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Sages On Stages Desperately Needed 
American Thinker ^ | Oct 26, 2013 | Bruce Deitrick Price

Posted on 01/18/2014 5:18:11 PM PST by BruceDeitrickPrice

 [SUMMARY: Constructivism says teachers must teach less.]  It was the first premise of all schools throughout history: students would be educated by people who were themselves already educated. A biology teacher had to be an expert in biology; a history teacher must know history to teach history. Who would question the wisdom of these statements?

 This country’s Education Establishment now preaches a contrary view. Students must not be told that 2+3 = 5; this is not “authentic learning.” Essentially, teachers should stop teaching. The theory, generally called Constructivism or Discovery, requires that students (typically working in groups) construct knowledge for themselves. 

This approach gained traction in the 1980s and is now one of the central dogmas of progressive or modern education. Classrooms, we are told, should not be “teacher-centered” but “student-centered.” 

Traditionally, students were entitled to sages. But now the official slogan is: “We don’t need sages on stages. We want guides at their sides.”

In practice, teachers don’t lead the class. Rather they become part of the class and wander among the students, nodding encouragement. As this philosophy has hardened, teachers have been rebranded as “facilitators.” Increasingly, they are told to move to the back of the class and stay out of the way.

There are obvious problems. First, the person in the room who knows the most is forced to remain silent. Second, Constructivism, if it happens at all, will obviously be a slow process. 

There are many simple facts (Paris is the capital of France) that can be taught directly in seconds. There are many complex phenomena (the origins of the French Revolution) that need to be explained at length. Facilitators can neither teach directly nor explain at length. 

The general idea is that students will go to the Internet or other sources and figure out everything for themselves...

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Conspiracy; Education; Society
KEYWORDS: blogpimp; culture; directinstruction; knowledge; selfpromotion
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1 posted on 01/18/2014 5:18:11 PM PST by BruceDeitrickPrice
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To: BruceDeitrickPrice

I used put up with this crap. Today, I’m retired and smiling.


2 posted on 01/18/2014 5:23:49 PM PST by lrdg
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To: BruceDeitrickPrice

What you write is absolutely true. They grill teachers on their expertise during the hiring process, but then they are reduced to “facilitators” with this nonsensical new way of teaching.


3 posted on 01/18/2014 5:24:19 PM PST by EinNYC
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To: EinNYC

pulbik skoolz just want to turn out obedient tax-paying drones.


4 posted on 01/18/2014 5:26:23 PM PST by bicyclerepair (TERM LIMITS TERM LIMITS TERM LIMITS)
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To: BruceDeitrickPrice

more idiotic leftist theories


5 posted on 01/18/2014 5:30:21 PM PST by GeronL (Extra Large Cheesy Over-Stuffed Hobbit)
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To: BruceDeitrickPrice

This ‘could’ be a use of the Socratic method- but it’s not.

It’s more of a ‘Lord of the Flies’ thing...


6 posted on 01/18/2014 5:35:21 PM PST by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat Party!)
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To: BruceDeitrickPrice

How do you construct knowledge, if you do not have the experience to know if you are correct?


7 posted on 01/18/2014 5:39:23 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: BruceDeitrickPrice

Yep...common core...it’s child abuse


8 posted on 01/18/2014 5:42:55 PM PST by goodnesswins (R.I.P. Doherty, Smith, Stevens, Woods.)
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To: BruceDeitrickPrice
The general idea is that students will go to the Internet or other sources and figure out everything for themselves...

Then why do we need teachers or schools; this sounds like home school to me and yet the people that promote these methods would burn me at the stake for promoting the ultimate expression of their method.

9 posted on 01/18/2014 6:11:07 PM PST by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: Jonty30

Exactly! Especially with most of the students coming in with very deficient reading skills.


10 posted on 01/18/2014 6:12:40 PM PST by EinNYC
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To: BruceDeitrickPrice

Sounds like someone decided we need more service-industry workers.


11 posted on 01/18/2014 6:52:09 PM PST by LearsFool ("Thou shouldst not have been old, till thou hadst been wise.")
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To: BruceDeitrickPrice
Bruce: What I'm seeing is more and more teachers who are short on subject matter knowledge - English, math, etc. but heavily indoctrinated in pedagogy and Marxist slogans -- straight from Freire'a Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Ayer's To Teach: The Journey of A Teacher (I've seen young teachers carrying around these two specious books.

In the "bad old days" we had to pass the comprehensive NTE exam specifically in our subject field after we earned a BA to even be considered for a teaching position.

The NTE has been done away with, I think because it was difficult and fewer college grads were able to pass it.

Too bad -- I thought this supremely stupid "Sage on the Stage" went the way of other failed programs.

As for me, I'm DI all the way -- and that's what I demanded for my own children as well.

12 posted on 01/18/2014 7:23:14 PM PST by Bon of Babble (Don't want to brag...but I can still fit into the earrings I wore in high school!!)
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To: EinNYC
They come in lacking basic skills and lacking a lot of basic knowledge. (I teach high school).

We teachers are told constantly to work on "higher order thinking skills" as in Bloom's Taxonomy -- to NOT work students on the "lowest levels" but on the creative, analyzing, evaluating level of whatever task is at hand.

Well, how is THAT supposed to happen when the kid hasn't mastered the lowest levels (remembering, understanding)??

OR he lacks vocabulary and reading skills in the 11th grade?


13 posted on 01/18/2014 7:31:40 PM PST by Bon of Babble (Don't want to brag...but I can still fit into the earrings I wore in high school!!)
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To: lrdg
Oh lucky lucky you! DH is going out next year but says I have 4 more years...
14 posted on 01/18/2014 7:33:36 PM PST by Bon of Babble (Don't want to brag...but I can still fit into the earrings I wore in high school!!)
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To: BruceDeitrickPrice

>> It was the first premise of all schools throughout history: students would be educated by people who were themselves already educated. A biology teacher had to be an expert in biology; a history teacher must know history to teach history. Who would question the wisdom of these statements?

People with Education degrees question that. They think that expertise in a field of study is not important, but that the study of the “science” of educating is more important.

That’s where you get the idea of students educating students, Common Core, and Pearson self-teaching textbooks.


15 posted on 01/18/2014 7:39:48 PM PST by Bryanw92 (Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: BruceDeitrickPrice

Constructivism is a cover story for the use of school to destroy learning itself.

It is a vicious war against the minds of American children, by monsters from hell.


16 posted on 01/18/2014 9:11:35 PM PST by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: Bon of Babble

I teach high school also. I am also frustrated by the endless exhortations by administration to ask “higher order questions”. In many cases, you are simply met by blank stares. They don’t even understand what you are asking, let alone possess the ability to formulate an answer. Without stimulation by parents at home at the earliest age to read, to write, to analyze, to formulate answers, I do not think that the work at school suffices to develop those skills. After all, most teachers only have a student for about 45 minutes a day.


17 posted on 01/18/2014 9:15:54 PM PST by EinNYC
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To: BruceDeitrickPrice
Students must not be told that 2+3 = 5; this is not “authentic learning.” Essentially, teachers should stop teaching. The theory, generally called Constructivism or Discovery, requires that students (typically working in groups) construct knowledge for themselves.

The students should wear pajamas, drink hot chocolate and talk about getting knowledge.

18 posted on 01/18/2014 9:15:58 PM PST by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: BruceDeitrickPrice

The ruling class wants to cultivate an underclass of no-nothings who will tolerate their corruption and be dependent on government. And if they can’t produce enough in the schools they’ll bring in illegal aliens to fill the void.


19 posted on 01/18/2014 9:17:47 PM PST by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: EinNYC

Do you know a book called Why Don’t Students Like School? I imagine they like it even less these days. One of the major themes is that people must learn facts before they can become experts and think abstractly.


20 posted on 01/18/2014 9:21:54 PM PST by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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