Education Secretary Michael Gove's New Education Policy to Turn Schools Into 'Academy' Faces Hurdles

In one big of the biggest policy changes to have hit the Britain education system in over a decade, Education Secretary Michael Gove sent invitations to over 20,000 schools in Britain to upgrade to Academies. According to his new policy academies will be able to work independently without having to report back to the local authority and prepare their own teaching method and curriculum. This bill does not place a cap on their salary that will be offered to a head teacher, meaning head teachers are in for one heavy treat this time around. This policy is aimed at improving stagnant British education system and to lower existing corruption in it. All the responses to his invitations, estimated to be around 2000 primaries and 500 secondary, will be put on a fast track processing system, providing the title 'academy' to those schools which prove themselves outstanding.
There are also people who are skeptic about the amount of freedom this bill offer to academies, despite the assurance offered by Michael Gove that no school will be entitled with the title 'Academy' without sufficient inspection. Since this freedom can be miss-utilized by bad companies or religious extremist groups to bring forward their agenda.
It has not even been a day since Michael Gove announced his new education plan to revamp the existing education system in Britain; his policy has already started facing flak from many influential corners and think tanks associated with the Britain education system. Chris Keates who is the general secretary of the teaching union NASUWT, expressed her disapproval towards this new policy saying the policy was disappointing. She also said that this policy fails to improve the existing education quality as the term 'academy' does not mean the school associated with the term offers excellent quality of education. She made his point on basis of statistics which clearly proved that existing academies were no better in their performances when compared to ordinary schools. Given the current economic scenario in Britain where tackling the budget deficit should be the frontline concern of the existing government, this policy offers a very costly solution to a problem that is not known to exist.
One of the current members of the Shadow Cabinet, Ed Balls points out towards the fact that this policy will end up creating a divide, on side there will be academies, which will have full independence and financial support from the government and the other side will have schools deemed as second graded, creating a two tier education system, which is completely against the motto behind the creation of Academies Programme. There also lingers another danger which has gone unnoticed. The academies, which no longer have to answer to the local governing bodies and with their financial might backed by the government itself, will suck all the talented teachers from other smaller schools, leaving them in further deteriorating conditions.

The Story of New Education 3.0

After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans school districts were in shambles. Eighty-five school districts were hurt by the natural disaster. A district called Jefferson Parish was granted twenty million dollars from Cisco to turn sixteen of its schools into models of the new education 3.0. Education 3.0 is a new model for schools that have full wireless connectivity, all new network upgrades, advanced classroom technology and upgraded date centers, plus a lot more. The education 3.0 is a total overhaul from the traditional school ways. Not only does education 2.0 incorporate technology into its classrooms, the classrooms revolve around it.
By having all classrooms and educational buildings begin to change to the new education 3.0 it will greatly impact learning on the 21st century student. Educators and officials need to realize that the 21st century kids learn different than back in the day and schools need to change their curriculums according to the new technological standards of this century. How are schools going to prevent dropouts and prevent failure if they don't catch the student's attention? As much as we think that school is school and a student shouldn't have to be entertained at school, its important for school officials to realize that maybe bringing in more interesting lesson plans will help the students to get better grades. Not only do better grades help the student but also it boosts schools ratings by having a majority of successful students.
With education 3.0 not only do the students reap the benefits from this, the schools do also. The more technology a school has to offer and the more technology it utilizes the smoother a school operates. In turn a smoother operating school produces better jobs, better students and happier teachers and staff. Teachers are beginning to have fun while teaching and instead of the old, watch a lecture and take notes; every lesson now revolves around technology. Weather it be talking to a class while presenting a 3-d lesson plan, utilizing computers or the internet, using handheld technological devices to help assist with class work or something as small as a new projector to project information fro the internet, all of these assist education 3.0 in making the schools fully technological.
Education 10 was the basic lecturing in front of a chalkboard. The old education 2.0 was a program designed to incorporate 21st century technology into the classrooms. As this began to be a success, Cisco realized they needed to go above and beyond to make a real difference in student's grades and demeanor while in school. While education 2.0 replaced chalkboards with projectors and educational software, education 3.0 replaced traditional projectors with 3-d projectors and glasses for all the students to be able to dissect a 3-d image.
Its so important for schools to change their traditional ways and fully make the classrooms based o0n technology, this world revolves around technology now and if students don't have the correct skills technology wise, jobs will be hard to find.

Our New Education System

Throw out the old standards of reading, writing, arithmetic. Forget the patriotism of the founding fathers that gave us liberty and freedom. Make sure we recite the Pledge of Allegiance with politically correct words. And let's learn about the environment and its global warming.

As your little ones go off to school, keep in mind that our new education system is one that is more globally focused and that sheds any influence of its national patriotism. The new motto is "We Are The World," rather than "God Bless America." Everything reflects on banishing the thoughts of traditionalism, and to progress to new standards that are more worldly compatible.

The new criteria has dumbed down our generations, and the mindset has indoctrinated our children for Liberalism. Each generation gets a little more off track from traditional ethics. It is replaced by Liberalism and relativism rather than absolutism and in some cases truth, which must take a backseat to compromise.

Look around at the result. Our teens today forgot how it is to be respectful. As God has been stripped from our society, they have been indoctrinated with the narcissism of this age that has encouraged them to question authority. They get out of college and expect jobs that puts them right at the top. And somewhere along the way they have lost touch with common sense. The education standards have slacked and some of our teens are as dumb as nails having no initiative. They lost sight of our American system. The only "system" they know is the latest video game console.

No child left behind has come to mean that no child will be given a failing mark. In some Liberal districts, educators are restricted from passing the whole class until all children exceed so that the self-esteem is not harmed. If they can't pass, the grades are curved so that each one can succeed. So the whole standard of the class is based on the dumbest kid.

Experiments of the 21st Century

Goals 2000 led the way for a politically correct environment where global indoctrination could be introduced into the schools. It was a radical experiment, but it brought in the Liberalism that helped fuel the declined of public education. The idea was to socially prepare students for the future. It focused more on recognizing alternative lifestyles, different family structures, and to instill in them the right to activism.

They have been redirected from the knowledge of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the rights of the Constitution, of what men have fought for to bring them freedom, but they sure know that a family can be made up of two mommies, that single parenthood is normal, and that you can have safe sex by using a condom. And if you get that wrong, there's always the "right to choose."

The message they have been taught by some of your teachers is that war is evil and is the result of greedy Capitalists who want more oil. They have been led to believe that Democrats are good and Republicans are selfish. And they want you to know that with the government's help, you can have what you can't provide for yourself and that it should be a right.

Social Experimentation

It isn't by accident that the heritage of our country has been suppressed. Your children are under a grand social experiment where they are taught that "We are the world." They are being told that to recognize multiculturalism, we have to know about the customs of world cultures, as they are more important than our American culture. They want us to know that we are all one on this big ball we call Earth. And while that may be true under God, they want you to believe it without God, because not everyone believes in this "God."

Our Hijacked System

The reason for this shift in education isn't because we have become wiser than our primitive ancestors. It is because global Elitists have found a way to indoctrinate our generations. In an interview with G. Edward Griffin, Norman Dodd, Directer of Research under the Reese Commission in 1954, revealed that several tax-exempt agencies took over the education system in the 1950's. Foundations like the Rockefeller, Ford and Carnegie Endowment were given the power by government to restructure the education system. But these foundations were actually fronts for Communist and Socialist agendas. Their mentors were followers of Socialists such as Karl Marx and Cecil Rhodes.

What the heads of the foundations vowed to do was to reverse the student's influence from an American mindset to a Social Union style mindset. In that manner, they could indoctrinate students towards globalism that they, the Elitists, control. Their goal was to redirect students from the knowledge of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and of the Constitution, so that in the next generation they would have a Socialist world view. Our generation is experiencing the effects right now. Social Security, National Banking, multi-tier tax system, and government funded education are all influences of Socialism..

History Re-Written

In that interview with Griffen, Dodd claims the foundations set up an agency, called the American Historical Society, in which they hired their own people to oversee an operation to rewrite history so that it was compatible with their new agenda. The Elite then positioned their agents in strategic places in education where they would control the boards, assuring the progression of their agenda.

The plan is for the heritage of America to be exchanged for a Liberal Socialist style mindset where the Elitists have control over the masses. Through public funding, the government would be used to offer incentives to districts that used their syllabus. Many have caved since funding is slacking. Home-schooling has been a problem for their plan, since home-schooled children have access to information that exposes their historical tampering. In the future, there will be bills proposed to regulate home-schooling so that mandates can be put on the criteria.

The plan is to get all citizens on board with their agenda for a New World Order. Some agents in the government are doing all they can to stifle the voice of those in criticism with the agenda. They want no one to stop their fascist dictatorship. And they will try to get to your children through the education system. The same tactic was used by Hitler. Just another example how it mirrors the Socialism system.

Our Defense

Wise parents can monitor their children's teaching and question what they learned. They should discern the tactics and head it off by "debriefing" their children to know the truth. And that is why you need to be active in your child's education.

Attend school board meetings and have a voice. If they shut you up, remind them that this is your forum as well. Better yet, run for a position and be involved directly.

Raising Children"news education"

Maria Montessori believed that in order for the world to become a more peaceful and more civilized society for people to live in, the new generations must be taught to live in harmony and their hidden potential must be developed to the fullest. She believed that the only way to do it was through education. However, there was a need for the old educational system to be reformed as it was too teacher-centered, so it would not be able to maximize the potential in each child. The traditional system also did not prepare the child for life in society as the activities did not teach the child to work in collaboration with others, neither did it teach the child important skills such as concentration, responsibility and perseverance. She felt that the teacher's job should be that of an observer; alert to the needs of the child and ready to react appropriately as "any form of education must be based on the personality of man". (Absorbent Mind, Chapter 1, p. 8) As such, there arises a 'new education' system which proves to be effective all around the world even till today.

In addition to imparting knowledge to the children, Montessori felt that their physical and social development should also be taken into considerations. It is important that the teacher observe the children to find out what they need and thereby providing them with their needs. In other words, the teacher or parent should understand the learning style of the child and thereby pitching the lessons according to the child's needs. She also believed that it should be part of education that a child is taught to be caring and compassionate towards others, but he must first be showered with care and concern himself. Thus, it is just as important to care about the hygiene and welfare of the child.
In this new education, Montessori described the importance of providing a child-centered and conducive learning environment. She stressed that there are differences between the learning objectives and methodologies between a child and an adult, thus they should not be taught in the same way or even use the same furniture. An adult is concerned with the end result of the task at hand; therefore, he tends to rush in order to finish the job quickly. He would not repeat the same task numerous times in order to perfect it.

On the other hand, a child differs from an adult in that he is still developing and constantly learning, thus he needs to interact with his environment to absorb information for his own development. He has what Montessori describes as an absorbent mind. A child will be able to absorb the specific skills that he needs to learn through repeated activities. He needs to make use of his environment and carry out repeated work to develop his personality, habits and physical being, so he will do a task numerous times in order to perfect it. Montessori believed that each child is a different individual, so he will have his own sensitive periods to absorb different skills perfectly. This new education allows each child to set his own pace for learning as he is free to select the materials that he wishes to work on. Multi-sensory materials are used in these classrooms for the children's hands-on activities and they get to progress from the simple to abstract concepts without any pressure from the teacher. The child is led to experience a sense of accomplishment as he discovers the skills on his own.
During each sensitive period, a different skill is learned and after the skill is perfected, the child will naturally drop the activity and proceed on to something else. With the traditional education system, the child is forced to perform the task that the teacher has assigned. He would then be deprived of the freedom to learn or perfect the skill that he desired to during that sensitive period. Therefore, Montessori believed that it is more important for the teacher in the new education system to "discover the potentialities of each of the students and of offering him means and motives which could awaken his latent energies so that he might continue to use, expand, and coordinate them through proper exercise". (Discovery of the Child, Chapter 2, p. 33) She believed that it is more important for the teacher to be an observer in the classroom and that the teacher should prepare the lessons and materials to suit the learning ability of the individual child. In this way, the child's self-confidence is built up as the teacher is neither demoralizing nor judgmental. Similarly, if the parents are willing to assist the child by teaching him through the use of a method most suited to his learning style instead of forcing him, the child will be able to excel in every way. Parents must believe that every child is capable of learning.

In Montessori's new education, she showed that it is important that "a school allows a child's activities to freely develop". (Discovery of the Child, Chapter 1, p. 9) However, this would be difficult with the use of the rigid furniture in the traditional classroom. Besides restricting the students' movements as they were not allowed to move about to change the materials that they would like to work on or to move the furniture around independently, Montessori felt that these furniture also hindered the proper development of the children's spinal cord because the children were forced to remain in the same position at the desk for hours. Instead, she advocated the use of child size furniture and floor mats in the Montessori classroom. Such furniture are not so intimidating and the children can have the freedom to move around independently when they need to.
Since the child will not be forced to carry out activities against his wishes, Montessori described this new education to be a system whereby the children will learn spontaneously. She had tested out this system in many Montessori schools and even up till today, children in Montessori classrooms enjoy carrying out their activities in an orderly, prepared and tranquil environment. Under this new education, the child learns to work quietly and with full concentration as he focuses on the task at hand. He will not be distracted by others around him nor will he give up easily as he will be able to correct his own mistakes through the use of the specially prepared materials. This is an important skill to develop as many children in the elementary schools are still not able to concentrate and they lack perseverance skills too. She believed that developing the child's spontaneous interest in learning will develop his personality such as kindness, warmth and perseverance which is necessary for peace and civilization in the society.

Montessori believed that this new education must start from birth in order for its effect to be obvious as the child, no matter how young, is capable of learning and he will absorb what he sees or hears from the environment around him. She believed that through the use of appropriate materials at the suitable timing, a child will be able to learn very easily. As such, the job of the teacher as an observer is very important. Montessori had proven the success of this new education, which probably accounts for its popularity all around the world.

New Educational Digital Learning Tools Will Sense Student Boredom and Other Emotions

Well, it's been a long time since I was in school, but I can tell you one thing I was bored out of my mind in elementary school, junior high, high school, and it wasn't until college that I really felt challenged, probably because I was taking 33 credits in one semester. In fact, I can remember telling some of my classmates that I believe that our school system was nothing more than a prison for kids, and later I likened it to a day care center for working couples' children - I kind of still believe that. Okay so, let's talk about this for a moment. Specifically, I would like to address the issue of student boredom.

Now then, as the class sizes get bigger, our education system will rely more on computerized teaching to tackle the challenges and economies of scale. It will also help the budget which is burdened by legacy costs, top heaviness, and over regulation from the federal level, things like NCLB for instance. What about the future of education, digital learning tools, and our new social networking in information age?

There was a cool little article recently in SpaceDaily entitled; "New computers respond to students' emotions, boredom," written by Staff Writers at Notre Dame and published on March 07, 2012. The piece stated:
"Emotion-sensing computer software that models and responds to students' cognitive and emotional states - including frustration and boredom - has been developed by University of Notre Dame and colleagues from the University of Memphis and MIT."
Neurologists have discovered that just before a human makes a mistake, their brain wave has a little flicker, and interestingly enough, many videogame companies now have brainwaves they can induce into the player for emotions such as fear, contentment, love, and anger. This makes the game seem more real, tapping into the emotional component of the human brain. Since emotions such as boredom or frustration is rather easy for artificial intelligence, we have a delightful opportunity at hand.

In fact, many help-lines in larger corporations now read the voice of the person calling in needing help, and it can tell if they are frustrated, angry, and then decide what to do about it. You see, these types of similar tools for education make a lot of sense. Students that are enjoying their subject matter will learn better, and isn't that the goal of teaching. Putting kids in large classrooms and making them do rote memorization is cruel and unusual, and it's time we stopped creating schools which were nothing more than a prison for kids. Please consider all this and think on.