We Have to Stop Pretending

Recently, I received this invitation from Dave Kimball, via Twitter. You can find Dave's response to the prompt here, and to learn more about the origin of the challenge, check Scott McLeod's post.

Basically, the We Have to Stop Pretending challenge asks participants to pass along 5 thoughts on the topic and then to tag another 5 people to keep up the momentum.

I am going to do this cold, not looking at what others have already said, but will surely look later.

In education, we have to stop pretending:

1) That a child's home life and socio-economic status are not significant factors in a child's readiness to learn and succeed in school;
2) That students who speak a second language and come to the USA from other countries with different cultures will miraculously integrate into our educational system;
3) That comparing students' educational levels to those of students' in other countries where very different variables exist makes sense;
4) That music, art, and physical education are not just as important as other subject areas such as math and English/language arts; and
5) That schools are not becoming reflections of the unfortunate violence we find surrounding us in society and the world at-large.

I pass along the challenge of We Have to Stop Pretending to these five connected educators who make a difference in a student's life every day, knowing they'll accept the challenge and write a blog post and tag 5 others.

Marialice Curran @mbfxc
Sarah Thomas  @sarahdateechur  
Starr Sackstein @mssackstein
Scott Boylen @iowasboy
Paul Solarz @paulsolarz

Follow along on Twitter #makeschooldifferent to find others' responses to this challenge.