@tkinias @geonz

How many kids were in there? My old school used to do "doubles" on study hall because "it's easier"

No.

Oh no no no.

45 9th graders? I can't even say hello to all of them in the time allotted. So you end up having "Serious Rules" because otherwise it's just going to be 30min of chaos that no one needs in their life.

@asakiyume

"Your kid doesn't need to go to college or learn about silly things like art and history. That might make them GAY. Isn't it better if they get training on how to work in an amazon warehouse instead?"

"Well what is YOUR kid doing?"

"Uh... studying art history and reading poetry ... but never mind that. We will give your child work experience so they can get a job!"

@futurebird
oh, I don’t recall exactly (this was in the 1980s lol) but it was way larger than a normal class size—so I’d say at least 60, probably more
@geonz

@tkinias @geonz

Yeah with that many kids being a fake drill sergeant is kind of the only way.

@adamr

I have a Masters (in astrophysics), have been tangentially involved in academia throughout a working life, and I am here to tell kids that what they are being taught has no value to adults other than to keep them in line and is forced on them by the system.

@futurebird

@richpuchalsky @adamr

Do you think compulsory education should be abolished?

@futurebird @tkinias

Study hall can also be a place and time for kids who feel overwhelmed at school (or home!) to chill out.

@Ehay2k @tkinias

Our upper school students don't have study halls. They do have "free periods" where they must remain on campus ... but that's about it. We can only do this because most of them have learned to manage that time sensibly. Every year someone wants to pack more things in the schedule and I always push back because that free time helps so many of them.

The middle school students have study hall since they don't know how to use a free period yet. Poor things.

@futurebird

i think that there should be a social expectation that young people should learn, and that adults should not be able to prevent children from learning. But as an anarchist of course I think that the state should end, as well as a state mandated system of education.

@adamr

@richpuchalsky @adamr

I think powerful people will use that to take advantage of people by keeping their understanding of the world limited and in the absence of state education it will be the church and whoever gives the church the most money indoctrinating everyone.

@futurebird

Quite possible! (Anarchists are not really big on the church either.) But communities can build schools and staff them without a church organization, or young people can learn through one-on-one teaching from adults.

When looking at bad possible alternatives we have to compare them with what actually exists, not the ideal of what is supposed to exist.

@flying_saucers @futurebird

Improving education begins with

- more teachers
and
- better pay.

...

Everything else is a lame excuse.

And most of "everything else" is generally a distraction from the main problems.

@futurebird Also, based on my (admittedly 10+ years old) experiences as a student at schools who kept trying to use technology this way?

The technology ultimately costs more than literally just hiring additional teaching staff (or hiring more admin staff so teachers aren't pulling double duty, or fixing school buildings, or literally any of the things that are actually needed).

The amount my final high school spent on WiFi-enabled 'smart' whiteboards that were completely useless until my final year (at which point two teachers used them only sporadically and they usually gave up on them within 15-20 minutes bevause they were overly complicated and mostly not necessary) could have paid for 3-4 additional full time teachers. Or a lot of other things that the school actually needed.

@JeffGrigg @flying_saucers @futurebird Nit: the word "lame" should really be retired from usage like this. It's gratuitously ableist and has plenty of non-hurtful alternatives.

@richpuchalsky

I think it's beneficial to have education connected to larger secular bodies eg. the state because it forces all of the little communities with their "values" (values can be excellent, or horrible) to find some common ground.

Should we teach that the earth is flat?
Is evolution real?
Does *everyone* need to learn how to read?

If you let "the local community" decide such things they have often made the wrong call on these questions which have objectively correct answers.

@dalias @flying_saucers @futurebird

Noted and improved.

Alternatives to "lame excuse" here:
https://www.powerthesaurus.org/lame_excuse/synonyms

@JeffGrigg @flying_saucers @futurebird Thanks! ️

@futurebird I've been an edtech spectator (and at times a practitioner) for a very long time - and I was a classroom teacher for over a decade prior to that.

And I often wonder: what if the billions of dollars spent on educational technology with zero research base was spent on class size, meals, teacher training, school based health centers -- where would we be?

But we'll throw good money after bad because AI has a better marketing budget than kids and teachers.

@JeffGrigg @flying_saucers @futurebird I so love how on fedi you can just bring stuff like this up non-confrontationally and folks look it up and fix it, rather than turning into some kinda standoff over "wokeness run amok" or whatever. ️

@richpuchalsky

I don't call myself an anarchist. Or anything really. I suppose I'm not since, from what I've seen as a teacher, people crave, love and seek out organization and someone to tell them what to do. This can be exploited so easily. Often it is exploited.

A lot of what I do as a teacher is try to get my students to stop turning to me to tell them what to do about every single thing.

And I use their inclination towards obedience to guide them towards that. Kind of a paradox.