SYNERGY-NET on http://www.wiredbrain.net/ do visit my Frames - the three levels of pretence from Fritz Perls http://www.wiredbrain.net//synergy/perls.htm is cool ! RE: The Bermuda TRIANGLE: The explanation for the "Bermuda triangle" phenomena is that there is nothing to explain. There is no marvel because there is no statistical difference. The explanation to the RASH of Black Church fires may be the same. No more boats or planes ( given the traffic ) disappear in the Bermuda triangle than anywhere else and the number of wooden church fires has not increased. In is all in the perspective. Most of what happened to public education is that: The number of "special needs" children from 3 % to 18 % and growing rapidly and use up time and resources. While the average child gets 3 or 4 thousand in services ( 50 % used up in overhead ) special needs children average 15 thousand. Learning disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder, Behavioral problems, Teen Age Mothers, all suffer from the Bermuda Triangle syndrome - regular events are treated as exceptional and extra- ordinary - there is no problem there in most cases, the kid is fine the system stinks. A rose is a rose, G Stein wrote, she also said about someplace, I think LA, that there is no there - there. ) But each disability has a powerful lobby. # the number of children from single (and divorced) households increased almost an order of magnitude from 5% to 35 % of the total. # Television does brain damage, ( really ) especially to young children. # the top 25 % of academic talent stopped becoming teachers in public schools as other career opportunities became open to women, # the number of well paying semi-skilled industrial jobs has been cut in half, # more children stayed in schools longer with the expectation of going to college, but without motivation or academic interest or talent, # and the military became much more selective. # Well meaning legislation, such as The American with Disabilities Act have created a paper war, ESOL ( English for Speakers of Other Languages ) is a nightmare, and that is only one of dozens of 'special this' and 'required that' which tie the system into knots and divert need attention from helping kids learn to learn. Case law has added more problems and makes everyone too worried. The American comprehensive high school mostly prepared factory workers, ( Suburbs offered academic schools for upper middle class parents ) lower middle class women found teaching a social step up, and boys in trouble went to work or to the military. Now teaching is a low status factory job, boys in trouble cause trouble ( a lot more violent because of T.V. and single parents ) .. SO the answer is.... Small, smart, stable schools that meet the social biological needs of children. ( District # 5 in NYC ) Military or CCC detachments of young men that would end up in jail - not just boot camps but two years of military type service for anyone that wanted to join ( or go to jail - a choice parents and Judges used to use a lot ). National Schools for talented: National magnate schools foundation, ( and teacher training institutes ) were the teachers are federal civil servants paid and treated as professionals would be a model and a good start, like in North Carolina. Started for the 1 % "genius" these schools could moving toward the 5 % of children doing world class academic work, especially in science, engineering and math. The crisis of the Talent gap could promote a national set of pattern schools, as lavatories, and test beds. The regional educational labs should always have had a school of their own. University schools could be more important. Private models can be used. National Charter schools could escape from the petty fogging bureaucracy of state departments of education. I have one in mind. From: Patti Jennings Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 1996 2:39 PM To: Peter Pflaum; pflaump@worldnet.att.net Subject: Lath and plaster: Performance based education: Charter Schools -Reply Hi, Peter: Your post is very timely. There is an article in today's Dallas Morning News regarding the certification of teachers in Texas. You might not be able to teach anywhere else, Peter, but you could teach in Texas as of about a year ago. As you might guess, there is a lot of controversy about not requiring certification of teachers. It's rather short as articles go, so here it is: Provision to use uncertified teachers gets weak response By Crystal Humphress Special Contributor to the Dallas Morning News When the legislature approved changes in Texas schools last year, most folks heard about charter schools, altering the no-pass, no-play rules and a get-tough policy on problem teens. Most people, including teachers, still don't know that the law allows uncertified teachers in the classroom. Senate Bill 1, passed in May 1995, allows districts to give teaching permits to anyone with, or, in some cases, without a college degree. Even though the option is there, some school districts are not quite ready to try it out. "We're not sure how to interpret the law," said Malcolm Turner, director of elementary education and recruitment coordinator for the Arlington Independent School District. "The state says if you have a degree you can teach. But we do not employ just anybody." Normally, teachers must be certified before they can be hired by a public school district. Most teachers receive their bachelor's degrees in a particular field such as English and take education courses. A growing number of teachers go through what is known as alternative certification. They are trained by school districts, usually in short summer courses. In both cases, the would-be teachers must pass a state test in their field before being certified. Now, school districts can issue permits to employ someone as a teacher in a particular class or subject who doesn't have a teaching certificate. A bachelor's degree is required, unless the person is teaching only vocational classes or technology. The permits are good for that subject or class only and can be used only within the assigned district. One teacher representative said that if not held in check, the permits could potentally damage the quality of the teaching profession. "If there is no professional oversight, then there could be a problem," said Lonnie Hollingworth Jr., director of legal services for the Texas Classroom Teachers Association. Legislators who included the teaching permit section did so to make it easier for districts to allow experts and professionals from every field to teach in the classroom. "The concern was that you could have a recognized expert in, let's say, physics, like Albert Einstein, and he couldn't teach in a Texas high school without jumping through all the rigors to get there," said Senate Education Committee Chairman Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant. "It was designed to allow the use of exceptional people." (end of article) Patti Jennings Teleconference Coordinator Dallas County Community College District pjennings@dcccd.edu Copies of the SYNERGY JOURNAL sent by request: Pflaump@wiredbrain.com SYNERGY-NET on http://emporium.turnpike.net/~pflaump Peter E. Pflaum Ph.D. , Headmaster GLOBAL_VILLAGE_SCHOOLHOUSE 225 Robinson Road, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169-2176 (904) 428-9609 Pflaump@wiredbrain.com http://www.wiredbrain.net/