Catching On:
Asia is outstripping the U.S. in education. They are mad for computers in the classroom on the Pacific rim, but so is the U.S., so why are the Asians so much better at math and creating engineers than the U.S. is?
Some of you will claim it's all genetics, Asians are simply born more mathematically inclined. Nonsense! There's simply no evidence of that.
Americans have been buying a bill of sale on computers and educational software for some time now, yet test scores and, more importantly the shear number of engineers we produce, have steadily declined. What's up with that?
The difference is cultural. China, Japan, Korea, all are on their way up. These countries have a unified culture of demanding achievement from their students. In the U.S. the culture is an expectation of privilege. Our young people are supposed to be successful as a matter of birthright. You got born in the shining city on the hill, and therefore you are owed success.
And about those computers, that "teaching technology," just keep in mind that administrators of all types, shapes, and sizes gain power directly from the size of their budgets. The computer stuff costs on average three times as much as books do.
Currently, there is no evidence that students learn any better as a result of using computers and computer software than they do from using traditional methods. The only people asserting otherwise are those who have a vested interest in having us believe the contrary; i.e. the computer and software makers and, of course, at least some administrators whose budgets are enhanced by doing so.
See today's New York Times for an excellent article addressing the fallacy that computers and software will improve education.
NOTE: The most important part of having students be familiar with computers is that they will likely need to use them in the work place. It's as simple as that. Being able to create a spreadsheet doesn't make you smarter at math, it simply makes you a more skilled worker. And that's good, but don't expect your test scores to automatically go up.
Asia is outstripping the U.S. in education. They are mad for computers in the classroom on the Pacific rim, but so is the U.S., so why are the Asians so much better at math and creating engineers than the U.S. is?
Some of you will claim it's all genetics, Asians are simply born more mathematically inclined. Nonsense! There's simply no evidence of that.
Americans have been buying a bill of sale on computers and educational software for some time now, yet test scores and, more importantly the shear number of engineers we produce, have steadily declined. What's up with that?
The difference is cultural. China, Japan, Korea, all are on their way up. These countries have a unified culture of demanding achievement from their students. In the U.S. the culture is an expectation of privilege. Our young people are supposed to be successful as a matter of birthright. You got born in the shining city on the hill, and therefore you are owed success.
And about those computers, that "teaching technology," just keep in mind that administrators of all types, shapes, and sizes gain power directly from the size of their budgets. The computer stuff costs on average three times as much as books do.
Currently, there is no evidence that students learn any better as a result of using computers and computer software than they do from using traditional methods. The only people asserting otherwise are those who have a vested interest in having us believe the contrary; i.e. the computer and software makers and, of course, at least some administrators whose budgets are enhanced by doing so.
See today's New York Times for an excellent article addressing the fallacy that computers and software will improve education.
NOTE: The most important part of having students be familiar with computers is that they will likely need to use them in the work place. It's as simple as that. Being able to create a spreadsheet doesn't make you smarter at math, it simply makes you a more skilled worker. And that's good, but don't expect your test scores to automatically go up.
posted by Jim | 1:34 PM
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