published on or around the 15th of the month

In the “Are you Kidding Me” category
The New First Grade: Too Much Too Soon? By Peg Tyre Newsweek
Kids as young as 6 are tested, and tested again, to ensure they're making sufficient progress. Then there's homework, more workbooks and tutoring.[read on]

OldSage Replies to Newsweek:

It’s no wonder we read about freshman college students needing remedial classes before they can take college level classes. These students didn’t retain the college education they received in first grade. This article falls in the “Are You Kidding Me” chapter in my book. It’s no wonder ADD is rampant in the schools, they are cultivating it! One sentence in this article on the idea that not all children learn the same way. School is about learning and instilling a lifelong love of learning. Has the public school system ever considered that? Another way to strengthen the academic skills of American students, across all demographics, is to group students with similar abilities and learning styles and interests together and to quit focusing so much on age and social skills? When in real life after “school” are people grouped by age and social skills? I homeschool my student, so I don’t know if this idea is even seeded in the public system, but grouping students by interest and ability works just fine in a homeschooling environment!

Glad We're Not Going Back to School

You always see a flurry of noteworthy news regarding the idea of students returning to school. These all on the same day in the local paper just before local schools started back:

• Parents Clueless on Drugs
  Surveys show teens, folks out of synch, out of touch...
  BY PEGGY O'FARRELL | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
  A comparison of two recent surveys shows parents apparently don't have a clue about their teenagers' use of drugs and alcohol....[Read on]
• Goal is Grads, Not Dropouts
  Schools put emphasis on getting to finish line
  BY DENISE SMITH AMOS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
  Glen Este High School in West Clermont missed its graduation goal last year by four-tenths of a percentage point, the equivalent of one student dropping out, says Superintendent Gary Brooks...[Read on]
• No Cheating, Kids Pledge
  BY SARAH HARDEE | ENQUIRER CONTRIBUTOR
  When Villa Madonna Academy senior Sean Spille turns in his schoolwork, you can be sure it's his own - he even put it in writing.
  Spille is one of the high school's 180 students who signed a new honor code this year that calls for honesty and academic integrity....[Read on]

Just once I’d like to see for example, the Literature reading lists that returning students are required to read, the lists of texts being used and perhaps a syllabi or two of some of the more enlightening classes offered in our schools. This might make me wonder what we are missing by “not-going-back-to-school”....OldSage

They are confused!

From a High School American Government Test:

There are the obvious answers to these questions, especially if you are "teaching to the test", but if you had politically savvy students, everyone of them ought to be debating the answers they are required to choose from in these two questions. Maybe today's teens aren't reading the papers, or are up on current events, if they were, I have a feeling the choices in these questions might be a bit different.

It will after all, be their world after we baby-boomers check out...OldSage.

Demanding Your Privacy: An Ongoing Saga of Passing the Buck

OldSage reads this at the home page of an online class for gifted students:

TERMS OF USE
Some of the materials on this site are subject to copyright and may NOT be distributed beyond members enrolled in classes served by this course management system. Students' use of these materials is limited to the term in which a course is taught. This system contains student records that fall under the regulation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). See the Help and Support Site for more detailed information on FERPA.

Dear OldSage,
In order for your son to invoke his privacy rights, he needs to visit the Office of the Registrar. We have a form that he needs to fill out and sign so that directory information is restricted. Our office is located in the Rebecca Crown Center on the south end of campus. The street address is listed below. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you.
....
Acting University Registrar/Associate Registrar
xxx University
Office of the Registrar

OldSage,
I apologize for misunderstanding your original message. The xxxxx program is a program run by the Center For xxxxx and is outside the purview of the Office of the Registrar. Inquiries regarding your son's attendance in the program must be routed to xxxxx. I've copied them on this set of messages.
Again, I apologize for the misunderstanding.
xxxxx
Acting University Registrar/Associate Registrar
xxxx University
Office of the Registrar

See you next Month -- OldSage