O'Connor, in NY, gives schools poor civics marks

[tonysam]

This is interesting.

An "unintended consequence" of the No Child Left Behind initiative has been a decrease in civics knowledge, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said Wednesday, promoting computer games that try to put a fun spin on learning about government.

The federal education program appropriated funds "based on good test scores in math, science and reading," she said, but did not distribute money for history or civics.

She made the remarks at a conference where she was promoting iCivics.org, a website designed to remedy civics ignorance among middle-school students.

"Barely one-third of Americans can even name the three branches of government, much less say what they do," O'Connor said. "Less than one-fifth of high school seniors can explain how civic participation benefits our government. Less than that can say what the Declaration of Independence is, and it's right there in the title. I'm worried."

AP

[YvonneCa]

1. As a teacher who was punished because I continued...

...to teach the State of California adopted History Social Science Standards in my classes...during the era of NCLB when reading and math was all administrators cared about...I am glad to hear Sandra Day O'Conner speak up about this.

FWIW, I think legislaors in California are also...finally...making the case for a rich, full curriculum for our students.

[mzteris]

2. hey look!

I rec'ed your thread!


Why can't "literacy" be pursued during the course of learning about other subjects? I mean, those kids gotta read SOMETHING. . . I had a workbook I found that I was going to use with my son - before he decided to go back to school - something like "The Mathematics of Elections". I may still have it in the house somewhere - I'll have to check.


found it: http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Fair-Mathematics-Voting-Apportionment/dp/1559532777/ref=pd_sim_b_7

Is Democracy Fair?: The Mathematics of Voting and Apportionment (Paperback)

But in looking for that - saw a number of others:

The Mathematics of Voting and Elections: A Hands-On Approach

Mathematics and Democracy: Designing Better Voting and Fair-Division Procedures

'
well - you get the idea. I don't know the "level" nor the "political leanings" of the latter ones - I just now saw them on Amazon. Just pointing out that there are resources to integrate lessons.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Well duh

Been saying this since 2001. Glad to see someone outside of education waking up.

[tonysam]

4. I really hated what they did when they put in NCLB

and basically disregarded science and social studies, which are SO important in some manic desire to "up" the scores in reading and math.

But again, I can just about figure out why they did it. It's because employers for the most part don't care if people know anything about science or civics, but they had better know how to read and do simple math.

[Dinger]

5. Kick (nt)