--- Pamela Taylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The Downtown Inter-District School, of which the MPS > is a part of, was engaging in this method. It has > been used in other parts of the country as a > credible means of school reform. Thank you for bringing this up Pamela. You're right; there has indeed been ongoing experimentation with this theory. Saint Paul public schools introduced "The Discovery Method" in 1999 with the stated goal of measuring multiple intelligences to identify gifted and talented children for enrollment into Capitol Hill Magnet School, which offered advanced academic curriculum. If the goal was truly identifying gifted and talented children it was an unmitigated disaster. Teachers quickly complained that the newly identified children were in need of remedial, not advanced instruction. Their inclusion was not only harmful to the advanced students already present, but to the newcommers themselves. I personally spoke with screeners whose job it was to employ these new methods. They reported that it was impossible to objectivly make informed evaluations of these kids. But in fact, the goal was never to increase the enrollment of gifted children; it was to increase the enrollment of the "right sort" (based on socio-ecomomic as well as ethnic criteria) of minority children without regard to how gifted they actually were. The first documented use of this "technique" was as a smoke screen and as such it works wonderfully. Such it is, and such it remains. > Multiple Intelligence would actually involve the > parents more instead of putting them on the > defensive. Well, I agree that many angry and confused parents did show up to a well reported school meeting to discuss the failure of Discovery at Capitol Hill, but I doubt that is the kind of involvement we should be courting. > It would give our teachers more "expertise" to teach > the subjects they are experts in. Sort of like > football practice. In order to get to the Superbowl > you use various plays and techniques within the game > itself to create the winning team that gets there. I'm sorry, but this analogy is completely and utterly specious. Can you identify any football teams that use a players talents for anything that does not directly relate to the playing of football? Dance lessons may indeed increase a players agility, but what I wonder how much teams would value a player who rendered wonderful paintings in oil but could not identify a football from a watermelon? > The parents, children and the school system would > become more like partners in the education process. > They would share the "expertise." It would decrease > your so-called cryptoclastic bureaucracy. How do you come to this conclusion? In what way would the use of "multiple intelligences" increase parental involvement? With all due respect, I believe you're arguement lacks merit on it's face. > As in any system you develop credible means of > accountability and methods of evaluation. You just > don't try to compare apples to oranges.> You do if your grading the quality of fruit! And employers to whom our kids will eventually apply themselves are going to be using a VERY measurable set of standards when deciding whom they will hire...for instance, can they read? TJSWIFT Saint Paul [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
