Volume IV, No. 5 November 2017
Journal
of the K-12 Revolution:
Essays
and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota
A Publication of the New Salem Educational
Initiative
Gary Marvin Davison, Editor
Addressing the Confusion of K-12
Change Advocates, Promoting
Understanding of The Needed
K-12 Revolution
A Five-Article Series
Gary Marvin Davison, Ph. D.
Director, New Salem Educational Initiative
New Salem Educational Initiative
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Addressing the Confusion of K-12
Change Advocates, Promoting
Understanding of the Needed K-12 Revolution
A Five-Article Series
Copyright
© 2017 by Gary Marvin Davison
New Salem Educational Initiative
Contents
Article #1 Introductory Comments 1
Article #2 The Cluelessness of Most Change Advocates 2
As to the Thrust of
the K-12 Revolution
Article #3 The Disaster That is
the Minneapolis Public 5
Schools as Observed In My Interactions with Students on Thursday, 30 November 2017
Article #4 We Must First Understand the Nature 10
Of an Excellent Education and Then
Create Public Schools of Excellence
Article #5 We Have Much to Learn
from the High- 12
Performing Educational Systems of the World
Article #1
Introductory
Comments
In this
edition of Journal of the K-12 Revolution:
Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota, I contextualize the poor performance
of students in the K-12 institutions of the United States by citing evidence
from the best public education systems of the world. I trace the unfortunate ideology transmitted
by education professors to 19th century Romanticism, especially as
recast in the promulgations of Professor William Heard Kilpatrick at Teachers
College, Columbia University, in the 1920s.
In Article #2,
I demonstrate the errant notions of many of those who consider themselves
advocates for education change, but who are in fact infected with the same
ideological notions espoused by education professors who are the anti-knowledge
descendants of Kilpatrick.
In Article
#3, I describe the remarkable day of 30 November 2017, in which students of
mine from across the age and grade level spectra manifested the damage done by
the teachers and administrators of the Minneapolis Public Schools, which
operate under the notions cited in Article #2, inflicting damage that requires
my redress and correction with impartation of the knowledge and skill sets that
students
do not get during the school day.
In Article
#4, I contextualize a series and numerous articles that appeared in the Star
Tribune while I was in
Dallas, Texas, for much of September and all of October. The Star Tribune series explored the reasons for the flight of Minneapolis students
from the institutions of the Minneapolis Public Schools, to charter schools,
and to other school districts. But
neither Star Tribune reporters nor parents of those students in flight
ever define the excellent education sought;
I provide the definition while questioning whether an excellent
education is to be found in any K-12 institutions of the Twin Cities--- or the United States.
In Article
#5, I return to some of the themes of Article #2, with full focus on the best
systems of public education among the nations of the world, asserting that the
phenomenon known as “American exceptionalism” has impeded the overhaul of K-12
education in the United States.
Thus, there
is an opportunity for readers of this edition of Journal of the K-12
Revolution: Essays and Research from
Minneapolis, Minnesota to learn a great deal about historical and
philosophical factors underpinning our K-12 dilemma, with very strong indication
of how we can learn from our mistakes, extricate ourselves from our provincial
disregard of the educational achievements of students in other nations across
the globe, and move forward to create genuinely excellent schools that even
those global high-achievers would admire.
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