Author Archives: schooldog

Schools and Culture, Poverty and the Deep Blue Sea

Posted on April 15, 2011 by schooldog

The setting is emblematic of paradise and, yes, I am on vacation. Blue sea of multiple shades from deep blue to turquoise and back, ever changing with the drift of clouds. Palm trees lean from the steadily westerly wind. The … Continue reading →

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School Culture: What Have We Done To Our Kids?

Posted on April 2, 2011 by schooldog

I put on a crazy hat lighted up with a six volt battery, proclaim myself “Quizczar” and head into a team taught class. The subject is post high school planning. Choosing colleges. Career Choice. Financial aid. Necessary stuff, but low … Continue reading →

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School Bureaucracy: Brief Meditation continued

Posted on March 29, 2011 by schooldog

A follow up to the recent “Meditation”: Pronouncements from higher levels – district, state, feds – are broad reaching and apply across large numbers of schools and therefore scenarios, and tend to treat them as the same when in fact … Continue reading →

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School Bureaucracy: Brief meditation

Posted on March 23, 2011 by schooldog

Let’s start with assumptions. Bureaucracies need to measure in order to report. Reports are often quantified. Test scores, in particular. No Child Left Behind does exactly that. Scores on previous years divide real students into boxes. Passed this test. Did … Continue reading →

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School Bureaucracy — Seller’s Remorse?

Posted on March 7, 2011 by schooldog

So I just shot my mouth off, intemperately, manifesto like (blog 2/23/11 “School Bureaucracy – Is This a Manifesto?”), and am now suffering a bit of seller’s remorse. A reader might think from my tone that I have labored in … Continue reading →

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School Bureaucracy — Is this a manifesto?

Posted on February 24, 2011 by schooldog

These comments will be familiar to teachers, counselors, even administrators wherever they work.  We sit on committees, only to conclude we are either to rubber stamp already concluded decisions, or we deliberate to a consensus only our time to be … Continue reading →

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The Culture Enters the Schoolhouse

Posted on February 8, 2011 by schooldog

The culture announces itself in our schools in myriad ways, of course, but sometimes certain events highlight realities in kids’ lives beyond school, the detritus of which they bring to the complexities of learning. In a recent period I encountered … Continue reading →

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The Legal Trap

Posted on January 18, 2011 by schooldog

Not only do the bureaucratic ways of schools smother creative ideas by the way in which they operate, but it begins to look as though the problem is even deeper, in the legal structure, or lack thereof, that governs schools, … Continue reading →

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