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MULTI-AGE CLASSROOMS

eyeball24 wrote:
I think that multi-age classes are maybe okay for young ages but not for older kids. I was in a 3-4 combo class when i was in 4th grade and it was not good at all. The teach manly spent time with the 3rd graders and just assumed we (the 4th graders) could do anything she put in front of us. It was even worse when we had a sub because my teacher never had a lesson plan. She would tell them (the subs) to just swing it. So they spent half the day thinking we were all 3rd graders so they'd teach us they same thing we learned the previous year. So I think combo classes are a bad idea and that's all there is to it.

tait7 wrote:
I would vote in the affirmative for multi-age classrooms. The concept of grouping students by chronological age leaves room for improvement. Today, students are exposed to a more enriched background at a younger age. Some students are far ahead of their classmates of the same age. Grouping by multi-age levels would allow homogeneous grouping academically without stigmatizing anyone.

The one room schoolhouse did very well by its students. It was the one room schoolhouse generation that put a man on the moon.

Now that we have the Internet and educational search engines, why hold back students from learning curriculum set aside for the other levels. Why not learn at one's level.

 

ART FUNDING

ldysmil wrote:
If arts are managed well, math, science, and history can be incorporated into the lessons. By the same token, some of the principles of math can be taught by using music as an example. When budgets get cut, creative teaching techniques can still incorporate the arts into other courses.

tait7 wrote:
Of course art and music are important. Music soothes the beast!

Too often these subjects become political footballs. Art and music should be available to all students not just the gifted, talented, and well behaved.

We would do well to introduce younger children to art history and classical music.

 

BANNING BOOKS

eliset wrote:
The question regarding censorship is mixing apples and oranges. Not selecting a book to be part of a school library is not censorship, it's selection. Obviously, not all books are appropriate for inclusion in a school library. However, once a book is selected, it's never appropriate to censor part of the book (by blacking out a line or paragraph or page.) I don't see that you are differentiating between censorship and selection.

tait7 wrote:
Material should be selected not censored. Our schools should be filled with the wonderful world of books. Smut and socially unacceptable material should not be on school shelves.