Comments on Tuttle SVC: Traditional or Progressive? Your Basic Framework ...

I am concerned that Traditional School and Progres...

2009-11-07T13:11:38.392-05:00

I am concerned that Traditional School and Progressive School get conflated with the political left and the political right. Did they ever match up well?

Bill, Cuban's larger point is that we need to...

2009-11-05T08:12:55.832-05:00

Bill,

Cuban's larger point is that we need to get beyond that dichotomy -- and we do. But on the other hand, talking about US education policy without keeping these points of view in mind is like talking about politics without knowing there are parties.

I've taught in a middle class school which was...

2009-11-05T07:33:42.423-05:00

I've taught in a middle class school which was "traditional" and a Disadvantaged school which was "progressive". Nevertheless, it was essential in the Disadvantaged school to pay far more attention to basic skills of the students. The School Admin supported any new ideas that worked. I was free to implement progressive methods such as logo learning but the nature of the students meant that I also had to provide a lot of individual and assistance for basic skills (repetition, tracking individual progress carefully, drill). By contrast in the middle class school everyone could pretend they were good teachers because the students were so good.

This is one place where the broad brush strokes of Larry Cuban break down.

It breaks down in other ways too. A middle class family may have four children. The first 3 learn easily. The fourth struggles and is eventually diagnosed with some sort of learning difficulty. The last child requires more traditional methods expertly applied. The family would never have realised that leaning to free development didn't always work if they had stopped at 3 children.

The broad brush strokes contain some truth but there is also some omission here - of the close up nitty gritty, of social class / disadvantage and specific learning difficulties.

Hi Claus, There is a difference between what the ...

2009-11-03T13:43:43.488-05:00

Hi Claus,

There is a difference between what the actual Core Knowledge curriculum says and what the people in the larger Core Knowledge community are enthusiastic about. That is, a lot of the supporters are more knee-jerk traditionalist.

Of course, what is really in the curriculum is more important, but if you didn't understand how this relates to the larger traditional/progressive debate, it would be very confusing.

Thanks for quoting from Larry Cuban's blog, wh...

2009-11-03T13:30:44.155-05:00

Thanks for quoting from Larry Cuban's blog, which is a critical--and under-appreciated--resource.

Core Knowledge actually takes a very balanced view of phonics. The are certainly not among the diehards who support phonics and phonics only.