The Pedagogy of The Ditto Copies
is the overwhelming favorite of educational practitioners
in the nation's schools. The long lines at the Xerox
machine each morning attest to the beliefs of teachers
that filling out ditto sheets are the best method
of student learning. Schools in which the copy or
ditto machines break down are at best battlegrounds
of chaos on these particular days, whereas, the
blissful days when the machines are working are
deeply appreciated by a generation of teachers whose
pedagogical creeds are slightly above the lower
crustaceans. Generations of these teachers produce
generations of students of the same mode: American
society would be stagnant without its copy and ditto
machines. Filling in the blanks is a notable skill
of the completion of twelve years of school.
The Pedagogy of Best Practices abounds throughout
the literature for diversified populations and for
all students. Dewey) 1916), Sizer(1986), Gardner(1983),
Johnson(1990), Siddle Walker(1996), and a rich and
gifted list of many others, offer true pedagogues
ample food for thought, a vast repertoire of tried
and true practices, and hope for the future. The
sad observation is made that the overwhelming abundance
of best practices, exemplary techniques, and critical
ingredients of student learning are ignored by the
overwhelming majority of teachers. It makes the
true believer in educational excellence weep when
reviewing the literature seeing its wealth, and
seeing nothing of the sort-taking place in the nation's
classrooms. It is indeed maddening to see the life
boats so close while the schools drown in a sea
of mediocrity, a great Titanic II floundering on
the iceberg of blissful ignorance with the band
playing Taps in the background.
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