How to Stop a “Toxic Culture of Education” in Florida and Beyond
Joshua Katz is a high school mathematics teacher in Orange County, FL. In this video he talks about how Florida, and the United States, is not focusing on students. High stakes standardized testing, No Child Left Behind, Race To The Top and Common Core are the problems and not the solution. Today education focuses on accountability not students. This creates a “toxic culture.” Rigor replaces relevance in school curriculum. Its all about profit, not student performance.
Katz’s has two solutions: Defund public education give the money back to the taxpayers and parents. Double down on public education – give the resources and control of education curriculum back to the students and parents.
Common Core math problem. For a larger view click on the image.
In the mid 1800’s, Horace Mann captured the potential impact of education on society. Katz warns that in public education “we have yet to realize the potential he saw, and in fact, we are missing the mark by a wider and wider margin.”
Katz states, “We have created a ‘Toxic Culture of Education’ in our country that is damaging students, impacting our economy, and threatening our future. Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, we have embraced a culture of high stakes testing and are perpetuating a false sense of failure in our schools. We have ignored research and data on effective policy making practices in order to serve the interest of private industries that have monetized our students. The impact is being felt in communities, on college campuses, and in our economy.”
The solution lies in a common sense approach to student development, curriculum choice, career exploration, and relevant data analysis. This talk will present a vision of an education system that allows us to embrace our full potential if we only had the courage to ask “Why Not”?
Katz warns, “Stop judging the fish on how they climb trees!
[youtube]http://youtu.be/BnC6IABJXOI[/youtube]
