Getting Your Ox Schorred

4 Replies to “Getting Your Ox Schorred”

1. Thank you for this link. The language in the blurb and even in his speech spans much more than business and education!!

2. It may be old news for all you eduwonks, but for parents like me, it’s amazing to see the learning school year and summer differences between low socio-economic status kids and high SES kids.

   http://www.supportingevidence.com/Education/CAT-V_Cum_Season_Gr1-5_1982-87.html

   http://www.supportingevidence.com/Education/CAT-V_Season_Gr1-5_1982-87.html

   I see learning by the high SES kids during the summer but little by the low SES kids. I also see less school year learning by the high SES kids than the low SES kids. Are we looking at year ’round schooling to keep all the kids moving forward? Are we neglecting the high SES kids during the school year?

   What do the Eduwonks out there say?

   Scott Gibson
   http://www.SupportingEvidence.com
   ‘worth a thousand words’

3. We have known for over forty years that the family is the primary educator of the child. Therefore, the more time the privileged child spends with his educated parents, the more he learns. The less time, the less he learns. If you look closely at the activities enjoyed by privileged children during the summer, you will see that it amounts to high-quality tutoring by mom or dad. This is probably the reason that children who are home-schooled by educated parents do very well.

   I don’t think we are neglecting high SES kids during the school year. It’s just that a teacher with 30 students can’t compete with caring parents who have two or three children.

4. Thanks, Linda, for your comments shared from experience.

   I was thinking that the data shows that kids learn a lot at school compared to during the summer, but high SES kids learn more during the summer than low SES kids, so maybe it would be helpful for at least low SES kids to have a longer school year rather than packing in special interventions during the short (normal) school year.

   Also, since high SES kids’ scores improve less than low SES kids during the school year, maybe the teacher’s attention needs to be refocused a bit more toward the high SES kids needs. No, I can’t even imagine what it must be like to try to attend to the needs of 30 students!

   I have gained increasingly more respect for teachers as I’ve gotten to know the ones at the schools that our PTA supports. Thank you for preparing the next generation to run our country.

   Scott
   http://www.supportingevidence.com
   ‘worth a thousand words’