In a brief article by Fredrick M. Hess, a resident scholar and the director of education policy studies at AEI, asks whether technology has made our schools more efficient...or not.
This article should really "hit a nerd" with my readers! C'mon...I know you're out there!
Fred uses words like boondoggle and asks, "Why do inviolable laws about the productive benefits of technology seem to stop at the schoolhouse door?"
Ouch.
Have at it!
Jim :-)
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1 comment:
I think Hess's thinking is circuitous. There's no doubt in my mind that Michigan is motivated by cost-saving, not that educational rhetoric about "skills" for "lifelong learners," that they put in the press releases read by Mr. Hess. Do the math - if they get all their students to spend 10% of their school day at home online, they cut down on their capital expenses and human resource costs; not to mention out-of-control technology costs, as parents feel pressured to provide laptops for their kids.
I can't believe that anyone still makes analogies between schools and businesses - to be run with degrees of "productivity and performance." He may be right that some of the "billions" invested in technology have been squandered, but the solution is not to dehumanize further, our kids, by firing the real live teachers, and instead, plugging the kids into shadowy virtual experiences. I think that Mr. Hess and Michigan are humming the same disturbing tune.
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