Chebucto Regional Softball Club

@pteryx @funnymonkey

"I don't see why parents can't provide them with breakfast..."
*takes orange madeleine from plate*
"... really if you can't provide your child with breakfast and lunch should you even be a parent?"
*bites madeleine, starts to pour some coffee*
"These people expect us to do everything for them! Where is the cream? Ugh. Powdered? Disgusting."

@pteryx @jhavok

The things I'm talking about re: class size and teacher time per student are not magic. But they are required. Things can get even worse.

This doesn't minimize the way that schools with these basics can also fail.

@pteryx @funnymonkey

Same people will get grouchy if they have to go to a long meeting and there is no coffee or little snacks.

But they think about food so little they might not even be able to articulate that is WHY they are grouchy. Because never thinking about food is one of many privileges.

@jhavok

150 is the total students in all of the classes that I teach, or my upper limit for doing any kind of effective teaching. You are correct that class size is better around 15.

@richpuchalsky

IDK Rich. The way you come at me in these conversations I feel like I'm holding a gate closed and there are snapping monsters (think ancaps) at the other side, they are trying to get in. I'm trying to keep the gate closed and talking about how we could get a better lock, take turns keeping them out so I could get a little rest.

But you walk in and point out that if we didn't have monsters we wouldn't need a gate, and gates are horrible aren't they?

Oh I agree! HOWEVER

@richpuchalsky @datarama

And there are conservatives, religious leaders, charter school grifters and assorted others who have been bouncing up and down excited to dismantle national standards for decades. If we only let them they wouldn't need to even try to teach "those" kids algebra. Think of the pliant employees without other options the schools could turn out for them. Think of all the money they could make running even worse schools.

@babelcarp @tea
"If you aren’t getting enough pretentiousness from tea these days"

This is absurdly unlikely LOL

@fasterandworse

That scrolls through every website in alphabetical order?

@richpuchalsky @datarama

I don't agree. Not having national standards just means you get a hodge podge of local ones which will on average be less well-thought out.

In some cases they *will* be better, but in many other cases they will be worse. Sometimes "worse" as in destructive.

I do agree there is too much testing.

But many of the national requirements are they only thing keeping schools from simply cutting out huge portions of the curriculum and hiring even less educated teachers.

@datarama @richpuchalsky

Like many specialists anarchists overestimate the appetite of the general public to think for itself. Even within their own organizations.

To think like an anarchist you must treasure a kind of independence and find joy in questioning authority.

But a lot of people (even me at times) really love "authority."

"Teachers could organize a body to ... "

nooo not more WORK.

I feel like I'm being looked at by a 17th monarch who is disappointed the the job I did brushing off their cloak.

@annehargreaves @richpuchalsky

Homeschooling can be wonderful or horrible. That kind of comes down to who is doing it and how much time they have.

It's not a great solution for most people I think. Don't you want some help?

@semitones

This makes it all sound very clinical, but as someone who isn't "naturally social" I think I have an advantage because I'm accustomed to looking at these things as more technical problems. I don't expect it to "just happen naturally."

@semitones

I had to learn to work with that many students. When I started 40 was my limit.

I make flash cards for names at the start of the year. I have a process where I spend a little time each week thinking about each student and I *track* this so I don't miss anyone.

I've learned when writing long comments when grading is important... and when to skip it.

I keep a spreadsheet with the learning specialists and tutors contact info for each student and send each one regular emails.

@dalias @JeffGrigg @flying_saucers

Phasing out "lame" and "stupid" and other ablest words is a bit of an uphill battle but I think it's worth it.

@funnymonkey

Meals? Adults with enough time to get to know the students? You want to spend money on that?

No. Kids need to learn "workplace ready" skills. And they can eat iPads.

@richpuchalsky

The only way I can see to minimize the exploitation is to have a public ongoing discourse on what we teach and value that is big enough that people don't end up being mislead in some little community where some jerk is in charge.

@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.

@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.

@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.