
Revolution in the Classroom - jwb119
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200908u/race-to-the-top-education
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jbm
While I agree with some of the ideas (in spirit), I find most of the positions
advocated to be hard to stomach.

On a practical note, it hard to see how any sort of "national educational
reform" could survive the kind of political backlash it would have in smaller
communities. At best, you will end up with some kind of watered down nonsense,
and at worst there's the specter of "No Child Left Behind". Is that the kind
of mistake you want to make again?

Furthermore, I don't agree with the whole "e-learning" slant to the article. I
tried that route myself several times and gained nothing for my efforts. A lot
of the "creative tools" for e-learning are nothing more than rote memorization
in disguise (think: smart.fm). Yes, it would be nice to expand the educational
experience and offer a wider variety of courses and topics, but without
constant PHYSICAL access to a teacher or professor, it is hard to gain a
proper understanding of the subject. Putting kids behind a computer and
telling them to distance learn is not the solution.

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TomOfTTB
I really, really hate these types of articles.

I manage the IT for a non-public school. We accept kids who are too disruptive
to be in the public schools so we deal with several school districts
extensively. So I have friends in the IT departments of just about every
Southern California school district.

Given that experience I can say with some authority that this "high level
thinking" means nothing until someone can solve the practical problems with
getting technology into schools

Just one example, most school districts have something in the area of 1
support staff per 5 to 10 schools. You start deploying large technology
outlays and make them integral to the lesson plans of the class and the need
for support staff shoots up to 1 per school. So just getting the computers in
the classroom requires 10 times more staff AND the money for the computers.
While this very article cites how scarce money is.

Every IT person I know who works for a school district would love to see
technology used in the classroom more. Many would work day and night if they
felt there was a chance to make real changes. But the hurdles to getting there
are seemingly insurmountable only serves to demoralize the people facing those
hurdles.

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balding_n_tired
"In order to transform our factory-era schools into a truly student-centric
system fit for the 21st-century, the funds should be used to innovate
disruptively."

In my ideal school the kid who turns in that sentence gets sent back to do a
few more drafts.

"And the best way to do that is by implementing online learning – an approach
that’s constantly improving in its ability to deliver personalized, high-
quality learning experiences to students from all walks of life, regardless of
geography, special needs, or socioeconomic background."

Personalized? I wonder. Constantly improving--that could be true but
irrelevant.

America has a real bent for taking labor-intensive work and applying
technology. This works beautifully for all sorts of work, but will not, I
think, work well for instruction.

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chrischen
Wow. Personalized learning!?!?! Too bad I've already been screwed by the
education system because of undiagnosed ADHD... Thank you Obama, from saving
me from having to fight for this change.

