Re: VIP & BAO.ORG

One of Edison's authorized curriculums is Direct Instruction.

Joe

On Thu, 18 Apr 2002, William S. Verplanck wrote:

> (1)     Sorry, Joe, under no circumstances would I participate in this
> program.  It's no more, and no less, one more step in the direction of th=
e
> development of behavior analysis, and especially 'applied' behavior
> analysts, into a cult.
>
> To quote myself:
>
> "We're great at explaining ourselves to ourselves and at neglecting to no=
te
> that there are many others with whom we should converse, to whom we may
> contribute, from whom we might learn, and with whom we may
> accommodate.  Behavior analysis must _not_ become a cult."
>
> There is already far too much evidence that the process of cult-formation
> is already too far advanced=85
>
> Today's NYT reports that 42 (1 out of every 6) of Philadelphia's schools
> (most failing victims of educationalism?) are being privatized, most of
> them contracted out to the "Edison" people, five to Temple University,
> three to the Univ. of Pa, and the remaining fourteen to four other bodies=
,
> with a variety of methodologies.  Do any of these apply the methodologies
> of applied behavior analysis?  Will the able behavior analysts (both expt=
al
> and applied) at Temple participate?  If not, why not?  How many such
> schools and charter schools have behavior analysts set up, worked in _or_=
 with?
>
> Are we talking only to ourselves, and not to parents, school boards, revi=
ew
> boards, and those politically responsible for education?
>
> Shouldn't behavior analysts be out there running schools and teaching, by
> example?  (Whatever became of Don Cooke's very beh. an. endeavors?)
>
> (2)     I'd like to believe that I'm totally out of the loop, laboring
> under a great misapprehension, and that the foregoing is altogether
> wrong-headed.  Then, there's another reason I can't participate in
> Nietsche.  I'm 86 and live on the end of a fifty or sixty foot oxygen
> tube.  Emphysema precludes long-term commitments--of which I already have
> too many!
>
> W.S.V.
>
> P.S.  I note that the record of Edison's schools is lousy.  Should behavi=
or
> analysts try to teach _them_ something?
>
> W.S.V.
>
>
>
> _____________________________________________
>     William S. Verplanck          [email protected]
>   An award-winning site: http://web.utk.edu/~wverplan/
>     http://web.utk.edu/~wverplan/kantor/kantor.html
> _____________________________________________
>