Comments on: America….you just don't get it!

By: SchoolFinder Blog: Teaching as a Subversive Activity

SchoolFinder Blog: Teaching as a Subversive Activity — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:55:43 +0000

[...] Scott McLeod and Dangerously Irrelevant as he disagrees with Jeff Utecht. But it is better to read Jeff Utecht and The Thinking Stick [...]

By: David Carpenter

David Carpenter — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:25:02 +0000

Your personal experience with the gentleman wishing to start a school very different than other Chinese schools says a great deal. It jibes with newspaper articles pointing to Chinese government officials wanting to change their direct instruction, knowledge-focused education system to one like you describe.

Risk taking and the desire to compete on a world scale puts Asian societies like China in good shape to not only create the widgets but to design them as well.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:41:25 +0000

The thought I am having after reading several blogs tonights is that perhaps the dumbing down of America is not elitist left wing teachers attempting to bypass skills and teach concepts, rather it is administrators and politicians who wish to have students spend 8 hours a day answering test questions to prove their knowledge.
I guess the teacher can pour the knowledge into the back of their skulls with a picture as the students are bent over their desks, number two pencils in hand.

By: Kwillsonyshs

Kwillsonyshs — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:22:17 +0000

The 65 principals who have “expressed interest” in having the 5 year olds in their care sit for 90 minutes worth of standardized testing should have to be the ones to administer it.

I agree, we need to encourage creativity and thinking out of the box. We don’t need to be a “cheap labor” provider.

By: Tim

Tim — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:35:37 +0000

The 65 principals who have “expressed interest” in having the 5 year olds in their care sit for 90 minutes worth of standardized testing should be dismissed and charged with educational malpractice. There’s nothing else you can call this plan.

By: Tammy Stephens

Tammy Stephens — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:48:24 +0000

Much of the media on globalization you hear is an oversimplification of the issues. I liked your article because instead of taking the typical “The Sky is Falling Approach” you suggest a proactive approach of changing education to emphasize creating thinking and innovation. It isn’t so much that there won’t be jobs, it’s that the kinds of jobs that will be available in America will and is changing. I am concerned that one of the problems of NCLB is that often schools that are struggling tend to put all of their emphasis on raising test scores which is only a basic literacy of all that will be needed to compete. Meanwhile, schools that already are doing fine on test scores are working to include more 21st Century Learning experiences for their students. I see the gap that NCLB was designed to address widening not decreasing in terms of getting students ready for a new type of workforce. It is my hope that the economic stresses that we are currently facing will serve as levers to change education.

By: Alicia

Alicia — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 12:22:32 +0000

No question which topics push your hot buttons!

We can never forget that America offers its citizens a free and public education irrespective of anything except citizenship.

We do need to assess, re-assess, and perhaps even over-assess our students while involving them in this process so that they understand the way they think and learn. It seems our greatest mistake right now is thinking that testing tell us what we need to know about students and their learning. What about comparing students to themselves (growth over time) rather than a national or international standard?

If you’re at all familiar with value added assessments ( http://www.value-addedlearningnetwork.org/documentation.cfm), I’d love to see a similar reports available with just as few clicks when it comes time to re-elect policy makers. Did their term add value to the quality of our lives and the lives of future progeny?

By: Terry Smith

Terry Smith — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 02:55:16 +0000

Hey Jeff – this testing preposterous-ness seems to be unstoppable. It is not why any of us went into teaching. I wonder how good teachers have been handling this testing absurdity for the last umpteen years. I have to say that I have exerted tons of energy to sidestep the test, to use tech in the classroom, Internet projects, etc (not to blow my own horn) but to say that to survive as an effective teacher these days, one has to “look like” a testing team member to please administrators, then do all of the real, exciting, stimulating stuff as well, or in spite of a growing testing environment. Now, they’re taking aim at kindergartners in NY (Texas as well). Just had to react…I have a soapbox also.

By: Jeff Utecht

Jeff Utecht — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:24:52 +0000

Hi Stephen,

Obviously mathematics is not my strong suite. I should have stated that there were 3 times as many patent applications in the States than in China.

learn, unlearn, relearn in action

Thank you for pointing this out and I will change it.

Apologies

By: Stephen Downes

Stephen Downes — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:08:22 +0000

You write:

Applicants from the USA: 390,815 applications
Applicants from China: 128,850 applications
That’s a 33% difference

in what universe?

I agree that there shouldn’t be such an emphasis on basics and on testing, but at the same time, you need to demonstrate a better understanding of basic mathematics than this!