I've always found grading to be the most difficult part of teaching, but I've just read something to help justify my opinion. Josh Brake in his The Absent-Minded Professor blog wrote, "My work at school was serving two masters: grades and learning. These masters, I learned, are often at odds with each other and cannot be simultaneously satisfied. I still loved learning, but the pressure to perform overshadowed it. I was good at the game, but the game wasn't good for me." Josh explains how his home education experience is reshaping his practice as a professor. Now I have something more than lazy, procrastination or an unwillingness to offend students, to explain why and how grading needs to be reconsidered if learning is our goal. His proposals aren't easier than A, B, C,... for me, but learning for an old teacher is also a good goal.
In his October 5, 2023 blog, Renewing Classical Education, Christopher Perrin discusses the implications of the words that we use to describe what we do in schools. He suggests that using some older words would contribute to a better sense of the underlying unity of God's creation that is studied. Instead of subject, section & period, we could consider discipline, form, course, session, seminar, symposium, and a host of other words rarely considered in the K-12 world. Words do make a difference so this might be one of the least expensive ways to introduce a new perspective in any school, not just classical schools.
The Calgary Herald recently posted an opinion article by two people from Cardus, a public policy think-tank. Catharine Kavanagh is Alberta liaison officer and David Hunt is education program director. They argue that "School choice exists for those who can afford it. And, no, we’re not talking about tuition for top-tier independent education. We’re talking about real estate. Housing prices correlate closely with the best “free” schools." The public school system is supposed to provide quality education for all to bring about social cohesion, but "the current system unintentionally disadvantages the already disadvantaged." "Taxpayer-funded independent education improves public schools. It also closes the gap between rich and poor."
Onize Ohikere in the July 28, 2023 issue of World discusses a bill introduced by Christian lawmakers in Nigeria "to set up a National Council for Christian Education. The measure will seek to regulate Christian education in public and private schools, including seminaries, and serve as an accrediting body for member schools. Some Christians have welcomed the development, while others have raised concerns over doctrinal differences and government oversight from a federally funded council." The relationship between government and Christian involvement in education isn't just a North American issue!
In his July 27, 2023 blog
, Christopher Perrin shares "five priceless gifts" that a great tradition offers us because "tradition is formative, a great tradition is transformative." Find out how dynamite is connected to these powerful gifts. I liked his reminder that "Chesterton called tradition the democracy of the dead because it is wise and appropriate not to silence our ancestors."
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