Erasing a Line in the Sand

Over at kitchen table math, the Race to Nowhere has been labeled "the opposition".

Well, the Race to Nowhere doesn't look like the opposition to me. I agree with the main point it makes: kids in affluent school districts are under way too much pressure.

I also agree with the main point made by kitchen table math: constructivist math curricula are a disaster, and have failed utterly to teach our kids math.

For me, a dream education would contain real intellectual content without destroying our kids' childhoods. I would like to see an end to homework in the early grades, with minimal homework in later grades. If we make a child do something, we must be sure that the thing is worth doing for itself (and no, I won't accept excuses like "it teaches good study habits.")

The affluent district where I live shows the truth of Parkinson's Law. Work expands to fill the time allotted to it. Schools have come to believe that all of a child's waking time is allotted to schoolwork, so they multiply work to fill the hours.

If schools were careful to teach real content in the most enjoyable, effective, and concise way possible, and to respect the time of their students and families, it would be a whole new world.