The Roosevelt Institution
Sun Chronicle: Roosevelt 'warmly received'
http://rooseveltinstitution.org/wheatonma/sunchron1130
Educators: Engage students with history
Wheaton college student think tank discussion focuses on K-12 education
By M. Junaid Alam
Sun Chronicle, November 30, 2006
NORTON -- Wheaton College students belonging to The Roosevelt Institute [sic], the first student-based think tank in the country, hosted a policy discussion Wednesday night with several local educators.
The theme of the meeting -- "K-12 Education in the New Century" -- was addressed by Norton School Superintendent Patricia Ansay, Wheaton College professors Mary Lee Griffin and Marge Werner, Franklin High School teacher Eileen Belastock, and three of the institute's own members.
In the opening presentation, Wheaton students Philip Kiley and Cassie Migani spoke of the need to make history appear more engaging in the high school curriculums, and urged a focus on themes and ideas instead of memorization and standardization.
Ideas warmly received
They were followed by another Wheaton student, Elizabeth Cogburn, who spoke of apportioning funds at the district level in order to alleviate the problem of poor schools in low-income communities.
The ideas were warmly received by panel members, who addressed the audience in a question-and-answer format overseen by the local chapter president, Ted Nesi.
"The 'push-down' curriculum takes the joy out of teaching," Werner said, when asked what she considered the biggest challenge to education.
"Children learn through play and disocvery, not memorization of facts that mean nothing to them."
Responding to the same question, Ansay and Belastock both emphasized the importance of proper funding, an issue that stirred controversy earlier this year when the town rejected an override of the state's tax-limiting law, Proposition 2 1/2, in June.
Panelists were asked to describe their reaction to the No Child Left Behind Act.
They unanimously agreed that the legislation was wonderful in principle, but lacking in practice. "It's very laudable overall, but in practice it's almost exclusively defined by standardized testing," Griffin said.
Werne said she objected to such testing, in particular.
"Producing children on a conveyor belt ... is denying the fact that we're all very different people and we learn differently."
