socialist

So a natural cycle? Could that be happening today?

Waldo, you and I agree 100% that humans are driving climate change. But I do have an elementary question for you. During the last ice age, most of Canada and a good part of the USA was covered by an approx. 2 km glacier. This glacier melted before humans had an impact. What caused the glacier to melt thousands of years ago? Thanks, and I look forward to your reply.

There was an excellent discussion about math on CBC. It is roughly 2 hours long. May interesting comments. http://www.cbc.ca/radio/checkup/is-there-something-wrong-with-the-way-math-is-being-taught-1.3093910

Here is an interesting perspective. https://ofpossibleworlds.wordpress.com/2015/05/30/when-will-i-ever-need-this/

There are some very good schools in the USA. They are some very bad schools in the USA. The same can be said for Canada. We have 1/11th the population of the USA. With 370 million people, you would expect there to be more problems. Would a public high school of 200 students be less problematic than a public high school of 2000 students? Yes it would be. That's why only fools compare one country to another. I don;t play that silly game. You shouldn't either.

Which specific problems could they not solve? I hear this same nonsense at district PDs. Your comment is a cliche in the handbook of excuses.

Let's just say that institute knows very little about public education.

Exactly. You try to sound cool and trendy yet you have no idea how it would work or whether it would be beneficial. There is enough stupidity out there, without adding more.

He talks fantasy. Ok, let's let kids learn math through video games. We could teach them to add by counting the number of enemies killed while playing Call of Duty. We can teach them diameter and radius by playing Grand Theft Auto.

BING BING BING. This man knows nothing about education. Give him some corn on the cob!!

This is a nice generalization. Do this, do that, but you offer nothing of substance.

How do you feel math should be taught? Any suggestions?

A report by the far-right C.D. Howe Institute blames problems on Discovery Math. Is that fair? What about poverty? What about parents who don't care about education? It's easy to blame. http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/decline-of-canadian-students-math-skills-the-fault-of-discovery-learning-c-d-howe-institute http://www.cknw.com/2015/05/28/78342/?sc_ref=twitter

I wish educators would be up in arms on all the money spent on useless gimmicks, like the "collaborative classroom". http://ii.library.jhu.edu/tag/collaborative-learning-classroom/ These cost around $20,000 per classroom. It is the latest gimmick. Sadly, many in the education business see grant money as free money. I would rather see more teachers hired than these ridiculous collaborative classrooms. But someone is making money.

Neo-Liberal agenda. SuperLOL.

True. And they tell us who to vote for, too.

I disagree. I've seen more kids benefit from being held back in grade one than those who haven't benefited.

Your grandchild's situation is, unfortunately, common. There are many factors. There is too much emphasis on sitting in groups and working in "centers" with collaborative groups of students. Collaboration is one of the latest buzz words in education. Kids are expected to collaborate. Sadly, the experts don't realize that in order to collaborate, one must have deep domain knowledge. Classrooms with traditional rows, giving kids their own personal space is frowned upon in today's schools. Quiet classrooms where kids can concentrate are frowned upon in today's classroom. I've received hand-outs that tell me that a noisy classroom is a good classroom. I agree that a noisy classroom is great for some as it obscures terrible classroom management. I don't know about anyone else, but when I'm reading, I like to read in a quiet environment so I can concentrate on what it is I'm reading. Now imagine little kids trying to understand what they are reading in a noisy classroom with numerous distractions. Maybe all this is intentional for some unknown nefarious reason.

That is true, topaz. Teachers who obtain a masters degree, at say, the age of 50, will earn on average an extra 10K/year. They won't be a better teacher though. A masters degree also leads to a higher pension. Teachers with masters degrees are not identified in the school system, so parents don't really know who should be expected to deliver "top quality" education. But like I said in a status update: celebrating pink shirt day and making posters is beginning to take precedence over math and language skills.

PCT, you know as a teacher I have to repeat what I'm told to say. No straying allowed, or I will be at the mercy of those people at the top. You know the type; the puppets dangling from strings of gold.