John Thompson responds to Forrest
Gump Hinton's incredibly "cynical, reductionistic" new blog post,
Bakers make bread. Teachers transmit knowledge. Even the title is condescending. What a dick. John first quotes a phrase from the piece, then corrects Forrest, and so on (just to be clear):
John Thompson's comment:
“our society has determined that there are collective benefits to standardizing the knowledge we impart to children”
No!!! Society has set Standards to be taught. Standards and standardization are two different critters.
“… expect teachers to transmit the chosen knowledge, and measure how well students mastered that knowledge. That’s what teaching is mostly about. Transmitting knowledge for teachers is equivalent to making bread for bakers. …”
That is about the most cynical, reductionistic form of know-nothingism that I’ve heard. Even if you believe that (and even if you have some knowledge of the realities of schools), I still can’t believe anyone would say something like that. “Reformers” commit that sort of sacrilege, ridicule values that we have devoted our lives to, and ask why we don’t sign on the dotted line.
