veritas; your education and military testing head quarters.

Perhaps a side note, but other education dominant companies also invested in education:

Google “Alphabet” 7 Companies owned by Google Alphabet. Google/Youtube Classroom.

BM: Business Management Systems and Education.

Other sources: AIR. a constant resource when it comes to education, since 1946. Now run by Cambium.

PBS.

Education Prof.

NAEP: 2022 Headline: Scores decline in NAEP reading at grades 4 and 8 compared to 2019.

2023 NAEP/NCES: 5 Goals translated.

NAEP- Nations Report Card. National

NCES- National Center for Educational Statistics

Watch: Long-Term Goals. (1 minute and 37 seconds.)

CPS: Critical Problem Solving (I think, although not clarified).

5 Simple Goals- directly quoted.

  1. Maintain an organizational culture of achievement.

  2. To promote operational excellence;

  3. To ensure the safety and well-being of our students and out staff;

  4. To encourage stakeholder engagement through timely, transparent and concrete engagement;

  5. And to cultivate wellness and civility for our students and our staff.

1:38 seconds later ~Marty West NAEP Board. I do not need to watch the rest of the 37 minutes. I predict the rest of the clip will include: carefully chosen negative fearful words- warning of bad testing, blame COVID- followed by lots and lots of graphs and data. Visuals. More reinforcements. Like a “you better go along with this or else…”

Stop The World.

5 Simple Goals. I. Translation.

  1. define “achievement” as ‘the quantity of a students work’. Quantity.

  2. “operational excellence” Other wise known as, “OpEx, is an approach to business management that emphasizes continuing achievement.” (IBM Blog)

  3. “Safety”. the “condition of being protected from harm”. Like data and testing?

  4. Stakeholders- private party; makes wager; interest in something (education) especially in business. Transparent- easily perceived motives. Engagement a formal arrangement (not marriage, but similar?); or to do something at a fixed time. Like Long-Term trends. See ROE (Rules of Engagement). Education and military.

  5. “Cultivate wellness and civility for our students and staff.” NCES/ NAEP

Sixty-nine percent of public schools reported an increase in the percentage of their students seeking mental health services at school since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and roughly three-quarters (76 percent) of schools also reported an increase in staff voicing concerns about their students exhibiting symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and trauma. NCES

Remember 11.11.23

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks the signing of the Armistice, on 11th November 1918, to signal the end of World War One.

WWI

At 11am, a two minute silence is observed at war memorials and other public spaces across the UK.

The First Two Minute Silence in London (11th November 1919) as reported in the Manchester Guardian, 12th November 1919.

'The first stroke of eleven produced a magical effect.

The tram cars glided into stillness, motors ceased to cough and fume, and stopped dead, and the mighty-limbed dray horses hunched back upon their loads and stopped also, seeming to do it of their own volition.

Someone took off his hat, and with a nervous hesitancy the rest of the men bowed their heads also. Here and there an old soldier could be detected slipping unconsciously into the posture of 'attention'. An elderly woman, not far away, wiped her eyes, and the man beside her looked white and stern. Everyone stood very still ... The hush deepened. It had spread over the whole city and become so pronounced as to impress one with a sense of audibility. It was a silence which was almost pain ... And the spirit of memory brooded over it all.'

World War II:

And in a 1948 speech, Winston Churchill said, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” No matter the origin, the sentiments are eternal.

Condemned, doomed- both are synonyms for “wrong,” “reprehensible,” “Evil”

Learn. Remember. (or not).

List of wars from 1945 to 1989

Israel, the Middle East… The List goes on. The effects are nearly identical from, Historic Shell Shock to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD

2023 United States

Education. Multiple sources have deemed todays children are in Crisis.

“for youth in the United States, leading to a mental health crisis as declared by the United States surgeon general just over a year ago. But U.S. children and teens have been suffering for far longer.” APA January 1, 2023

Factors such as homework, social life, perceived parental pressure, university applications, and never-ending workloads all generate stress;

This, on top of growing concerns about social media, mass violence, natural disasters, climate change, and political polarization—not to mention the normal ups and downs of childhood and adolescence—can feel insurmountable for those who work with kids.

Not to mention a pandemic.

Much has been said about the pandemic's effects on kids' mental health. And while that's true, the pandemic added to problems that have long existed, said Joseph Feinglass, a research professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago.

in fact, suicide is now the leading cause of death for 13- and 14-year-olds in the United States, said senior researcher Dr. Sarah Wood, a professor of pediatrics at Florida Atlantic University's Schmidt College of Medicine. US

November 11, 2023

As part of I.School. I would encourage silent reflection. Two minutes, half-hour, an Hour, A Day of Silence.

No, you students were not around for WWI or II. Neither was I. I was born in 1968: Vietnam War's Tet Offensive, riots in Washington, DC, the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1968, and heightened social unrest over the Vietnam War, values, and race.

Most Recognized wars have not been on US soil. Who remembers the Civil War? Nope. 9-11 is the nearest in time. 22 years ago.

Today’s students are all post 9-11. War, riots in DC, landmark Supreme Court decision, protests against systemic racism, values, and education. So, as things change- so painfully similar, in systemic ways.

Of course I have no authority, no power to change laws (remember, I’m the loser teacher ;)

However, This Remembrance Day, I will honor all students. All Students. Honestly, I think about you Every Day! But today is more of a lesson.

At Least, please remember to take a moment and well, remember anyone you know who has lived through school shootings; or who have thought about suicide, or have taken their own life. Make it personal. Wear white, black, an armband, or a poppy. Just surgestions. Don’t be pushy or disrespectful especially to veterans- many are in pain. Like you.

Remember what you precious students have already lived through. You are not alone.

One for me, one thinking of you.

One for you. One for me.

What does the Foxx Say?

Here’s What:

N.C. Representative Virginia Foxx seen here , far right, telling a reporter to “shut up!”

So What?

So, Virginia Foxx is the Chair, of the House Education Committee. Education and Labor.

From the Official Committee Webpage:

The Education and Labor Committee's purpose is to ensure that Americans' needs are addressed so that students and workers may move forward in a changing school system and a competitive global economy.

The committee and its five subcommittees oversee education and workforce programs that affect all Americans, from early learning through secondary education, from job training through retirement.

The Education and Labor Committee Democrats' goal is to keep America strong by increasing education opportunities for students, by making it easier to send young adults to college, and by helping workers find job training and retirement security for a better future. The following education issues are under the jurisdiction of the Education and Labor Committee:

So, as a former teacher, (Foxx received her bachelor's degree in 1968 and later earned both a Master of Arts in college teaching (1972) and an Ed.D) telling a reporter or a student to shut up is important because she represents national education. Don’t ask questions to the newly appointed Speaker of the House? Third in line to the presidency.

Seeing a pattern?

Now What?

Consider yourself, the student, consumer, AND the labor force. Continue to be self-critical thinkers. Ask questions. Don’t accept unclear answers.

What does the Fox Say? I remember students showing me this video when it first came out. Over and over. ha, What a crazy song!

Connect the Dots. engage

Here is a sample of my work. All Connected.

The Department of Education/ NAEP + IES

And Much More!

The IES

IES: Created in 2002 (after NCLB), and under Grover “Russ” Whitehurst. (NAEP Board, 2023).

Mark Schneider

IES Institution of Education Science. Currently under Mark Schneider: Trump appointee, 2018.

"Never let a good crisis go to waste."

The 74

Interview with Mark Schneider (Head of the IES);

The 74

The 74 launched in 2015, with a $4 million annual budget. Funders include Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Walton Family Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Dick & Betsy DeVos Family Foundation.

AIR

An Insight Look at AIR: The Most Terrifying Company in Education Reform

The scariest part is AIR’s role in the creation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

The IES and Marbury v. Madison

ENGAGE and DARPA Defense Advanced Research Project Agency

IES: to accelerate the translation of science into "facts on the ground,"

Mark Schneider, former vice President- for the American Institutes for Research (AIR).

The 74 DARPA and Education

Hypothesis

Assumptions. After research I have a hypothetical hypotheses, (is that redundant?): 

First,

Kids have the right to a free, unfettered (unobstructed), education.

Second,

Kids are the most maligned group I can think of.  Unfairly criticized and exploited. 

Third assumption is  a-

Syllogism (logical reasoning): 

If public school kids are being used as, say: a labor force, militarism, and consumerism;

And big business management coupled with policy makers, are unfairly and unilaterally using kids for their financial gains.

Then, by definition, it is a sin, a crime and unconstitutional.

If a counter argument is true, I would argue- 

Then redefine the word, “Transparency”, and be honest with kids when they ask “why do we have to learn this stuff?” Answer with a “well kids, you don’t. We need you to work for big businesses, stay in debt and buy stuff until you die.” (See, is that too much? I cringe, but, is it closer to a truth? Logically speaking.) 

Here is another piece of bait:

Historically, players of the power game deploy three main tactics from say, the Middle Ages, from indentured servants to powerful empires- (take your pick of empire).  Three patterns persist, which is to  Keep the masses:

  • Desperate. Keep ‘em poor and dependent. Keep em tired. 

  • Distracted. Keep education controlled and engaged; Ordered from the top down. 

  • Divided. Keep ‘em fighting each other. Plant morality lies. Focus low. Emotions over logic, because it works.  

Solution? S.O.S.

Save ourselves, or save our students, take your pick. 

Do as much as you can to take back your time and mind- through more insightful conversations that matter. Be More- independent, focused, united. A self-propelling wheel. 

Professional Development

“Professional Development” Daze:

Have you questioned where PD’s come from? Why they are nation-wide and mandatory? What the topics are, and perhaps how they came into play? Who profits from, and more importantly, who does not gain from development? Who loses? 

Interesting how, in an occupation that boasts (at least on school web sites) “critical thinking” skills and “life long learning” when in actuality it provides neither. The opposite, in fact. 

Hey, teachers! Try a scientific experiment.  Ask. Do a “deep dive” into the origin of professional development. Interestingly enough, if you want to see the grip business management systems have over education, and you, ask a simple question: Try this:

Act like a 4th grader, and ask: “Why do we have to learn this stuff?”

Observe, question, experiment, analyze, repeat. It’s science.

Good Luck.