fennec – I agree that the crucial stage is elementary and secondary school. I don’t have good answers about improving things, however. I can do my best where I am.
We send a fair number of our students on to teachers’ college, and I have to say not usually our best students. On the other hand, it’s not always the brainiest people who make the best teachers, even at the university level, and certainly not at the primary level. But you do need teachers who truly love to learn. I know some of those – and I was taught by a few of them when I was young. They weren’t scholars, but they had active, interested minds.
Bob Moses, who was one of the great heroes of the civil rights movement, went on to develop a program he calls the Algebra Project, an innovative program for I think middle schools. I’ve read some about it, but I’d like to know more. Anyone heard about it?
fennec – I agree that the crucial stage is elementary and secondary school. I don’t have good answers about improving things, however. I can do my best where I am.
We send a fair number of our students on to teachers’ college, and I have to say not usually our best students. On the other hand, it’s not always the brainiest people who make the best teachers, even at the university level, and certainly not at the primary level. But you do need teachers who truly love to learn. I know some of those – and I was taught by a few of them when I was young. They weren’t scholars, but they had active, interested minds.
Bob Moses, who was one of the great heroes of the civil rights movement, went on to develop a program he calls the Algebra Project, an innovative program for I think middle schools. I’ve read some about it, but I’d like to know more. Anyone heard about it?