The educational system in the United States is failing not because students are not absorbing the curriculum but because the curriculum and methodology is not applicable to the age in which we live. Children, unfortunately, have more to learn than at any time in history. They also have to learn it sitting in a classroom while teachers use variations on the methodology under which they were taught. The world is more complicated and the answers to our problems require a higher level of understanding of the English language, math, and science. There are more things to know and they are more complex. Children are more in command of their world and should be of their learning. Invoking the promise of technology to allow children to dictate their curriculum and learning methodology will certainly help with the problem. That will also put the unions into a panic because if the K-12 curriculum were available online with testing and guidance, they would lose membership, the antithesis of their existence. Meanwhile, the gap between the undereducated and the educated will continue to grown and polarize the society much in the same way the difference in wealth has eliminated the middle class and polarized the US into the dreaded 99% versus 1% allegiances.
Friday, March 8, 2013
The Failed Educational System
The educational system in the United States is failing not because students are not absorbing the curriculum but because the curriculum and methodology is not applicable to the age in which we live. Children, unfortunately, have more to learn than at any time in history. They also have to learn it sitting in a classroom while teachers use variations on the methodology under which they were taught. The world is more complicated and the answers to our problems require a higher level of understanding of the English language, math, and science. There are more things to know and they are more complex. Children are more in command of their world and should be of their learning. Invoking the promise of technology to allow children to dictate their curriculum and learning methodology will certainly help with the problem. That will also put the unions into a panic because if the K-12 curriculum were available online with testing and guidance, they would lose membership, the antithesis of their existence. Meanwhile, the gap between the undereducated and the educated will continue to grown and polarize the society much in the same way the difference in wealth has eliminated the middle class and polarized the US into the dreaded 99% versus 1% allegiances.
The rhetoric of the divided and conquered. I love it.
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