Petition Tag - curriculum

After the recent revelations it is clear that Michael Gove does not have the confidence of parents or teachers.

From his early days in office, Gove has been a controversial figure. In 2010 a judge found that he had 'abused his powers' when closing down the BSF programme.

The Education Select Committee is worried about the pace of reform. The National Audit Office has discovered a £1billion overspend on the Academies Programme.

And the independent Academies Commission found that Gove's academies programme would lead to greater inequalities.

The list goes on - as the petition below reveals. But Gove also has dubious record as a parliamentarian. He is very close to the Murdoch family and had to pay back some £7000 of wrongly claimed expenses.

A Secretary of State needs to command the total confidence of parents and teachers. We have to trust politicians who run the system that educates our children. Gove has lost that trust and so the Prime Minister needs to sack him.

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Butterfly Giving is a charity dedicated to fighting teenage cancer.

We believe that every teenager should be entitled to education in cancer prevention. Currently, 6 teenagers are diagnosed with cancer each and every day in the UK. This needs to stop.

Statistically, 1 in 3 people will be affected by cancer during their life time. By introducing cancer prevention into schools, we are leaving our young people a life time legacy.

If you believe that our young people deserve this fundamental knowledge; prove it. Please sign Butterfly Giving’s petition to make cancer prevention a compulsory part of the curriculum for UK schools.

Will you join the fight against teenage cancer?

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I am a parent of a five year old child diagnosed with High Functioning Autism (HFA).

Since my son was diagnosed with his condition mid last year, I have learnt that increasing numbers of children are being diagnosed with HFA and Aspergers Syndrome and these kids struggle to survive in mainstream education as they get older. This is because their different learning style, social isolation, acute anxiety and various sensory sensitivities leads to many not being able to reach their full academic potential in the mainstream setting and this is a real shame because these kids are extremely intelligent.

I have been disturbed by the amount of parents I am meeting with HFA & Aspergers primary school kids of various ages, who are saying that mainstream high school will not be an option for their kids and that they plan to home school for high school.

I have also been shocked to hear from parents of HFA and Aspergers kids who have already finished high school, say how traumatised their kids are after finishing school, having withstood years and years of relentless bullying and now they struggle to function in the adult world. I think that we need to get small high schools set up in Australia specifically for students with HFA or Aspergers. At the moment in Australia there seems to be no other social schooling options other than mainstream for the kids at the higher end of the autism spectrum.

Now that there is hard evidence that these kids brains are wired differently and they have a different learning style to their neurotypical peers, educators need to consider this option. I also think it is unfair that these kids have to put up with high school bullying (as the statistics are that 90% of kids with ASD's get bullied at mainstream high schools). I know that many high schools have special ed units in them but other than learning difficulties, the playground is where the main problems are and these kids are being permanently mentally damaged by being made to withstand our system and ‘fit the mould’.

I am of the view that having a few small high schools with a modified curriculum tailoring to Aspergers and HFA in each state, could really benefit these kids and if large ASD friendly companies (such as banks, engineering, IT type firms) got on board with sponsoring kids for on the job work experience programs as part of the curriculum, it could lead to them having a real chance at succeeding at life and being less traumatised by not having to put up with neurotypical bullies.

Other countries such as the US and UK already have these types of high schools available as an option.
I find it incredible that this has not occurred here yet.
If you agree please sign this petition and it will be delivered to the Australian Federal Government.

UPDATE - 9/4/10 - For people in NSW, I have been informed that there is currently a Parliamentary Inquiry being held into the education of students with disabilities and special needs and they will still accept submissions from the public. I will be making a submission and encourage everyone else to do so as well as this will be another great way for people in NSW to get your concerns heard. The link to the inquiry details is -
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/committee.nsf/0/47F51A782AEABBABCA25767A000FABEC

Also - If there is anyone who has a child with Aspergers / HFA currently struggling through mainstream high school and you are prepared to talk to the media please contact me via the petition link below as there has been some interest.

UPDATE 2/8/10 - The link to this petition has been forwarded on to all state education departments and federal ministers. I have received some correspondence back, generally saying that they have taken note of our concerns and will keep it in mind when formatting future policies. The petition will be closed down shortly after the federal election. Thanks to all for taking the time to sign it and I hope that we do see change in the not too distant future for all our kids sakes.

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Currently proposed curriculum reform leaves no space for a language or criticism paper. We believe this move to be regressive, and lacking in proper student consultation.

Dropping Paper 1 would be detrimental to the University. Narrowing the course would limit the extent to which Oxford can attract and maintain the most capable and aspirational students and faculty.

Whilst aspects of the curriculum may warrant reform, losing Paper 1 in favour of maintaining space for the period papers is misguided. Learning how to analyse a text and to understand how a language can be unstable and changing brings you the confidence to approach even the hardest texts by actually beginning with the words on the page. Moreover, these skills enhance studies for the period papers.

There would be no literature without language. Scrutiny and investigation of the language we use, its history, and modes of application can only be worthwhile study.

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Due to Avondale School District's financial crisis a Building Utilization Study was conducted in the fall of 2009. This study was charged with the analysis of current and projected student enrollment, anticipated per pupil funding, residence trends, demographics, school building utilization, and school configuration.

The recommendation proposed was to close one of the five elementary schools in the district. The result of which will maximize opportunities for student achievement to deliver the best instructional program possible within the Avondale School District.

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Wayne County High School is using curriculum (required/optional reading) that has vulgar language, "Adult" subject matter, and explicitly sexual language: "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini.

Wayne County School Board should remove "The Kite Runner" from curriculum use in any school (High School or below) as evidenced by this content:

P 7 men giving sexual gestures to a boy and using the word c**t
p75 homosexual rape of a young boy described in detail
p 77 "quick rythmic grunts"
p 78 describes blood on his pants and between his legs after the rape
p 89 g*dd**n
p 91 thinking about the rape "...droplets of blood staining the snow..."
p 92 g*dd**n twice on this page
p 178 f**king unfair
p 179 refers to women as meat and g*dd**n
p 179 f**k 'em
p 233 g*dd**n
p 256 an orphanage selling children for men's pleasure
p 269-272 describes in great detail a stoning during an intercession on soccer field
p 277 describes going door to door killing people in front of their families. Then the families were killed as well if they tried to drag them in so the dogs would not eat them (literally)
p 280 a boy is dressed as a belly dancer and made to perform for the rapist who then slides his hand "up and down the child's belly"--"Up and down, gently, slowly"
p 310 describes blood dropping from the seat of the boy's pants

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On May 8, 2009, Ms. April Terry (a.k.a. "Box") was informed she would no longer be teaching sports medicine classes at Flathead High School. FHS Administration's reason: "to make room for a coach/teacher". Athletics over Academics?!

Many FHS students, parents & staff are disconcerted about this turn of events, because without Ms. Terry's valued leadership, the sports medicine classes at FHS will most likely be discontinued. However, Ms. Terry is being allowed to continue teaching sports medicine classes at Glacier H.S.
Glacier over Flathead?

The sports medicine curriculum taught by Ms. Terry serves as an excellent stepping stone for students interested in pursuing a medical professions career. Many students taking her class, say they like going to her class because "Box makes learning fun". Ms. Terry also assists FHS athletic trainer Mike Graf provide quality, medical care to FHS students.

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We, the undersigned law students, respectfully express our shared aspiration that human rights law and policy--domestic and international--be accorded a greater presence in the Duke Law curriculum. These topics, we believe, are critically important to the lives of all people around the globe in the twenty-first century.

Our law school is recognized for its strengths in several legal disciplines. Human rights is, however, not yet among them, as compared with many of our peer institutions.

Only a small number of courses address human rights and civil rights law. Such courses are mostly offered only on an occasional basis. Moreover, there are no, or almost no, faculty members at Duke Law who specialize in human rights full-time.

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Doctors education in india is at cross roads as there is conflict between MCI the supreme constitutionally appointed doctors body expected to give direction to education of physicians and the health minister and ministry controlled DNB Board.

Most doctors would support the more professionally managed and democratic MCI comparede to one man show of health ministry puppet DNB board.What do other doctors think?

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Human nutrition should be added to the secondary education curriculum. Children are encouraged to eat healthy and cook healthy, however they are not taught the why behind it, for example what function a nutrient has in the body, or the current guidelines.

Human nutrition is a vast subject concerning health, and food, the basis of existance. Society would benefit from learning about in detail.
They learn history... how will that benefit their future. This kind of education in the future will reduce diseases such as obesity, cancer, heart disease and diabetes, and in turn will be a the huge reduction in costs to the NHS and society.

The government needs to act now. Please sign, we need as many signitures as possible.

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Currently, TERC’s Investigations curriculum is the sole curriculum used in the Lake Washington School District. This reform-based curriculum is not, by itself, adequate to educate our children in math.

There are many positive aspects to the reform-based approach, such as its focus on student understanding of math concepts versus rote learning; and its early introduction of concepts such as estimation and statistics.

There are also serious drawbacks to the current curriculum, such as worksheets with excessive verbiage that only serves to obfuscate the actual math problems; a lack of emphasis on learning, practicing, and memorizing basic math facts; and an inability to accommodate students who can work at higher-than-average levels.

We believe the Investigations curriculum needs to be balanced by use of some strict-math methodologies in the classroom.

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July 27, 2006

To: UK School Boards

Petition to start Hindi in Schools

To the school boards of the United Kingdom:

This petition is to solicit worldwide support to help start Hindi in Middle and High schools as an elective subject.

1. Hindi is the second most spoken language in the world and the national language of India, but hasn't achieved a wider popularity compared to other languages because of our lukewarm approach towards it. Hindi is also a much scientific and advanced language sharing the same devnagiri script as Sanskrit and is fundamentally strong in phonetic and grammar.

2. United Kingdom and India has come more closer in the last decade and economic and cultural collaborations between these 2 countries have also increased. Many jobs from Fortune 200 companies have been outsourced to India and the joint ventures in the field of information technology have virtually bonded these 2 largest democracies in the world. Further human resources and technology exchange are expected to continue for many decades to come. Many travellers and students from UKare visiting India for their internship and higher studies. So, learning Hindi will only help in cementing close bonds these 2 countries are forming.

3. Hindi is also a part of our Indian culture and our kids as well as kids of other cultural background will be better able to know the most ancient culture of the world.

4. Hindi education in Middle and High schools will help bridge missing link between schools and universities. It is difficult to teach primary Hindi alphabets to the University students and because of extreme study pressure they can get 'burned out' and become uninterested in learning Hindi. With a strong Hindi foundation acquired in High school, the student will enjoy learning advanced Hindi in university without any undue pressure.

It is high time that we demand all school boards to offer Hindi as an elective language in their school curriculum.

Hindi will help bring us and our kids closer to India as well as help United Kingdom to better understand and utilize the cultural and economic opportunities in Bharat.

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This petition was created by a group of students who desire to see a change in the curriculum here at Caldwell. Ideally, the changes we would like to see involve modifying the core to include a required Gender/Diversity Studies class which would enable and challenge students to bring more diverse ideas, thoughts, suggestions, information, etc. to their other classes.

This class would hopefully take the approach of the Sc/WS316 [Scholars program/Women's Studies] class in that it would examine key issues in the lives of women, men, people of diverse backgrounds, etc.; promote an in-depth examination of the "flow" of information; explore different methods of analyzing and disseminating that information in a useful, productive, innovative manner.

This process begins with giving the Women's Studies program the full-fledged status of department.

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