As more is discussed on the topic of Education Reform, there is so much for me to respond to. In this examination of the illogical conclusions of modern-day Education Reform I tackle one of the most standard school norms – sitting at desks. There is a call for extended school days and extended school years. The idea is to give students more time to learn. Because as we all know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, but doing the same thing for simply longer periods of time leads to success.

While the corporate world – the Goose –  has come to integrate new medical research into their environments, education “advocates” offer our children – the Goslings – the opposite. A litany of current news articles cover the mounting conclusion that sitting is the worst position to find oneself.

From www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-met-standing-desk-20120808,0,800188.story

Hundreds of companies, including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Google, offer employees standing and treadmill desk options. It’s not just a Silicon Valley movement; employees at the FBI, the National Institutes of Health, the Mayo Clinic and dozens of universities have purchased some form of a standing or treadmill desk.

“In our society, many people are literally living with a stalled metabolic rate similar to an anesthetized patient for over 80 percent of the day,” said inactivity researcher Marc Hamilton, a professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La. “No wonder we have an unsustainable health crisis.”

But money, lobbying, media stories are trying to push the reform agenda of more time in school: more time sitting in desks in a state of near coma, with recess and athletic programs cut, dance seen as a luxury, fidgetiness as a diagnosis of a disorder, and energy as needing medication.