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Welcome, Taps, and thanks for sharing that!
No problem at all with getting the young'uns to share the Legos and work together. But I do have a problem with the wuote from Ms. Pelo: "Kids came to a pretty strikingly profound understanding of the ways in which private ownership falls short, or the ways in which private ownership is inherently unfair."
What, I woud like to know, did she or the other teachers do to teach the children that private property rights are among our most fundamental and critical liberties? What were the kids taught about the grand fallacy of fairness being superior to justice and of entitlements versus the rewards of hard work?
That gives me an idea for a new article. Watch for it in the next couple of days.
posted by
WriterofLight
on March 1, 2007 at 8:00 PM
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Writeroflight & Taps
I'm glad Taps took the time to find the source of this hype. The teachers want the kids to build some public buildings, so they can share the lego, work in groups, and stop fighting amongst themselves. As a teacher I think it sounds like a great classroom activity.
No need to call the John Birch society just yet...
posted by
Antipodean
on March 1, 2007 at 5:34 PM
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writeroflight
Here is the other side of your story which seems to me to be a whole lot more reasonable:
Here's how the project was reported in The Spokesman-Review of Spokane and Spokane Valley, WA. I've highlighted in red some of the important features left out in your reported version.
Inside our Schools: Lego ban intrigues local educators
Vanya Hummel, left, 10, works on his elaborate entry into the recent LEGO-rama. Contestants Dirk Seymour, center, and Ian Van Ostrand, right, look on. (JESSE TINSLEY The Spokesman-Review) | |
Meghann Cuniff
Staff writer
February 3, 2007
Brightly colored Lego building blocks have infatuated kids for more than 60 years. Children all over the world spend about 5 billion hours total each year playing with the toys, according to the Lego Co. Just the other week,a Lego-building contest sponsored by the Coeur d'Alene Library attracted 100 participants.
But a press release from the publication Rethinking Schools shows not everyone thinks quite as highly of the popular toys.
"Why we banned Legos," the press release declares in bold letters.
The release is touting the publication's newest issue, which features a cover story written by Seattle teachers Ann Pelo – a Spokane native – and Kendra PeloJoaquin that details an incident that occurred at the Seattle children's center where they work, the Hilltop Children's Center.
Children in the center's after-school program had constructed an elaborate collection of Lego buildings, calling it Legotown. But as Pelo and her colleagues observed how the children played with the structures and how Legotown was run, they became concerned.
"What started to happen was the group of kids who had constructed Legotown really kind of closed access to the Legos for a lot of kids," Pelo said in a phone interview. "It became what we came to call … Lego-oligarchy."
So when Legotown was dismantled by other kids using the center, Pelo and her colleagues decided that, instead of rebuilding, the toys should be removed from the center. It wasn't permanent. The toys came back, but not before the kids created guidelines for playing with the toys that prevent them from teaming up against one another.
"For us, (Legos) became inherently problematic because of the unexamined issues of power and authority," Pelo said. "It felt to us that it was this opportunity to explore this bigger issue – how we're going to all live in a community. … It was about how can we make our community more fair about Legos."
The approximately 25 kindergarten through fourth-grade students in the after-school program came up with guidelines for how Legos could be part of activities without invoking the social class structures Pelo and her colleagues observed.
Playing with Legos is now governed by three rules: All structures are owned by everyone; structures should adhere to size requirements so as to not create inequity; and the plastic Lego people can only be used by a group of people, not by individuals.
"Kids came to a pretty strikingly profound understanding of the ways in which private ownership falls short, or the ways in which private ownership is inherently unfair," Pelo said.(like private ownership of schools?)
Local educators were intrigued by Pelo's thoughts on the popular toy.
"I hadn't heard that before," said Barney Brewton, director of elementary education for the Post Falls School District. Though the toys aren't part of regular classroom activity, they're great building blocks and a positive playtime activity, he said. "They're sometimes used as instructional tools."
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/local/story.asp?ID=172342
posted by
TAPS.
on March 1, 2007 at 12:56 AM
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The heck with the houses
Those teacher's salaries are public and should be distributed in equal shares to U. S. Citizens.
posted by
cpklapper
on February 28, 2007 at 8:14 PM
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F4Thought
This is not funny - it's very serious. Next they'll be serving souvlakis at the school canteen...
posted by
Antipodean
on February 28, 2007 at 8:03 PM
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Not freaking soccer!
If they watch soccer, how will they ever learn to count? Note the dripping sarcasm.
posted by
food4thought
on February 28, 2007 at 7:56 PM
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And this was a private school?
I thought nonsense was the domain of the public schools, but apparently not. The Washington legislature is trying to make it so you have to have a permit to pick more than three gallons of huckleberries per day, even on your own property! I say, if you can pick more than three gallons of those little suckers in a day, you earned it!
posted by
food4thought
on February 28, 2007 at 7:54 PM
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WOL
Why not offer the kids a range of different perspectives? Who knows, one day they might want to play
soccer instead of baseball!
posted by
Antipodean
on February 28, 2007 at 7:53 PM
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WOL
What next? Must all of home school our students? This is totally horrible. Who was it who wanted that wall down so that could flow over into our back yard, front yard and the hearts of little children. When will we speak up for right?
posted by
Justi
on February 28, 2007 at 7:47 PM
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