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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education

Report: Higher education not translating to lower unemployment

Globally, there is an uneven balance between proficient workers and the amount of available jobs matching their skill level and expectations, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The ILO released the 9th edition of the Key Indicators of the Labor Market on November 16 and parts of it aren’t pretty when it comes to the state of higher education around the world. Though the education level of the worldwide workforce is improving, this increase in higher education doesn’t necessarily translate to lower unemployment on a global scale.

Of the 64 participating countries, the report indicates that all but 2 demonstrate a measurable increase in share of the workforce with a tertiary education over the last 15 years. The largest rise in education was observed in Canada, Luxembourg and Russia. However, individuals with secondary level education don’t necessarily posses an improved chance of locating and securing a job. Tertiary graduates may be less likely to be unemployed in high income systems, yet more likely to be unemployed in low or middle income economies.

The report also indicates that workers in high income countries produce 62 times the yearly output of a worker in a low income system and 10 times that of an employee in a middle income economy. Nonetheless, middle income economies have documented the most productiveness during the last 15 years.

Unfortunately, the average unemployment figures from 112 countries with comparable information increased in 2007-2014, from 6.4 percent to 7.2 percent.

Unless the mismatch between competent workers and the number of accessible jobs is addressed, a decline in economic growth and development may be felt internationally.

 

 

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity

Does music education make children smarter?

It’s no secret that throughout the United States, music education programs are being eliminated due to funding. However the benefits these programs can bring are critical to young children’s development, and I believe music may even hold the key to closing the achievement gap between white children and minority students.

Based on research, early music education illustrates clear emotional and cognitive benefits for children. Increased processing of visual and spatial information, improved literacy, greater ability to learn a second language, academic accomplishment and perseverance are some of the traits associated with incorporating music education throughout youth. When learning to play an instrument, different parts of the brain are required to coordinate at once, which leads to stronger neural pathways. Additionally, children’s auditory systems are enhanced from this, and memory improves. This type of growth serves to heighten brain development throughout childhood, the benefits of which last through adulthood.

A recent study has demonstrated that it only takes 20 days of music education for there to be cognitive advancement in 90 percent of subjects. The evidence is overwhelmingly in support of music education and the positive outcomes it has on children.

Unfortunately, even in the cultural mecca of the world, most New York City public school students don’t enjoy access to music education throughout their schooling. It is important to fill the gaps in some way and non-profit organizations such as, Education Through Music, are volunteering to fill this void. Although their involvement is of positive benefit to the students involved, it is the hope that these non-profits will become part of an enhancement plan, rather than a substitution for school-based music education.

I think that music is more than just a supplementary learning tool; it is a necessary academic skill. Incorporating the right music programs in traditionally at-risk student populations has the potential to enhance learning and an interest in it – and to transcend some of the barriers that may make it difficult for minority, socio-economically challenged and other at-risk students to succeed.

Click here to read all our posts concerning the Achievement Gap.

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership

Learning to think or to work?

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

A guest column by Edgar Wilson

Why are we learning this?

The anthem of disengaged students takes on new meaning when applied to America’s universities. It isn’t merely a question of individual lessons or trivial facts; when hyper-expensive degrees and all but unavoidable student loans are as much a rite of passage as walking the line at graduation, the meaning behind the mission deserves to be scrutinized.

Students today should be forgiven for feeling confused about just what they are supposed to be getting from school. In the classroom, lessons will often function to stimulate problem-solving, discussion, analysis—in short, getting students to think.

On the policy-making side, the goal is less abstract: school exists to prepare students to be productive workers. The message has become even more critical and urgent as the global economy proves that students around the world must all be competitive with one another. If our schools don’t create more productive workers, they will quickly find the jobs filled by immigrant labor, or face the prospect of the U.S. losing its status as an economic leader.

At the post-secondary level, the language still manages to distinguish between “trade schools” and universities; at every other level, the intersection of economic pragmatism and a more liberal arts-influence is less pronounced.

American healthcare makes for a powerful case study, as it is suffering from a similar polarity.

Primary care provider shortages mean that there is a demand for both bedside caregivers and administrators with overlapping occupational skills. Nursing is a trade, certainly: from administering medication to coordinating care, nurses are hands-on and highly skilled; yet administrators must also have the less tangible skill set of the entrepreneur, able to dissect complex organization systems and manage people effectively. They need the liberal arts training to think critically and creatively, as well as expertise in their trade.

Current continuing education requirements emphasize the tradecraft aspects of nursing, and it is up to individuals to find, finance, and complete the sort of advanced degrees that serve as a prerequisite for administrative careers. The needs are parallel, but the avenues for fulfillment have been segregated.

The answer to the compartmentalization of education—of learning hard or soft skills, of preparing for lifelong learning and lifelong doing—isn’t just a post-secondary consideration. Schools at all levels need to engage students on all levels—a model known in some sectors as kinaesthetic learning. This is more than a learning style; it is a pedagogical discipline that promotes learning by doing, activating curiosity as well as providing practical applications.

In a world (and an economy) where change is constant and disruptive, students and workers alike need the capacity to adapt quickly, apply knowledge constructively, and never treat the learning process as having a clear beginning and end.

The “why?” of academics cannot afford to be withheld; neither can soft skills be relegated to liberal arts instruction, while hard skills masquerade as cutting-edge STEM initiatives or high-demand trade fields. The artificial degree-to-career pipeline, and the accompanying price tag barring the way to higher earning through higher learning, obscures the reality that lifelong learning has become mandatory, not elective. All occupations—not just healthcare—need dynamic workers who both learn and do.

___________

Edgar Wilson is an Oregon native with a passion for cooking, trivia, and politics. He studied conflict resolution and international relations and has worked in industries ranging from international marketing to broadcast journalism. He is currently working as an independent analytical consultant. He can be reached via email here or on Twitter @EdgarTwilson.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Higher Education

Is use of technology necessary in classrooms?

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

A guest column by Lucy Brown

There has been a dramatic change in the use of technologies in the last few decades and particularly in classrooms. Schools have had to invest heavily in the purchase of hardwares and softwares; set up internet access and train teachers to use technology. This has made the young people in education to be enthusiastic about technology and made them grow to use it more often. Some of them lack the extensive knowledge use of the technology they are embracing. Use of technology in the classroom is very important, though at times, opportunities to harness children’s skills and enthusiasm to improve learning in school are sometimes missed out.

Technology continues to be increasingly adopted and used by all educational institutions across the world, but examples of cutting edge technology being harnessed to transform teaching and learning remains the exception rather than the rule (Becta, 2009)

Effective use of technology is central to achieving the goals set out in schools. This is because, with technology, the learners are assured of enhanced teaching and learning activities; technology improves efficiency of systems and processes within the school and it also reduces the administrative burden on teachers. With it comes the advancement and exploration of future ways of working.

Students get an opportunity to learn beyond the confines of the school timetables and school gates when they incorporate technology in their learning system. It is very fundamental to students because it makes them to search for innovative ways of incorporating new technologies and the teachers get an opportunity to use them to advance the curriculum to suit its relevancy in the 21st century. With it, an already successful school will improve further. It is a tool for students to take control of their learning.

Technology is important in education in the classroom as it forces us to reconsider how people learn, how they are empowered and what type of learning and useful information is.  Technology is forcing educators to re-evaluate the very nature of what and how we teach and it is impossible to without them in schools.

With use of technology in classes, computer can serve as a tutor. This lessens the burden of teachers in the class, as they are just left with the role of guiding the students as they learn from the computer. It can also help with students who are slow learners; this is through the computer tutorials being repeated until the students who are falling out grasps what is being taught. This is the main advantage of technology in classrooms; teachers don’t have that time to repeat lessons over and over again.

Technology is really helping in fighting illiteracy in the world. A story is told of an American, Annaben Thomas (Bennett, 1999). She was unable to read even after several years in high school at a New York City school. She eventually enrolled herself in a computer program that taught her how to read and write. This was her last resort after she had tried everything humanly possible to learn to read and write to no avail. Her success story was published in an article “Computers as Tutors’ by Bennett.

But some critics view technology in the negative. They think that, with computers in the classrooms, students will be transformed into less fools. Boyle (1998. P.618) argues that information technology may actually be making us stupid. Some people who grew up in the pre-technology era also argue that the use of technology will take the emotion and heart out of the classroom (Wehrle, 1998).

Education serves as a window through which our imagination and curiosity can take flight into the unknown and enhance our creativity, and the use of technology in education plays a vital role in helping students to achieve their full development potential. Given the role of education in shaping students for the outside world, there should be a connection between the world and education, and that can only be achieved by incorporating technology in the classroom.

The advantages of having computers in classrooms outweigh the disadvantages. Technology is a positive supplement to bridge the gap between education and the technological world in which we live. Technology is setting a pace in students to jump start with marketable job skills.

Reference:

http://www.as.wvu.edu/~lbrady/wehrle.html

Warger, Cynthia L. Technology In Today’s Schools. [Alexandria, VA]: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1990. Print.

Read all of our posts about EdTech and Innovation by clicking here. 

___________

This post is brought to you by Lucy Brown from Auvisa.org. Auvisa.org is an Australian visa agency, founded in 2011 by migration lawyers. Lucy has 11 years of teaching experience in chemistry before joined Auvisa.org.

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, Equity

There are fewer than 100 black professors in Britain – why?

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

William Ackah, University of London

It is a shocking statistic that there were just 85 black professors in UK universities in 2011-12. In stark terms, this means that there are more higher education institutions than there are black British, African and Caribbean professors actually teaching in them. The latest figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency put the number of UK academic staff from a known ethnic minority at 12.8%.

In contrast, black and minority ethnic students are well represented. In some institutions, such as City University, they make up nearly 50% of the student population. Yet even in these universities black academics are a rarity, particularly those in senior positions.

It is hard to think of an arena of UK public life where the people are so poorly represented and served on the basis of their race. Yet this scandalous state of affairs generates little by way of investigation, censure or legal scrutiny under the 2010 Equality Act.

The Metropolitan Police has come under intense scrutiny for a number of years for its lack of diversity. It was famously labelled as institutionally racist by the 1998 Macpherson report for its failure to be representative and adequately serve the black community under its jurisdiction. In statistical terms, UK universities are as unrepresentative as the Metropolitan police. Somehow, they have managed to escape intense scrutiny of their attitudes, practices and procedures relating to the black populations that they have a duty to educate and serve.

It is also evident that there is a staggering absence of black people in other leadership positions within the UK higher education system. This includes vice chancellors, registrars and other administrators who make the key strategic decisions concerning ethos, priorities and direction of their institutions.

No Black British studies

Another stark feature of UK academia is the absence of any degree courses that systematically explore the experiences of black people in Britain. In the US, African American Studies are part and parcel of the academic environment. Many academic institutions house departments and academic leaders dedicated to the discipline.

But in Britain there is not a single institution that has a degree programme in Black British studies. If one thinks about the plethora of degree programmes that are offered by UK institutions, it is remarkable that not one of them offers a programme of teaching and research into the experiences of communities that have been so important to the shaping of the United Kingdom.

However, black communities are often the objects of detailed academic scrutiny by UK academics. In sociology, psychology, politics, history, theology, and numerous other disciplines, black communities are analysed, assessed, examined, evaluated and commented upon.

This analysis of black life, conducted primarily by white academics, often portrays black communities as dehumanised. Black people are used to illustrate problems as diverse as educational underachievement, health inequality, and religious extremism.

In doing this, universities contribute to an unflattering, stereotypical and false image of black communities in Britain. The rich complexity and diversity of the black British experience gets buried under an avalanche of supposedly detailed and well-established research findings. Equally damaging is that the communities who are the objects of this research are so rarely empowered by these findings.

Black communities still experience exclusion, under-representation and marginalisation when it comes to the UK’s major institutions. While academics benefit from research income and a raised profile because of their knowledge of black communities, the communities themselves remain on the margins of academic life.

Call to action

In order to move black people into the mainstream of British academic life, fundamental cultural and procedural shifts are required. It needs to be acknowledged that the British higher education system has institutional inadequacies. Universities need to take pro-active measures to ensure that institutions genuinely reflect the diversity of the wider society, both in terms of personnel at all levels and in relation to curricula and research.

The introduction of Black British studies courses in British university campuses could be one positive step on the journey towards a more inclusive higher education system. But rigorous scrutiny, analysis and action is also needed to tackle the institutionalised discrimination that is a stain on the reputation of Britain’s liberal university culture.

_________________

William Ackah is a Lecturer in Community and Voluntary Sector Studies at Birkbeck, University of London

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Read the original article.

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Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform

Lessons from Educators on the Big Screen: Part II

For better or worse, films influence people. While known for exaggeration, I do feel like the best-made films contribute something to society at large. In the case of movies where excellence in teaching is the star, there is a lot to be gleaned – whether for first time or veteran teachers.

In part I of this series, I wrote about four inspirational movies that highlight transcendent educators. Today I want look at a few more of my favorites from the big screen and the lessons they teach teachers about their important jobs.

Lean on Me (1989). This is not really about a teacher per se, but about a principal. Joe Clark (Morgan Freeman) comes to save a school about to be taken over by the state. It is run down and full of rebellious and even criminal-minded young people. Joe Clark, the principal with the baseball bat, quickly tries to run the school like some angry but well-meaning despot. At first his teachers are against his methods (and critics of the movie made the same mistake), but as both students and teachers warm up to him, it’s clear that what he is doing is really working.

He does, however, have his enemies; particularly one member of the School Board, who is trying to get him fired. When he is caught chaining the school doors against the fire department’s regulation, he is put in jail, and the School Board convenes a special session to decide if he should be fired. But the students show up in front of the jail en masse and demand his release, which is eventually granted. Immediately after his release, he receives good news; the entire student body has passed the test administered by the state. This movie is yet another shining examples of a dedicated educator who breaks the rules and succeeds precisely for that reason.

Dangerous Minds (1995). This may begin to sound like a litany, but Dangerous Minds is yet another story (based on a true story) involving the dedication of a teacher in an underpriviledged school. Here Michelle Pfeiffer plays the real-life LouAnne Johnson, whose story the movie is based on. Johnson, an ex-Marine, is hired on the spot without really being informed of the kind of class she is to teach. Her students are not interested in learning, are disrespectful and the class is basically in chaos. At first she almost gives up in frustration, but then she decides not to. Once she has made up in her mind that she is going to win over the students, the “battle” begins. Once more, we have a movie about a teacher who breaks as many rules as it takes. In the end, the class is completely won over. In fact, they not only start learning and enjoying it, but they have also come to love and respect their teacher along the way.

Freedom Writers (2007). This is based on another true story. Here Hilary Swank plays the real-life Erin Gruwell. Her dedication also leads to a compassionate understanding of her underprivileged students, and she achieves the ultimate breakthrough when she informs them that they aren’t the first young people besieged by problems. Although she is not permitted to use The Diary of Ann Frank, she does precisely that, at her own expense. She also buys notebooks for her students and encourages them to keep diaries that she would only read if they permitted her to do so. Needless to say, breaking all the rules once more allows her to become an exceptional teacher whom her students come to love.

While I’m not advocating anarchy and chaos in the classroom, all these movies are good at pointing out that you can’t have a great school by making everything and everyone wear the same straitjacket. Rules and regulations are fine, provided that they don’t interfere with the real business of teaching. These fictional and real-life educators got through to their students by leveling with them, by understanding where they come from, and by empathizing with their struggles.

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch, Teachers

Ask An Expert: Teachers Are Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse

Question: I am a third-grade teacher who works in a suburb outside of Philadelphia, PA. Based on several signs and a gut feeling, I suspect that one of my outgoing students is experiencing child abuse. I plan to report my suspicions through the proper channels, but my question is: can I be sued by the child’s parents if I am wrong? Helen S.

Answer: Helen, don’t be so hard on yourself. Parents who abuse their children go to great lengths to cover up their crime and convince everyone else that all is well. Child abuse and child neglect are issues that we would rather avoid. Unfortunately, they are all too real and are so prevalent that, as teachers, we must rise to the challenge.

It is very important to remember that it is not always obvious in which family abuse might occur, and abuse and neglect do not necessarily have to be ongoing. Parents may end up becoming abusive for various reasons, including financial or psychological stress, or unrealistic expectations of their children. It can be as simple as losing one’s temper under stress and calling a child “stupid,” or smacking them in the face.

As a teacher, you are a mandatory reporter of child abuse and neglect. In simple terms, you are legally obligated by your state to report signs of child abuse and neglect to the proper authorities, especially in situations where you see physical and emotional signs of possible abuse. You should report your suspicions at the first sign of trouble while also following district and state guidelines.

Many teachers clam up in this type of situation, mostly due to their fear of falsely accusing someone of such a heinous crime. Thankfully, social service agencies do a good job of investigating reports of child abuse, so if a child is being abused, more often than not social services makes the right call. Also, many teachers are afraid of being sued by the child’s parents, and possibly incurring their wrath.

The good news is that, in the United States, teachers are protected from litigation in situations where they report suspicions of child abuse, as long as they follow the requirements specific to their district and state. So breathe a sigh of relief, as chances are your worst fear will never come true. In the end we have to realize that the safety of the students placed in our care is our number one priority, and if we are proven wrong … well, we want to be proven wrong, don’t we?

Child abuse is a very serious problem that must not be taken lightly. Any sign of abuse must be reported, and teachers must be ready to offer support and encouragement to these students. You can never be 100% sure that your suspicions are right, but don’t let your doubt stop you from following your intuition.

As you gear up to report your suspicions through the proper channels, take solace in the fact that you are doing the right thing and will not face litigation as a result. Not only are you performing your legal duty, but you can sleep comfortably at night knowing that you took the bold action required to protect the students under your care.

 

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education

Pioneering a ‘transnational’ university

*The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

A guest column by David P. Dauwalder, Ph.D.

Welcome to the San Diego-Baja California Binational Mega-Region.  

While that’s a mouthful, the term is now in wide use by U.S. and Mexican leaders and organizations to define the transnational  area consisting of San Diego and Imperial counties and the State of Baja California.  The region has an estimated population of 6.78 million, with 3.44 million in the U.S. and 3.34 million in Mexico, unified by a dense and complex set of transactions and relationships across the international boundary.  It represents the largest concentration of population along the U.S.-Mexican border.

By any measure, it’s a remarkable place.  The San Diego-Tijuana urban region is the largest binational metropolitan area in the U.S. and the largest in the world.  At its center is the globe’s busiest land-border crossing, with more than 100,000 people coming northward every day to shop, work, and study and for tourism and recreation.  Each month, more than one million U.S. citizens cross the border into Tijuana and back.  Despite the security enhancements on the U.S. side of the border, the two halves of the region are intimately connected demographically, culturally, politically, economically, and in so many other ways.

The vitality of the binational region is incontrovertible.  San Diego County is the state’s second-most populous, with a balanced, forward-looking economy based on universities and research, clean tech, the military, tourism, life sciences, aerospace, healthcare, maritime, and information and communications technologies.  Tijuana is now the second-largest city on the West Coast of North America, with steep population growth in recent decades.  It is a major center for manufacturing, especially in electronics, medical devices, aerospace, and automotive, integrated with the global economy.  Much of the manufacturing includes shipping goods at various stages of production

back and forth locally across the border.

Leaders in the U.S. and Mexico, from the head-of-state level down to grassroots communities, have put in motion historic, multi-faceted efforts to enhance international integration with a strong emphasis on education, especially teacher and student mobility.  These efforts are particularly vigorous in the binational region.

As it happens, the Mega-Region offers a set of special opportunities to enrich and transform colleges and universities.  These opportunities are enhanced by exceptional developments in relations between Mexico, on the one hand, and a variety of key individuals and organizations in the U.S., the State of California, and San Diego County.

Preliminary at-border survey data suggest there are currently as many as 1,250 Mexico- originating university students in San Diego County, and that number could swell to 3,600 by 2025.  Additionally, Mexico’s demand for higher education is growing: nearly 55 percent of the population is under 30 years of age.  In addition, Mexico is the third-largest recipient of H1-B visas to the U.S. – visas aimed at well-trained non-immigrants, working for a short period.  In broad strokes, Mexican students are drawn to academic programs with practicums (co-op experiences and internships), short-term and research programs, and language acquisition.

San Diego hosts the largest naval fleet in the world and has the only major submarine and shipbuilding yards on the West Coast.  So, not surprisingly, San Diego County is also home to the largest population of active-duty military and retired military in the U.S.  These individuals and their families enjoy substantial educational benefits.

Leaders in all sectors on both sides of the border have demonstrated a remarkable unity of purpose to foster closer relations and to profit from the advantages of the binational character of the Mega-Region.  Significant disciplined and coordinated bi-national initiatives to build shared infrastructure, to lobby jointly both Washington and Mexico City on regional issues, to promote educational exchange, and to raise awareness of the Mega-Region appear to be gaining support in both countries.  Regional leaders regard San Diego and Baja California as complementary assets.

These regional attitudes and initiatives coincide with an exceptional push at this time toward further integration of the three NAFTA countries, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. This push toward further integration responds to intensifying global competition from other multinational regions, particularly the European Union and eastern Asia and India.  This theme of North American integration was stressed repeatedly during the recent California-Mexico Trade Initiative X, the 10th annual delegation to Mexico City by the San Diego Regional Chamber.

For colleges and universities in Southern California and throughout the Southwest, the prospect of transnational education seems both natural and inevitable.  There simply is no better time for educational institutions to focus on transnational issues and on the aim of producing innovative thinkers and problem-solvers with the expertise to confront the challenges of transnational development from both a regional and a global perspective.  Drilling down, the question is how can universities – acting individually or collectively — amplify these institutional U.S. and Mexican regional relationships, using them to develop alliances and partnerships contributing to program development, student recruitment, facilities expansion, and financial support?

Thanks to today’s climate of interdependence, we’re all about to find out.

__________________

David P. Dauwalder, Ph.D., is Executive Vice President and Provost of Woodbury University in Los Angeles and San Diego.  

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Matthew Lynch published in Parental Involvement, Policy & Reform, Teachers

Student and Teacher Records: What are the Privacy Rules?

By Matthew Lynch

Personal histories and records exist for every student who attends, and every teacher who teaches, at a school.  This history, in the form of school records, test scores and the opinion of teachers and mentors, can have a huge impact on a student’s future. In some cases, it is on the basis of these assessments about an individual’s potential and overall disposition that life-changing decisions are made about them.

These histories could determine what colleges they attend, the privileges that they are allowed, or even the jobs that may eventually be able to attain. It’s important, then, for these records to be maintained properly and justly and be void of impartial or biased content.

School records and who should have access to them was first realized in the 1970s when instances of parents and students being denied access to them came into the spotlight. The passing of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (or the Buckley Amendment, as it is popularly known) by the U.S. Congress in 1974 was the first federal piece of legislation that expressly addressed what students could and could not access.

The Act makes clear who may have access to a student’s records and who may not. The move was largely beneficial for parents who were previously denied access to records that were very likely to affect their children’s lives.  The Act made it mandatory for schools to share all information about students with their parents, when requested.  It also required schools to explain or interpret the recorded observations to parents, with the failure to do so resulting in federal funds being denied to the school. At the same time, the Act serves in the best interests of teachers.  It clearly denies parents the right to inspect a teacher’s or an administrator’s unofficial records.

The Buckley amendment applies to all schools that receive federal money.  The act has been a promising step in ensuring transparency in dealing with and handling student’s records.  Aspects of the Act, such as the confidentiality granted to both parties, and fundamental fairness, make it stand out as a reformative measure in ensuring the right to privacy for individuals wanting to be educated.

Here is how the FERPA Act empowers parents and guardians and puts them in a better position than they were previously:

  • Parents and guardians can inspect their child’s school records.
  • The Act ensures that information about students under 18 years of age cannot be passed on without parental consent.
  • Parents have the right to challenge the accuracy of information at any point in time and to request a hearing to contest such information.
  • A legal route to get corrections made in children’s school records and to place a statement of disagreement in student regards too is now open to parents.
  • Parents can single-handedly decide who can access the information about their child.
  • In cases where parents find any discrepancies, they can always file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education to seek relief in the civil courts.

It is important for schools, parents and students to realize the importance of what is contained in teacher and student records, while still having reasonable access to both.

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Matthew Lynch published in list, Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform

3 Ideas to Consider about Corporal Punishment in Schools

It’s difficult to believe in this day and age that we still have some schools around the nation that are using corporal punishment as a form of discipline. 19 states allow corporal punishment in schools. Such punishment usually includes a spanking of some kind, typically done with a wooden paddle. Although not allowed in the majority of states, it is reported that there are over 200,000 children who are victims of it each year around the country. It’s difficult to imagine that so many children are going home throughout the school year with welts, bruises, and broken vessels, as punishment for something they did in school.

Spankings themselves, as well as corporal punishment, are controversial topics at best. There is a lot of evidence and research that has pointed to the fact that spanking as a form of punishment, at any age, can be problematic. We as a society need to be aware of this research, especially when it comes to it still being allowed in the schools of 19 of our states. Here are some of the most troubling aspects of corporal punishment in schools:

  1. Research indicates that children who are disciplined with spanking go on to have more mental illness as adults. Spanking has been linked to children becoming adults who not only have mental health issues, but also experience more depression, and have problems with substance abuse.
  2. Spanking children has also been shown to make them become adults who are more aggressive, antisocial, and who go on to abuse their own spouse and children.
  3. As a nation, we are concerned with our high school dropout rates. This makes me wonder how many adults would want to continue showing up at their jobs if they knew they would be paddled if they didn’t perform their jobs correctly. Perhaps if students were not being paddled, they may hang in there a while longer and take to their studies a little better.

Corporal punishment may be under attack, but until we outlaw it from every state in the country, we will have the problems associated with it each year. And those problems, as we have discussed, are far reaching and long lasting. They impact us as a society long after the child has completed their schooling.

While the Supreme Court allows corporal punishment in whatever states and school districts have it legally on the books, this is a matter of ethics. We as a nation need to do what is right by the next generation. By the looks of it, if corporal punishment continues in the 19 states it is currently allowed in, we will be raising a lot of children who may go on to have mental illnesses, be more aggressive, abuse their spouses, and have addiction problems.

Once they are adults, society can point the finger at them and say that it’s their own fault, and they have created the problems in their life by the choices they have made. But if we can agree that the writing is on the wall, and the potential long term impact is there, then we may need to start pointing a few fingers at the schools, as they are using a form of punishment that experts agree goes on to create more unwanted behavior.

Now is the time for parents around the nation, especially those who live in states where corporal punishment is still allowed, to take a stand. It’s time that we focus on more peaceful and less harmful ways to teach the children of the nation right from wrong. Getting rid of the paddles in the schools of this nation is a great place to start.

 

 

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