Cooperative Learning--Another Over-hyped Gimmick

Improve-Education.org ^ | April 10, 2011 | Bruce Deitrick Price

[BruceDeitrickPrice]

A member of the local school board told me, “In the 21st century they’ll have to be able to work in groups, so we may as well teach them how to do it.”

He was so confident in his pronouncement, and seemed to think there was nothing else to say. His confidence had the opposite effect on me. I heard nothing but sophistry in that little comment; and I realized, with some regret, I had to write an article explaining why Cooperative Learning is just another tawdry gimmick.

First, let’s stand back and ask: did something happen in the universe, or in the United States, when we entered the year 2001? Was there a rupture with the past, and the nature of work changed? The whole premise for Cooperative Learning seems to be that once upon a time people worked only alone but now everyone would be part of a group. Obviously, neither one of these things is true. Already we see the set-up is a phony.

People were miners in mines. Workers on a farm. Sailors on a ship. Secretaries in an office. Executives at a meeting. Everybody was part of a team. Think back in history. Everybody had their place in society and in various smaller groups that made up the society: family, clan, religion, business, farm, military unit, guild, store, or manufacturing facility. Who was actually working alone? On the contrary, people were always working cooperatively with others, first within the family and community, later in whatever job one had.

Particularly savor the official’s phrase “teach them how to do it,” as if all the real groups one will be part of outside the classroom don’t teach anything. And the pretend groups in the classroom are the only way to learn how to work cooperatively!

[familyop]

Public education “officials” can KMA.

Tech: Foolproof(almost)windshield cutting [Tile saw.]
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=141657

More
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143623

Ingenuity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAKkkQGaxUA

[kittymyrib]

The dirty little secret is that without a “smart kid” in the group to do the work that the others can copy, the failure rate would be even worse than it is. The slugs learn very quickly that they can sponge off the achievers...which prepares them for their future in America.

[BobL]

No decent parent who has ANY options would EVER let the public school establishment teach their kids anything as important as reading or math. That is insane!!!

We complain about ATM fees being an extra dollar more than what we think is appropriate, but we throw our kids to the WOLVES of brainwashed teachers who DO NOT WANT excellence, but rather want conformity, and at a low level (to help put the US in its place). Why do we do it, because we consider them the ‘experts’ when it comes to raising (whoops, I meant educating) our kids. We are so stupid for doing that.

As to myself, and many others here, we took the bull by the horns and taught our kids ourselves, and, almost always, they KICK BUTT compared to their ‘equalized’ (i.e., dumbed-down) public (and often private) school brethren.

[camle]

cooperative learning: one person does the lion’s share of teh work, everybody shares the credit. very popular amongst those who don’t like to do the work, but want the credit.