Grantcoulson's Blog

     

      Do not think about, write about or deal with  human behavior without determining the effects of incentives.

    I join many others in commemorating the life of Jaime Escalante, extraordinary teacher and example. This fine man passed away in California on March 30, 2010 at the age of 79 after a life well-lived.

    He was the subject of many articles, several books and the movie Stand and Deliver. Escalante was rightly famous for his work with students from poverty in East Central Los Angeles emphasizing ganas, desire or motivation. Many of these students went on to further success after completing Advanced Placement Calculus, taught by Escalante. His results were so striking that he and his students were accused of cheating. No one could credit the results to good teaching.

    Mr. Escalante overcame bureaucratic hostility and indifference which bedeviled his teaching career in California.

    Here’s to someone who made a difference.

Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies

     Do not think about, write about or deal with  human behavior without determining the effects of incentives.

from the book: Shadow Dancing

on the Grave of Hope:

    What profession has used over 150 years of money, status, relentless propagandising about its importance and hushed worship to come up with methods so wrong their opposites are correct? This is the education system of North America and all because of the inevitably wrong incentives inherent in public endeavors.

    These mistaken assumptions, already covered in detail in this blog, are as follows:

The Difference Between Teaching and Measuring

    Students are constantly ranked.

The Curriculum

    Couldn’t be worse unless it was designed to be worse. Even then…

No one has won, so all must have prizes

    All teaching methods are pretty much the same.

Cumulative versus Random Skill Development

      If there is a logic to this….

We’re Smarter Than Data–OR–We Don’t Have to Show You Any Stinkin’ Data–We Have Standards

    The INTEND is so much more important than the DOES. Don’t ya know.

Student characteristics are so important that teaching is irrelevant

    We’re not sure who the enemy is, probably capitalism, but we surrender to conditions beyond our control OR  We can’t do anything until those pesky social justice situations are fixed.

Medication

    It works with depression, so we know it will work for “learning problems”. What’s that, you say, it doesn’t really work very well with anything?

Higher order thinking skills

    We talk about this all the time so we must be doing it.

Management

    We can’t be bothered ensuring success so we’ll pretend we’re on top of things.

Textbook Creation–Inside the Sausage Factory

    It’s not that they’re so bad, it’s just that they’re pathetic.

Problem Solving

    We give random exercises and pretend we’re teaching something, but we’re really just ranking students.

Teaching by "consensus" methods

    If you ask a bunch of failures to vote, you’ll get success.

Keeping a Journal

    This sounds like a good idea so it must be.

Teacher responsibility for curriculum materials

    Ask individuals to create something it takes experts years to do and the individuals aren’t experts.

Teacher Empowerment

    Each teachers knows what’s best. All the schools of education say it’s true so it must be true.

Grades

    We rank students, don’t we.

Psychological Assessment

    This looks scientific so it must be.

Corruption and Inefficiency

    We pretend this doesn’t happen so it doesn’t happen.

Tests and exams rarely test what is taught

    Ambush is the name of the game.

Inborn teacher characteristics are more important than teaching methods

    We give up trying to teach teachers how to be teachers so we’ll select them on the basis of….?

Special Education

    We use the same failed methods and reduce expectations. That’s always worked.

Layman analysis of minute parts of a successful program

    I haven’t a clue how to evaluate anything so I’ll let my opinions guide me.

Placing difficulties and important things about education in the brain OR dead men do bleed

    It’s fun to pretend to know something.

Teaching as creating personality traits and\or transferable skills

    We teach so much more than the curriculum.

Self-esteem

    Nothing is more important.

The Project

    Parents need practice in gluing and finding exotic materials.

Learning styles and/or learning strategies

    Many children only learn on trampolines surrounded by an aquarium.

Systematic instruction is only necessary for low performing children

    Smart ones learn on their own.

Academic success cannot be measured by standardized tests

    But it can be measured by guessing and\or a priori knowledge.

Manipulatives

    Counting stuff is so informative.

Whole Language

    This looks so good, it must work.

Motivation

    Silly games, cute characters and environmentalism are so important.

Constructivism

    They’ll construct knowledge which has taken mere millennia to learn.

Developmentalism

    You can’t interfere with, or teach, something which unfolds naturally.

Multiple Intelligences       

    Everyone has special skills so this forms a solid base for teaching.

Integrated Curriculum

    We’ll teach everything at the same time.

The Teacher as Facilitator

    The teacher is there just to help and observe. Teaching is so unseemly.

Spiral Curriculum

    A little bit here, a little bit there, and it all adds up to a little bit.

Cooperative Learning

    Just like real life, one person does almost all of it.

Invented Spelling

    Everyone is always impressed by creative spelling.

Process, not results, oriented

    We may not be doing anything useful, but we look really good doing it.

Immersion in a subject matter

    Throw ‘em in the water. They’ll swim.

Designed for student satisfaction rather than accomplishment.

    It’s import to make them happy by keeping them entertained.

Confusion about the Customer

    The parent is the customer, not the student.

More money will result in better educational outcomes

    Never worked yet, but I need that boat.

Relentless Indoctrination in the Politics of the Left

    Never worked yet, but theory says it will.

Total 46

Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies

      Do not think about, write about or deal with  human behavior without determining the effects of incentives.

       We’re Smarter Than Data–OR–We Don’t Have to Show You Any Stinkin’ Data–We Have Standards

    This is from an Engelmann piece in Education Week wherein he points out that, while all Dalmatians have spots, not all dogs with spots are Dalmations. Educationally this means that while successful programs to teach reading has certain components, the presence of these components do not mean the program will be successful.   “… California’s Ventura County Star carried an article on March 15, 2003, titled "Effective Reading Program Must Go. " A school in the district, it said, "was the only school in Ventura County and one of 109 in the state to get the citation … for showing exemplary progress." The district was replacing the program with one that has no strong data of effectiveness, but that had been adopted by California because it meets the state "standards."

    The county superintendent justified the move this way: "We want to make sure all schools are using the same curriculum. Why not something based on the standards that are going to be taught?" So in the end, the state not only identifies mutts as Dalmatians, but rejects true Dalmatians because they don’t meet the state-created definition of "Dalmatians."”

    We’ll change something that is working for something we “know” will work because it conforms to our “standards”. This approach has never worked because “Standards” are not a program, they are the reflected shadow of a part of a program.

Engelmann, S. (2004).  The Dalmatian and Its Spots. Education Week.

Cheerio and ttfn,

Grant Coulson

Cui Bono—Cherchez Les Contingencies

  

    Do not think about, write about or deal with  human behavior until determining the effects of incentives.

    Some Americans are rejoicing over the health care bill just passed. The philosophy behind this notion is “Since we need it, we can pay for it.”  As Gust, in Charlie Wilson’s War said in his parable, “we’ll see.” The entitlement programs are so bankrupt, a new word should be invented. Politicians believe they are putting policies in place. They don’t know they’re starting a process.

     George Washington said this about a national debt: "We should avoid ungenerously throwing upon posterity … the burden we ourselves ought to bear." (John Stossel).

    And then there was the embarrassment of the Ann Coulter visit to the University of Ottawa to which Coulter, deservedly so, applied the description “bush-league”. The farce played out like this.

    This is part of the article:

     “After protesters at the University of Ottawa prevented Ann Coulter from giving a speech Tuesday night, the American conservative writer said it proved the point she came to make — free speech in Canada leaves much to be desired.”

    “Since I’ve arrived in Canada, I’ve been denounced on the floor of Parliament — which, by the way, is on my bucket list — my posters have been banned, I’ve been accused of committing a crime in a speech that I have not yet given, I was banned by the student council, so welcome to Canada!”

     “The “accusation” of which Coulter speaks is a reference to an e-mail she received from University of Ottawa vice-president and provost Francois Houle on Friday, warning her that freedom of speech is defined differently in Canada than in the U.S. and that she should take care not to step over the line.”

    “The problem with Ann Coulter . . . is that the arguments that she uses don’t necessarily promote good debate, they promote this,” he (a student) said, glancing at the chanting crowd.”

    The student blames Coulter for the quasi-riot. This reminds me of an indignant German woman in the waning days of The Third Reich. A British unit was occupying a German town which had been knocked about by artillery, bombing or both. Standing in front of the ruins she said, “If you had surrendered in 1940, this could have been prevented.”

    Canadian students believe strongly in social justice, but not for everyone. They believe strongly in free speech, but not for everyone. They’ve been well taught to have a plummy sense of entitlement and superiority.

    Coulter’s bodyguard nixed her speech on the basis of safety.  This could have been a publicity stunt, but she’s never done it before. University of Ottawa students who protested her–bush league indeed.

Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies   

    

      Do not think about, write about or deal with  human behavior until determining the effects of incentives.

    Here are two quotes from websites devoted to Central Falls High School, the school in Rhode Island where all the teachers were “fired” because of abysmal academic results.

     “Central Falls High School: A University of Rhode Island Academy, will be a model school that offers a rigorous diploma system with high expectations for all students, while fostering and supporting partnerships between its members and the greater community.”
“Mission of Central Falls High School

     Central Falls High School is a standards-driven teaching and learning community that promotes literacy, effective communication, problem solving, critical thinking, civic responsibility and the skills necessary for living and working in a culturally diverse society.”

    In their defense, they said  were special, they didn’t say they were  any good.

    In the talks which would lead to the “turnaround” of the school, they were discussing everything except the curriculum and teaching methods, the only things that will work  and, yet, they call themselves experts in education.

    “My horses couldn’t pull the binder fast enough, so I saved my money and bought a tractor.” Many years ago, my father was driving a binder, a piece of  harvesting machinery that produced sheaves of, in this case oats. Our team of horses, a faithful and lovely pair called Kate and Bess, (I’m not making this up–if I did the horses would have more poetic names) couldn’t pull it fast enough, so he hitched it to a tractor. The point of this story is that one method wasn’t working so he used another. This is what necessity dictates when you can’t change the amount of grain by telling people how much there is, how hard you’re trying, how sincere you are, how tough the oats are, etc..

Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies

     

     Do not think about, write about or deal with  human behavior until determining the effects of incentives.

from a column by Star Parker, found here.

    “Speaking a couple years ago about technology and education, Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs said that technology wouldn’t matter as long as you can’t fire teachers….Jobs likened schools to running a small business that he said could never succeed if you can’t hire and fire. “

    Unions are employment insurance for the incompetent, indifferent and entrepreneurially implausible.

      ”The percentage of the nation’s private sector work force that belongs to a union has dropped precipitously. In the 1950′s, over 30 percent belonged to unions. Today it’s a little over seven percent.”

    I wonder how many companies were killed by unions.

     “In an article in the latest edition of Cato Journal, Andrew Coulson notes that, on average, compensation of public school teachers is about 42 percent higher than their counterparts teaching in non-unionized private schools. Yet, according to Coulson, research shows that private schools consistently outperform public schools.” Andrew Coulson is no relation to me but, if he keeps coming up with sensible stuff,  maybe I’ll adopt him.

    “A recent Wall Street Journal op-ed reported on the glowing success of charter schools in Harlem. "Nationwide the average black 12th grader reads at the level of a white eighth grader. Yet, Harlem charter students ….are outperforming their white peers in wealthy suburbs."

    Yet, in 2009 the New York teachers union successfully lobbied the state legislature to freeze charter school spending and now is pushing to limit penetration of charters in school districts.”

    Unions are much more important than education.

    The success of non-union schools, where teachers can be fired without years of posturing and pretending, are perfect advertisements for the power of incentives.

    “Kids in Los Angeles’ public schools are overwhelming Hispanic and black. According to the Los Angeles Times, "just 39 percent of L.A.’s fourth-graders are even basically literate." Yet, the Times attributed union lobbying to undermining a recent attempt by the L.A. school board to open failing schools to non-unionized charters.”

        Union benefits always were more important–always will be.

    “Similarly, unions played a major role in recently killing the successful private school scholarship program in Washington, DC.”

    Washington, D.C., run by Congress, has the worst schools in the country. Best politicians–worst outcomes–see the causal chain. On the plus side, Washington, D.C. schools are the most expensive.

    “Over 95 percent of the political contributions of the two national teachers’ unions — the NEA and AFT — go to Democrats or to the Democrat Party. Their $56 million in political contributions since 1989 equals that of "Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Lockheed Martin, and the National Rifle Association combined." “

    Is there a connection? You be the judge.

Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies