I'm all for more options and freedom of choice, but it seems to be that this may result in unintended consequences that have vast repercussions for the Louisiana economy, an how it will manifest is not necessarily for the better.
A state does have a stake in its educational system for its survival and progress. There are a lot of good intentions, but it is going to depend on the implementation. It will almost certainly increase separation of ethnic groups.
Read it at Reuters
Louisiana Makes Bold Bid To Privatize Public Education
by Stephanie Simon
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ReplyDeleteWell, the mitigating issue is that their K-12 schools can't get much more irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteMost kids would get a better education by staying home & reading the news & discussing what's on Wikipedia.
Everyone learns fastest once they have a reason to. Preventing them from finding one seems to be the primary goal of US education.
Most kids would get a better education by staying home & reading the news & discussing what's on Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteThis is totally false Roger. It is this kind of kneejerk anti-government extremism and ridiculous slander of the public sector which is behind 40 years of growth of neoliberalism in economics and the continuing decline of American democracy.
Knee jerk reactions to presumed knee jerk reactions don't help Dan.
ReplyDeleteWhat a classroom will look like in 10 years
http://opensource.com/education/11/11/what-classroom-will-look-10-years
"Everyone learns fastest once they have a reason to. Preventing them from finding one seems to be the primary goal of US education."
ReplyDeleteEureka.
I am an educator, and I have been saying this I entered the field. The key problem with the US educational system is that it is boooring.
BTW, I learned most from my informal mentors, one of whom said he had figured out that adults were all whacko by the time he was five and he dropped out of school in the eighth grade, followed his nose, and become self-made and an autodidact with PhD's sitting at his feet. He called himself a student of life and seeker of truth.
ReplyDeleteAnother dropped out after completing high school and became a famous inventor in the biomedical field whose friends were all PhD's at the cutting edge of the field. He was guided by remarkable intuition and he taught himself the math and science necessary to develop it, along with cultivating friends to help him.
Admittedly, these are exceptional cases, but they make one wonder how many are not chasing their dream because of the obstacles put in their way. Both of these people had strong enough characters to break out of the pack and take charge of themselves.
Moreover, they were very generous as mentors, sharing their knowledge and friendship and never asking for anything in return for what they gave.
They both believed that the educational system could be constructed along these lines.
The open source transformation is fundamentally an issue about the cost and distribution of educational supplies and resources. It is very important in that light, but I do not believe it has much relevance to the question of the overall mission of public education.
ReplyDeleteEvery generation of Americans is faced with the enormous and ongoing task of teaching millions of its young people the essential cognitive skills of modern civilized life: literacy, logic, aspects of quantitative reason, the social and civic framework of the society we live in, and the elements of history and science to the degree they are understood at a given time. There is also the very difficult task of teaching the mental habits of industry, persistence, curiosity, attention and focus which are essential to learning. We can do better, and there are good reasons to deplore our failures compared to some peer countries. But this is a vast, vital and expensive national effort that in large part gets done due to the work of armies of educational workers, primarily in the public sector, and it is hardly irrelevant.
As learners reach higher level of maturity, their own personal desires and passions play a larger role in guiding their learning. But among the very young, self direction and personal preference can only play a partial role. Adults who have been fortunate enough to acquire a reasonably comprehensive grasp of our culture have to take some responsibility for determining which parts of that culture must be passed on to the young. The young can't be expected to make their own decisions about that.
"…Everyone learns fastest once they have a reason to…"
ReplyDeleteFrom my own personal experience this is a fundamental truth.
"But among the very young, self direction and personal preference can only play a partial role. Adults who have been fortunate enough to acquire a reasonably comprehensive grasp of our culture have to take some responsibility for determining which parts of that culture must be passed on to the young."
ReplyDeleteGood points here Dan.
Education in my #1 issue, in that I would like to see "vouchers" for students to use at accredited institutions if the parents desire to send their children to non-govt (parochial) schools....
Resp,