Twitter Book Club: Theodore R. Sizer (1984) Horace's Compromise - Part 2: The Program

Part 2: The Program

1. What High School Is

"Most Americans have an uncomplicated vision of what secondary education should be. Their conception of high school... http://tl.gd/bnfp7kless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The rhetoric of high school purpose has been uniform and consistent for decades...That agreement is convenient, bu... http://tl.gd/bnfs04less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Lets repeat that one again because it speaks to one of my pet peeves:

"The rhetoric of high school purpose has been uniform and consistent for decades...That agreement is convenient, but it masks the fact that virtually all the words in these goal statements beg definition...most leave the words undefined and let the momentum of traditional practice speak for itself." Sizer

This is why I think it is so important for schools to have deep meaningful and deliberate dialog about their purpose. This dialog needs to be ongoing and involve all parties: administrators, teachers, students, parents, community members, etc. Otherwise, tradition will dictate direction and we will go nowhere. It is how we have come this far without much true change in how we play the game of school. It is the fuel that drives Horace's Compromise.

"School is conceived of as the children's workplace, and it takes young people off parents' hands and out of the la... http://tl.gd/bnftculess than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"A high premium is placed on punctuality and on 'being where you're supposed to be.' Obviously, a low premium is pl... http://tl.gd/bnfv7dless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Obviously this also contributes to our current condition:

"A high premium is placed on punctuality and on 'being where you're supposed to be.' Obviously, a low premium is placed on reflection and response." Sizer

It's all about conditioning.

2. Purpose: Mind and Character

"Literacy means more than merely skills in decoding words. It means the ability to comprehend and to understand ide... http://tl.gd/bor382less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Compulsory attendance in an educational institution should cease when a young citizen demonstrates mastery of the ... http://tl.gd/bor770less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The key question is more often, 'What do we have to know for the test?' than 'What should we know?'" Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Just because the facts roll out, of course, does not mean that they are either understood or retained." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"It takes time to do things, to use them in order to know them. Purveying information takes a fraction of that time... http://tl.gd/born10less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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3. Skills: The Importance of Coaching

"An educated person knows the difference between observation and inference, and the uses of each...Sloppy people confuse the two." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The computer extends our memory to a wondrous degree." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Writing is not only an end in itself; it is a means by which a person can delve into his or her mind." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Nothing sets learning more firmly in our minds than its use." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Schools that always insist on the right answer, with no concern as to how a student reaches it, smother the studen... http://tl.gd/bpfo8pless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Schools that always insist on the right answer, with no concern as to how a student reaches it, smother the student's efforts to become an effective intuitive thinker." Sizer

Take note KIPP, Atlanta, Florida, Study Island, Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee, and everyone else more concerned with the numbers than the process.

"Simply telling that person that he is wrong throws away the opportunity to engage him in questions about his logic and approach." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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4. Knowledge: Less Is More

"a course of study mandated as the result of decisions reached through special interest politics and unrelieved maj... http://tl.gd/bq2e5qless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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In this quote, the most interesting and important points are in the parentheses:

"a course of study mandated as the result of decisions reached through special interest politics and unrelieved majority rule—is both insensitive educationally (no one of us, including an adolescent, learns much from things that, forced on us, we resent) and un-American (the tradition of majority rights is an important aspect in American liberty)." Sizer

"No one learns much from things that, forced on us, we resent": Think about teacher professional development. How it seems a school can mandate all teachers to attend a training session then walk out and never implement a damned thing from that session. Perhaps Sizer's observation here has some evidence in PD. Perhaps it is also why I hear so many teachers say they hate tech training (or aren't given enough) at their school.

"most people want to be taken seriously and to enjoy the sweetness of success at something they believed they could... http://tl.gd/bq2hbdless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"teaching the fundamentals can be difficult, because their structure is often abstract." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Master plans for cities, states, and the nation that standardize instruction are certain to be inefficient: no one... http://tl.gd/bq2ktsless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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5. Understanding: The Importance of Questions

"Questioning is a far more difficult form of pedagogy for teachers than are coaching and telling, because it is the... http://tl.gd/bq2smlless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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6. Character: Decency

"it is difficult to find many schools today that both formally articulate decency as an aim and precisely outline h... http://tl.gd/bq30l0less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"I often started my own courses for high school seniors by telling them explicitly that my purpose was to make them... http://tl.gd/bq3292less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Lets all try this this fall:

"I often started my own courses for high school seniors by telling them explicitly that my purpose was to make them different, in effect to alter them." Sizer

"a wholly open mind is dangerous, and probably unattainable" Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Community 'values' usually boil down to pep rallies. We're number one. Fight, fight, fight." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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@anderscj you are pulling from all the ancient ones this summer - reincarnating voices of some lost to time - thank you-appreciating Sizerless than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Replypammoran
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@pammoran I have wanted to read this one for a long time. So relevant. While he focuses on HS, so much of his wk applies to all levels.less than a minute ago via Twitterrific Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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@anderscj his perspective on compromise speaks 2 barriers we create at all levels- tcher 2 principal schls 2 district not just tchr-lrnerless than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Replypammoran
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"The religious and, by extension, moral views of a well-organized minority (or majority) has substantial influence,... http://tl.gd/bq3ah4less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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7. Principals' Questions

"What counts are positive answers to three questions: Can graduates of this high school teach themselves? Are they ... http://tl.gd/bql3illess than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Lets repeat this one too. It is quite important, especially the first question in the list:

"What counts are positive answers to three questions: Can graduates of this high school teach themselves? Are they decent people? Can they effectively use the principal ways of looking at the world, ways represented by the major and traditional academic disciplines?" Sizer

"teachers must focus more on how kids think than what they think." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"there is no One Best Curriculum for all schools. While we all have to agree on some general outcomes that give mea... http://tl.gd/bql5crless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"tomorrow's economy will be volatile and dependent on flexible workers with a high level of intellectual skills. Th... http://tl.gd/bqlbbrless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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Not sure anyone really heard Sizer on this one. Seems the same message Daniel Pink has been trying to resurrect. At least we have the P21 folks fighting for this.

"One learns how to learn by experience, not by being told things." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"While we should learn to employ the products of the new technologies, we should keep in mind two crucial points: i... http://tl.gd/bqlg6kless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"If we want our well-intentioned plans to succeed, we'll have to inspire the adolescents to join in them—inspire ev... http://tl.gd/bqlmslless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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