19 Aug 2018

Thoughts on State Testing

[You will not get an argument from me against the state tests. They are well-designed by dedicated and brilliant thinkers. They accurately measure a narrow sliver of academic proficiency, assuming the child being evaluated is giving full effort on a normal day.] These were my original thoughts when I first considered writing on this topic several years ago. In recent years, however, I have come to the conclusion that the state ELA and MATH tests are having a negative effect on students who can’t get the majority of the questions correct. Furthermore, the aforementioned group represents well more than half NY students. It an attempt to raise standards, we are fostering low self-esteem and a defeatist attitude in too many children. Despite all the push-back from parents and teachers, the importance and use of the tests and their results remains entirely overdone in my opinion. So, rather than serving as a help to children and educators, or as a source of inspiration, they have become an obstacle to motivation, and preparation for them a source of boredom. In the quest for an enlightened education, the over-emphasis on testing has led us astray. It can easily be argued that even the entire spectrum of intellectual ability constitutes only a small portion of human capability, and state tests only measure a fraction of that intellectual function. Brain research has shown that human intelligence is varied and complex, and that the human brain is constantly changing. Already nine distinct types of intelligence have been identified—abilities that lead to a variety of worthwhile accomplishments that enrich all our lives. Although state tests focus on a portion of linguistic and mathematical intelligence, they are being used as the report card for children and their schools. What are the dangers of this? Children who don’t do well on the tests grow up feeling inadequate Schools don’t get the scope to develop other forms of intelligence, in fact they fall into neglect as their importance is marginalized Children who do well on the tests may not develop other areas that need improvement Curriculum becomes skill oriented, boring, repetitive, drill-filled, and ultimately developmentally inappropriate Politicians and taxpayers evaluate the efficacy of school fund usage solely on this narrow slice on achievement The joy of, and desire for learning go under assault as scores take priority Teachers find their creativity and flexibility constrained Children learn a specific skill set for answering questions while failing to understand the subject matter fully Seemingly endless test preparation fails to develop the subtlety and nimbleness of mind required for real life problem solving A fuller form assessment is necessary. Sure, linguistic and mathematical aptitudes are important indicators. But should interpersonal, spatial, kinesthetic, naturalist, existential, or other types of intelligence be ignored? Are these abilities not rewarded in life, not needed in the world? What about the intangible qualities that propel people to great deeds and achievements? Qualities such as moral development, work habits, motivation, sense of purpose in life, service, broad mindedness, and rationality? Should our energies not go into the development of such qualities? At Progressive School we believe that academic achievement is like the luggage in the car’s trunk. To guarantee it gets to its destination, focus on the engine! The engine that drives achievement is motivation. Proper motivation can help one overcome all obstacles along the road. One of the greatest motivators is a feeling that one’s talents are needed. How can that feeling be developed if we are defining human beings in such narrow terms? Am I exaggerating? Recently, someone asked people to twitter a one word opposite to “inspiration.” The second most frequent response was “school.” Is this what our children feel? Is this what we want them to experience? My conclusions? Tests are good, though often unnecessarily difficult due to clumsy, mature language in the questions. The use of them is poor in numerous respects. The importance they have taken on is counterproductive. Assessment can include the current state tests, but only as a small piece in a larger mosaic. When we allow them to dominate as an assessment tool, they begin to drive curriculum. This causes us to lose sight of the big picture. In the end, both a good education and our children get shortchanged. Now for a lighter look at testing, check out this song.

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13 Aug 2018

Our Favorite Links

Educational links philosophical links PARTNER LINKS Simple English Encyclopedia: free encyclopedia for students Fact Monster: free encyclopedia for students Kids.net: free encyclopedia for studentsThe Library of Congress: free encyclopedia for studentsKhan Academy: learn Math, Science & engineering, Computing, Arts & humanities, Economics & finance, Test prep, College, careers, & moreMr. Nassbaum: learn a wide range of topics in math, language arts, history, geography, and science on this educational gaming site.Smithsonian Learning Lab: puts the treasures of the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex within reachBJ Pinchbeck: homework helpKidinfo: homework help Neohumanist Education: site of the global movement that Progressive School is connected toPositive Psychology: the scientific study of what makes life most worth livingCommon Sense Media: non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, providing trustworthy information and tools, as well as an independent forum, so that families can have a choice and a voice about the media they consume. Reviews of content in movies, games, websites, and more. Amazon Smile: Click here to sign up so that all your Amazon purchases result in a donation from Amazon to usStop and Shop A+ School Rewards: shopping results in a company donation to us when you sign upiGive.com: shop almost anywhere online through iGive.com and they will donate to Progressive School.

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13 Aug 2018

2017: Integral Ecology

Last year our theme was Integral Learning. We experimented with thematic units that integrated many academic disciplines. By contrast, most school learning is accomplished through separate subject studies. For example, the History of the Ancient Greeks would be a social studies unit—removed from reading, writing, math, science, art, music, etc. But in our daily life and jobs, learning tends to be integrated, rarely sorted and artificially detached into academic niche subjects. Furthermore, children’s minds are touched and inspired by the thematic approach which shows the connection between subjects, exposing the deeper meaning and purpose for learning. Ecology is the study of how Life interrelates in a systemic way with all biological forms and their surroundings. Relationships take place at the atomic and molecular level, between plants and animals, and among species in ecological networks and systems. This year we have chosen to combine Integral Learning with Ecology, resulting in Integral Ecology. Integral Ecology is a new movement that seeks to bring the deep understanding of interrelationship that Ecology demonstrates into all aspects of human life. In this movement, Ecology is used as a natural guiding principle to promote the greater good, to help find sustainable solutions to our collective problems, and to determine equitable methods for solving them. Ecology can be applied to many aspects of school life, and and we will be experimenting with these as the year progresses. This is Integral Ecology—meshing Ecology as a guiding truth into our thematic, integrated style of teaching, and also extending ecological principles beyond academics until their touch blesses every aspect of our school life. To this end, we have already begun a few initiatives this summer: Garden plots for every grade A special outdoor garden curriculum for grades K and 1 New imaginative approaches to behavioral and emotional therapy Plans for a collective recycled art project Additional plantings around the property We expect to develop other new initiatives with our teachers when school is in session.

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13 Aug 2018

Director’s Archive

Here is an archive of articles published on the blackboard in past years: Yearly themes 2011: Authentic Learning 2012: Friendship 2013: Technology 2014: Determination 2015: Emergent Curriculum 2016: Integral Learning 2017: Integral Ecology 2018: Best Practice Student Speeches In Their Own Words… (1) In Their Own Words… (2) In Their Own Words… (3) What is Neohumanism? Keynote 25th Anniversary Speech The Invention Convention: Just Another Day at School? Marshmallow Experiment Long Term vs. Short Term What’s in a Snack Machine? Mind Flows in Two Directions Distance Learning in Art

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13 Aug 2018

Gems of Neohumanism Parts 1-3

Gem #1 :PSEUDO-CULTURE or TRUE HUMAN CULTURE? Idealism is strong when it comes to one’s own child. No parent wants to see their child become a slave to the money making mass media machine. Even those who are themselves addicted to the products of this machine will try to keep it from their children for as long as possible. Not only is it an expensive habit for a parent to maintain, but it also tends to lead to stagnation in materialism at best, and moral degradation at worst. This is not to say that all modern cultural expressions are evil. However, due to several factors there is a great likelihood that these new expressions will become a crudifying influence once they are internalized in a child’s mind, hence deemed “pseudo-culture” by the author of Neohumanism. Here are three primary reasons why so much modern expression falls into the pseudo-culture category. 1) The priority is to make money. Content is owned by profit making corporations. Since the content of music, movies, television, books, fashion, etc., is primarily valued for its money making power, the long term effect of that content upon a child’s psychology, or upon society as a whole, is not a determining factor in what gets chosen for publication and distribution. 2) Human mind moves more quickly down than up—down being towards animal instinct gratification, toward the basest of impulses; up being towards human self-realization, towards the subtlest ideas and states of consciousness. This is related to point number one. In order to meet the primary goal, the quickest path is chosen—titillation. 3) Those artists with great subtlety of ideation and expression face such enormous odds stacked against them in today’s society that most cannot survive as artists. Hence, cultural vitality is left in the hands of those who do not have the character or insight to lead humanity forward. As you can see, this is also a clear outgrowth of point number one. Here’s where a Neohumanist school steps in. A Neohumanist school must protect the child from pseudo-culture. Protection does not come from banning, as is done in the Steiner schools. Nor does it come from living in the past, as other movements promote. These simply cause a delayed overreaction in the opposite direction. Protection should be proactive—develop a taste for true human culture in the young mind. A taste can be developed by proper exposure and practice! A Neohumanist school should be a positive place. It should not pulsate with a fear of keeping pseudo-culture out, or in a hatred of it. Rather it should celebrate in the love of joyous expressions of true human culture. It is light that banishes darkness. Therefore, a Neohumanist school should be well-versed in all the local, national, and global examples of true human culture. The focus should be there, not on attacking the pseudo-culture, but on replacing it. To accomplish this, a Neohumanist school will need an art, music, drama, dance and cultural director. Better five than one if possible! These people are the soul of the school and their selection should be given the highest priority. It is they alone who can sift through the heap of modern culture and find any valuables worth saving. It is they who can pull from the past the great expressions that pass on the history, values and aspirations of its people—and then give those old vibrations new life and vitality in the hands and hearts of today’s youth. It is they alone who can unearth the new true human culture waiting to be discovered and nurtured. Gem #2: ECOLOGY Ecology is the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms. Human beings around the world have increasingly embraced the practices recommended by ecologists in recent years. Neohumanists can not only ride this powerful wave of increased awareness about our relationship with the world around us, they can add momentum to it! The original catalyst for the popularity of the ecological movement was fear—fear that we humans were going to destroy the very ecosystem we depend upon to live. In spite of mounting evidence which came in the form of losses in air, water, and soil quality, and extinction of other species, the majority of the world’s population long remained ecologically ignorant in the policies of their governments, the procedures of their businesses, and practices of their daily lives. One can argue that this ignorance remains—barely checked by the ecology movement. Then the movement gained momentum with the immediacy of global warming and its threat to our lives. The ecology movement, however flawed, is a force to be reckoned with, creating change at every level of society. But as long as the ecology movement remains grounded in the selfish preservation of human life, its progress will be slow and unreliable. Today ordinary people want to save the world for their children. But today’s children want to go beyond their parents’ dreams, and save the world for everyone and everything. The motivation of self-preservation cannot lead us to true ecology, and cannot be a renewable self-sustaining source for the depth of inspiration, research, and action that is needed. Societies that consider themselves ecologically aware are still creating poisons away from their homeland as a by-product of manufacturing, burying contaminates underground, shipping trash to other communities, and destroying species “non-essential” to humans. Even if humanism were practiced to perfection, and the ecological movement guided us away from anything which harmed anyone anywhere, it still would fail in the long run because humanity is not above and apart from the rest of creation. This is where the Neohumanist movement steps in. By defining humans as integrally connected to, even one with the rest of the living and non-living environment, it raises ecology to a new level. In fact, this concept is so profound that a new term had to be coined for it, “deep ecology.” That is, an ecology that is endlessly renewable and has…

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13 Aug 2018

Long Term vs. Short Term

In many spheres of life we see that people are having increasing difficulty acting for the long term, due to short term pressures. A politician has an election coming up, an insurance provider has a quota to meet, and in education… there are the TESTS. Testing should not be allowed to dictate curriculum, and despite what anyone protests to you, it is dictating–unless we don’t allow it to. Think for the long term for big gains in education, as in any other sphere. Your academic goals for your child will be met by your child, not by you. These goals are like the luggage in the trunk of the car. Getting them to the destination requires a good engine. So… focus on the health of the engine! The engine that drives academic achievement IN THE LONG TERM is motivation, sense of purpose, and self-worth. You might make gains by force in the short term, but rebellion will set in someday. Ask yourself these questions before initiating an academic endeavor: Will this inspire my child to become a life long learner? What will my child do when this short term pressure is removed? What attitude towards learning will this foster? What will be remembered from this activity? These are the questions we ask ourselves at Progressive each day, and before each lesson. You should ask them too! Ask yourself these questions the next time you want the teacher to give more homework, or to drill them for an exam that only has the consequences we let it have.

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13 Aug 2018

What is Neohumanism?

by Progressive School Graduate Amal Jacobson Tonight I was asked to give a speech on Neohumanism, but that of course leads us to the obvious question, “What is Neohumanism?” It’s not an easy question to answer. Is it a philosophy? A way of life? An attitude? Or is Neohumanism a practice — a task we need to rebuild ourselves towards anew with each passing day? The answer, I suppose, is all of the above. Neohumanism was given by the Indian philosopher, poet and linguist, P.R. Sarkar. He gave his first talks on the subject in 1982, late in his life considering he died only eight years later, but it represents in the trajectory of Sarkar’s thought in many ways a culmination or summation of the ideas he developed throughout his life. Sarkar, being an Indian and being a linguist, often used to start with the etymology behind Indian words. Society, for example. What is society? In Sanskrit, the root language of all the Indian languages, the word for society is samaj, coming from the root word “sam,” meaning “to move together.” And so, for Sarkar, society represented a body of people moving collectively, inclusively, with an inherent dynamicity. To put it quite simply: as a family. One human family. The idea seems almost throwaway. It’s incredibly simple, and yet it is in its simplicity that the idea gains its true power. If all human beings are part of one human family, then what right do we have to create artificial divisions between one person and another? Between race, religion, nation or creed? How would I behave if I considered other people my fellow brothers and sisters, together with me as my companions as we moved ahead on the path of human progress? The responsibility here, of course lies with the individual. Much more than a mere philosophy, Neohumanism demands action. It is one thing to think with my head, that all people are a part of my family, and it is another thing to feel it with my heart: to have those feelings demonstrated by my actions. Neohumanism is not just a philosophy, in other words, but a practice. Universalism is an idea we can all relate to, in theory. I mean, why not? It sounds good, right? How are you supposed to disagree with something as agreeable as universalism? The problem, of course, arises when I try to make the leap from theory into practice. How do I live my life, demonstrably, everyday, in such a way that I can practice a sustained universalism? The answer is a tough one, but it is a simple one, a beautiful one, a powerful one. What, after all, could be more powerful than the power of love itself? Yes, that’s right, you heard me: love. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, I stripped away all the philosophical intricacies of Sarkar’s vast body of work and brought it down to its bare, most tender essentials: real, human love. And I’m not talking about any kind of love – romantic love, passionate love, Platonic love. I’m talking about empathy – compassion – more precisely, the identification of my self with the other. This, of course, brings us back to why Sarkar called Neohumanism a form of humanism in the first place: because it strikes at the core of our questions regarding human identity. Who am I? What is my role in this world? The questions sound almost glib, but could not be more deeply relevant to the problems of our postmodern world. You know, the other day I was in the mall, thinking about these very things, and just at that moment I noticed something. My friend was eating an Auntie Anne’s pretzel, and on the wrapping I saw their slogan, leaping out at me: “I snack, therefore I am.” Now, just how perfect is that? It seems innocent enough, but if you’ll bear with me for just one moment, just think about that for a second. Think about its implications. I snack, therefore I am. The slogan, once analyzed, relies on several philosophical presuppositions. First of all, it presupposes that my identity is defined by some sort of exteriority, rather than by anything inside. In other words, I am Amal because I am twenty-five years old – because I am a man – because I am American. Who am I? Well, my favorites movies are blah blah blah, and I really love this kind of music but I really hate that kind of music. I’m like vanilla and you like chocolate. Once properly analyzed it becomes clear that, “I snack, therefore I am” actually explicitly states that I am actually nothing but an amorphous glob, only given identity once I consume their product. A scary thought, once you stop and think about it. So, the question remains: who are you? Who are you, really? Are you an American? Most of the people are in this room, I suppose. But what about the people who aren’t? We have something in common with them too, don’t we? Okay, of course we do. So, beyond being American, who are we really? What race are you? Myself personally, I’m half-Mexican, half-White. But what in God’s name does that even mean? I don’t know. I grew up this way, and I have absolutely no clue. Okay, so beyond that. I am a man. Beyond that, even, I am a human being. But what else am I? Do I have the courage to transcend my boundaries, to challenge my barriers, to rise above distinctions, and see myself for who I really am? Do I have the audacity, the temerity, even, to call myself as I really am: do I have the courage to call myself a child of the Divine? This, of course, brings us to the most powerful dimension of Neohumanism: a dimension that is difficult, frightening, and yet cannot be ignored – the spiritual dimension. Spirituality is often something we don’t want to think about, don’t…

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