I had an interesting conversation recently with a high school science department chair. The chair describe to science department teachers a feature in a TV documentary. The documenter asked teachers to say which pictures of two actual high schools they thought best for high school students. One school looked like a prison with a secure campus. The other looked like a modern open structure and campus. Ninty five plus percent of the teachers in the documentary and all of the science teachers of the local school choose schools as prisons. Their reasons had to do with the appearance of safety, not with student learning.
Separately, but related, check out this trailer of The War on Kids. It converts negative stereotypes in words to visual images for those unfamiliar with today’s public schools. Thanks, Jim Horn, for pointing to this documentary trailer.
Oh my. At the very least, this post requires balance, which I have not taken the time to prepare. Perhaps commenters will help with that.