I wanted to share the letter I sent to my US Senator.

I have great concerns over Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education and here is what I sent my Senator.

To the Honorable Senator Johnson,

I have been a life long Republican and put my first GOP sign up in 3rd grade. I have lived in Wisconsin for 15 years now and have been proud to vote for you a couple times. I am writing to express my concern over Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. I believe this person has no qualifications to serve in this role. I have worked in Higher Education for more than 20 years and I do see a need for change in both the K12 system and Higher Education. I do believe that placing a person in the role of Secretary of Education with no personal experience with public education is a mistake.

I do support both Charter Schools and Voucher programs, both can be a benefit to a number of students. But I don’t believe these are the solutions to our struggling education systems. Much better examples of educational reform can be found in the ideas presented by Jeb Bush or Sir Ken Robins.

Further, I believe her views on main streaming students with disabilities will hamper the improvement of the public classroom. I say this as a person with dyslexia and having spent a great deal of time in special education classes. Teachers in the classroom already struggle to engage our best students when they are contently trying to help those struggling. Placing more students in a classroom that require even more attention will further hinder those students at the top and wishing to be challenged.

One final thought and I quote Benjamin Franklin “Genius without education is like silver in a mine.” I believe a vote for Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education is a vote squash the potential and the dreams of the genius that exists in our public school systems. Thank you for your excellent representation.

Thank you for your time,
Russel Pearson

Sir Ken Robinson on conformity, compliance and hard subjects.

Published on Jul 5, 2015

Sir Ken Robinson talking at The Sunday Times Festival of Education 18-19 June 2015 at Wellington College while we were there to #INSPIRANATION.

We managed to film a few choice snippets on subjects not often covered in his other talk around the world such is his thoughts around UK education policy and ministers.

Here he talks about the UK educations system and our ministers before answering questions from Sir Anthony Seldon. Master of Wellington College and Nick Corston Co-founder of STEAM Co. who asked him what his thoughts are on the STEM .v. STEAM debate.

Ken Robinson on Creativity at University

Published on Jul 21, 2015

Internationally influential thinker on education and creativity, Sir Ken Robinson considers how higher education institutions might play a greater role in developing the creative capacities of their students. His RSA Animate ‘Changing Educational Paradigms’ galvanised thinking about the role that creativity plays in schools: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFc…

RSA Spotlights – taking you straight to the heart of the event, highlighting our favourite moments and key talking points.

In this excerpt from the event ‘What’s the Point of Creativity at University’, Sir Ken Robinson discusses the global imperative for creativity and creative thinking.

General Session: Common Core State Standards

Teachers Mixed on Common Core, Support Blended Learning

By Dian Schaffhauser 02/09/15

More than nine out of 10 teachers in America report using technology in the classroom. Two-thirds said they support the idea of a blended classroom, where students spend part of the school day working with a teacher and part working on a computer. A similar number of teachers said they like the idea of requiring students to take at least one online course before they graduate.

These results and others came out of an “internal poll” given to the members of the Association of American Educators, a national, non-union professional membership organization founded in 1994. According to spokeswoman Alexandra Freeze Read More

 

What Common Core is Really