Rasmussen Polls: What Do Parents Want from the School System

What do parents think of the current school system? It can be hard to tell.

On one hand, many on and offline cheer teachers, calling them “heroes” and praising them for educating the youth.

On the other hand, as awareness of the CRT issue has spread like wildfire, many now view teachers and the school system with apprehension, worrying about what dangerous ideas leftist teachers might foist onto the labile minds of the youth.

Fortunately, Rasmussen did an excellent series of polls to determine what exactly parents want from the school system. What it found should be common sense, but will likely come as a surprise to leftists.

Most importantly, perhaps, is the fact that “81% [of those polled] believe public schools should teach that America was founded on the ideals of freedom, equality, and self-governance.” While leftist teachers might want to claim America is evil and founded on slavery, Americans are far from on board with that agenda.

In fact, when asked if schools should teach that “ America was founded on racism, slavery, and white supremacy,” only 42% of those polled said yes, with 44% saying no.

While that result is still far too close, as America obviously wasn’t founded on “white supremacy” and thus the idea that it was shouldn’t be taught, at least the majority of parents are still against teaching such nonsense.

More positively is the result that 64% of those polled believe that schools should teach “that the United States is a force for good in the world.” Only 15% disagreed.

Overall, those results show what should be common sense; the majority of Americans want their children to learn that America is, despite its flaws, a great nation founded on noble ideals, not some evil nation founded by detestable men.

On a similar note, another Rasmussen poll found what should be another common-sense result; parents want to be involved in forming the curriculum their children are learning.

Specifically, it found that 71% “of voters believe parents should play a significant role in the curriculum development process” and 85% believe that “parents should be allowed to see all curriculum, books, and other materials in classes their children are taking.”

None of those results should be shocking, but they do cut against the modern grain; as much as Democrats might claim that parents shouldn’t have a role in determining what their kids are taught, it’s obvious that parents want to play a role and have a definite idea of what their kids should learn.

As the Virginia election showed, parents want to play a role and want their kids to learn the positive truth about America, not negative lies spewed by radical leftists. It’s time for schools and teachers to wake up to that fact.

https://trendingpolitics.com/rasmussen-polls-what-do-parents-want-from-the-school-system

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‘On the edge of blowing up’: French schools overwhelmed as Omicron takes hold

Boulogne-Billancourt: It’s just a week since French schools reopened after Christmas, but already one in four teachers and nearly 50 pupils are sick with COVID-19 at the Jean Renoir high school in Boulogne-Billancourt.

With new testing and contact tracing rules introduced at the start of this term, the headteacher, Aristide Adeilkalam, now faces a huge challenge.

“It’s very, very, very complicated,” Aidelkalam said, his glasses fogging up because of his face mask.

“Forty-seven pupils have COVID. I need to identify the contacts for each. Up until now, we could handle cases one at a time, as they arrived. Now we’re overwhelmed.”

The school of 620 students and 40 teachers in the suburbs of Paris is not alone – schools all over France are struggling to manage COVID cases.

France has put emphasis on keeping schools open, no longer rushing to shut down classes with positive coronavirus cases. It chose not to extend the Christmas holidays to help control the Omicron and Delta waves, unlike some of its EU neighbours.

However, schools say it has become very hard to cope with the increase in COVID-19 cases and the new testing rules.

When a child tests positive for COVID-19, the rest of the class must each perform three tests over five days – the first at a testing centre or pharmacy, followed by two self-administered tests.

While the protocol outlines a five-day testing plan, those five days are frequently stretching to a week or more, depending on test availability.

Testing is free for all fully vaccinated French residents and the system has been both consistent and reliable throughout the pandemic – certainly relative to most other countries.

However, the new three-test protocol for students and a record numbers of COVID cases in the community have finally started to exacerbate queues at pharmacies and testing labs.

Pharmacies across the country have spent the week chasing supplies of self-test kits to meet demand from parents.

In the week to January 2, a record 8.3 million coronavirus tests were carried out in France – and that was before the holiday period ended.

Teachers’ unions are angry. One union – the SNUipp-FSU – has called for strike action, saying “schools are on the edge of blowing up.”

Accusing the government of taking “a risky gamble” with the health of teachers and pupils, the union wants a return to shutting down each class where there are COVID-19 cases.

Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer rejected the criticism on Friday. “Of course it’s tough, of course it’s complicated,” he said of the new testing protocol, adding that it’s the price the country must pay to keep schools open.

“It would be easy to say that ‘kids are not going to school any more’ – that’s not what I want.”

Despite a slow start, 90 per cent of those aged 12 and over in France have received at least two doses of a coronavirus vaccine. Vaccination to children from age five began at the end of December.

France reported 261,481 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, less than the record of more than 332,000 set on Wednesday. The seven-day average of new cases is now more than 200,000 for the first time.

And it’s not just teachers who are fed up. At the Jean Renoir school, 11-year-old Drissa Keita Cisse is also feeling pandemic fatigue.

“COVID just isn’t letting go,” he said with a sigh.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/on-the-edge-of-blowing-up-french-schools-overwhelmed-as-omicron-takes-hold-20220108-p59mqi.html

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Australia: Newish Brisbane Business School has been recognised with two awards at the global QS-Wharton Reimagine Education Awards

Bronze Awards were received by the Griffith MBA program in the Management Education category and by the Business School for its revamped Bachelor of Business degree, in the Oceania category of the Regional awards.

Griffith MBA Director Associate Professor Stephanie Schleimer
MBA Director Associate Professor Stephanie Schleimer described the QS Wharton awards as the Oscars of Education awards, so to receive Bronze for their submission Tri Hita Karana: An MBA that Leads through Values was humbling.

“Trinita Karana is a Belen, Asian philosophy denoting three pathways to wellbeing through a harmony of people with people, the environment and a spiritual, Associate Professor Schleimer said.

“The Griffith MBA is the one of the world’s leading value based MBA program that builds on these principles through three core values embedded in the 17, UN SDGs and reshaped the hearts and minds of 1000s of business leaders around the world.

“We attract students from all demographic profiles including gender, age, nationality, and socio- economic status who really want to drive change.

“We’ve increased the number of women studying an MBA with us to 59%.”

“With nearly 700 active students and more than 1600 graduates, we are reaching almost 100 different industry sectors. In less than seven years, we have almost tripled our student intake.”

The new Bachelor of Business degree was recognised following a five-year project to redesign the first year, 22 majors and final capstone course.

Students are now given greater flexibility to complete a foundation year before exploring or committing to a wide variety of majors.

“This is a wonderful achievement and demonstrates that the work we have done is of value to current and new students,” Professor David Grant, Pro Vice Chancellor of GBS, said.

“The curriculum redesign for first year subjects produced an engaging, interdisciplinary suite of subjects with incredible online content such as animated videos, industry expert videos, interactive tools and more.

“This was underpinned by peer supported learning events, live workshops, online consultations and a weekly Business Social Hour where people could meet to discuss real life issues, study tips, and matters that the whole of the cohort would be interested in.”

https://news.griffith.edu.au/2021/12/23/business-school-nabs-bronze-in-education-awards/

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