TIME OUT FOR GOOD NEWS – AT 9:05 A.M. ET:  Amidst the gloom, there is sometimes a ray of light.  We don't see much good news about education, but here is some...from Britain.  Some in the mother country are waking up to the enormous damage the left has done to the educational system, and steps are being taken.  Americans, please copy.  From London's Telegraph:

Children will be expected to learn the kings and queens of England, read great works of literature and master mental arithmetic under the biggest shake-up of the national curriculum for more than 20 years.

Yay.  They can even include George III.  We won't mind.

A major review of school subjects – launched today – is expected to lead to a focus on the essential knowledge pupils should grasp at each key stage of their education.

The move is intended to reverse more than a decade of dumbing down of primary and secondary school subjects in favour of trendy skills-based lessons and “cross-curricular themes”.

Yeah, we know.  It happened here, too.

Launching the review, the Coalition said the last Government stripped vital content from the national curriculum, leaving pupils with a poor understanding of English literature, maths, science, foreign languages, history and geography.

Reforms introduced in 2007 saw key historical figures such as Winston Churchill cut from the secondary school history curriculum, the Coalition said.

Mustn't talk of victory.  Much too upsetting.

The secondary geography curriculum fails to cover a single country other than the UK, it was claimed, while the names of all continents, rivers, oceans, mountains and cities have also been deleted.

And pupils taking music in secondary schools are not obliged to study a specified composer, musician or piece of music.

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, said “profound mistakes” made with the curriculum by Labour led to England plummeting in international league tables.

Already, teachers' groups are expressing anguish and pain.  This is a typical comment:

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT union, said: “Teachers want another curriculum review like a hole in the head. This is a pointless review when ministers have already determined that children should have a 1950s-style curriculum."

Yup.  Give us a good 1950's curriculum, updated with developments since.  Kids in the 50's learned well, and standards were higher and more disciplined.  What's wrong with that?

January 20, 2011