President Obama will unveil his technology plan for American education today in Mooresville, North Carolina.
Joy Resmovits reports on Huffington Post:
“President Barack Obama imagines a country where teachers know what’s happening in their students’ brains.
“He wants “teachers to have an ability to assess learning hour by hour and day by day,” a senior White House official said Wednesday. “That vision … is really not possible with the connectivity we have today.”
“That’s why on Thursday Obama will speak at a school in Mooresville, N.C., to unveil an initiative that aims to give 99 percent of America’s public schools high-speed connectivity over the next five years.”
Mooresville has won national attention because it provided laptop computers to every student in fourth grade and above, and its graduation rate shot up. The superintendent says there were other reasons for the increased graduation rate.
A few things about North Carolina: the Democratic Party held its 2012 National Convention there. It is a right-to-work state. The state spending on public education is 48th in the nation. Teachers’ salaries are 46th in the nation. Legislation introduced this spring by the president pro tem of the state senate would strip teachers of all tenure rights. At the same time that the legislature is attacking the pay and tenure of career educators, it allocated $6 million to hire inexperienced Teach for America teachers. The legislature also plans to expand the number of charters, free of conflict of interest regulations, free of diversity requirements, and free to hire uncertified teachers.
Technology is a wonderful thing, and all schools should be connected to the Internet.
But I would respectfully suggest to President Obama that there are far larger issues he should tackle right now, like defending the very existence of a teaching profession, defending academic freedom of educators, supporting the nation’s public schools, resisting privatization, and helping states provide equality of educational opportunity, with enough resources to meet the essential needs of students.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“. . . there are far larger issues he should tackle right now, like defending the very existence of a teaching profession, defending academic freedom of educators, supporting the nation’s public schools, resisting privatization, and helping states provide equality of educational opportunity, with enough resources to meet the essential needs of students.”
I agree wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, those things aren’t popular, nor do they line the pockets of the tech industry.
I got yer digit right here …
I’ve got five of them, and when folded just right they make a very tasty knuckle sandwich, which I’d like to allow Obama the pleasure of sampling.
Careful, that’s dangerously close to a felony…
@AK —
I think you misspieled phalange …
We should have learned by now to be wary of “Miracle Schools.” Just ask Rod Paige, Michelle Rhee, parents and teachers in Atlanta, New York…..I hope someone will do a little more analysis before we decide that any middle school has turned itself around!
I remember my mother telling me about a colleague teacher who was very staunch in her teaching methods—“traditional,” you might say (even a little extreme in her personal beliefs such that man is not an animal); however, her students were very successful in math and reading (as scores indicated). The district noticed her after trying various fixes that were not raising scores, but she refused their attention and said she had simply been doing the same thing she’d been doing since she got out of school, which included phonics, rote stuff, memorizing, read-alouds etc. I am sure she balanced it, but my point is that higher ups are always looking for role models to flock to and feature until they need to find the next one. I know of other schools that have purchased I-pads for all students—one in High Point, NC I think. Still, I think school success transformation is great but doesn’t need to come from Washington. Baby showers are great too but that doesn’t mean Washington needs to throw one for everybody.
One school I taught in had three computer labs (28 assuming-they-were-all-working computers in each) for a population of 1,800 kids. High-speed connectivity? Who cares how fast it is if it isn’t going anywhere?
Doesn’t this seem like a “quick, let’s do something positive in the face of education for the nation to see. How about NC? Yeah, here’s a school that has really utilized technology” (aside: probably from sponsorship of local industry—an idea I think needs to be explored more rather than sweeping national fix-alls). “We’ll go there. Everyone knows our president loves NC barbecue—Mooresville has some good barbecue. Yeah, let’s make it happen.” photo opps abound. news clips with “Obama” “education” and faces of children in them. And since Mooresville is just north of Charlotte, he can visit with Anthony Foxx while he’s there. Maybe it’s a convenience thing more than anything (choosing NC).
That’s nice and all but it doesn’t help NC schools, really. Unless local businesses are inspired by this and then want to sponsor their schools in getting computers—rather than the federal government doing it. Our NC PTO just raised enough money to buy Smart boards for everyone. I think that’s a good thing. And our school has 63% on free lunch. And we have 30% ESL. But we still have a PTO active enough to raise that kind of money.
Basketball. Banking. Barbecue. We’ve got that. Did we really need that RttT money?
I am thinking we took RttT to get waivers from NCLB. That’s the only rationale I can figure (I am very uninformed on the details of that).
Ditto for me. Distracting shiny objects.Oww, computers. I got an email from White House promoting Obama’s visit and a “virtual show and tell” led by (drum roll, please) James Kvaal, Deputy Director of the White House Domestic Poilcy Council. Huh? Apparently it never occurs to these dudes to consult and work with actual educators. The show starts at 3pm ET. Here’s link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/show-and-tell
*expensive* shiny new objects.
Diane,
Your last paragraph is brilliant and eloquent — and I wish the President would listen!
i wish everyone would listen!
Of course technology can be great — but this is entirely the wrong direction for the nation.
….I guess the computers In the White House never break down like the ones in the classrooms.
yes, Diane again hits the target
I agree about that last paragraph. But, Diane, don’t hold your breath waiting for the Obama administration to do any such thing. Alas.
Robert, I am not holding my breath. I am exhaling.
: )
“In addition to expanding access and keeping costs down, another goal of ConnectED, a White House official said, would be to keep better track of student data.”
So then inBloom AND the feds will have all student and teacher data.
The show ain’t over till the deus ex machina rides in from the wings to save the day.
Shall we expect a walk-on from Bill Gates?
Beware of Geeks bearing GIFs …
“President Barack Obama imagines a country where teachers know what’s happening in their students’ brains.”
How by hacking into their cell phones? Or maybe by accessing the all-knowing inBloom database?
If that statement doesn’t scare everyone here then something is radically wrong.
“President Barack Obama imagines a country where teachers know what’s happening in their students’ brains.”
Ummmmm….CREEPY!
I do not want to know what is happening in my students’ brains.
I do not want at “assess learning” (what ever that is) hour by hour.
My students are people, young people. They have a right to privacy. They need time to grow, contemplate, consider and be teenagers (Like, oh, I dunno, have some fun, make a mistake, change their minds, try on a new idea, all without constant assessment).
Do you think BHO wants some teacher knowing want is going on in the brains of his children? Are his kids assessed hour by hour?
Sorry for the possible over reaction, but this really creeps me out.
I thought that exact same thing!! Also why is our PRESIDENT making this kind of announcement, wouldn’t you think it’d be the governor? Also as a parent I don’t want more tech, more digitization, no thanks!!
So did I! Hour by hour assessment sounds more like borderline harassment and definitely like privacy infringement to me.
Hour by hour assessment? Does the president want this for his own children? Surely he didn’t mean what he said. And if he did mean it? Scary.
If the govenor said it he would have to fund it. This way it’s just a wonderful idea. Sarcasm alert.
No apology necessary – you’re not overreacting. This is really creepy, and very good point about Obama’s daughters.
Ang, I agree. It is very, very creepy. I don’t want anyone to know what my children or grandchildren are thinking. It is no one else’s business.
Where is that Gates’ galvanic skin response bracelet, that thing that measures your engagement and excitement? I fear it may be in production right now. With DOE funding.
A true Cyborg colony of humanoids who used to be human and are now being cognitively engineered by technology, when once upon a time, humans used to engineer the technoology to serve themselves.
This is a like a short story, almost an excerpt in “CIty” by Clofford D. Simak, which I has to read in 9th grade.
“The E-Rate program, launched in 1996, was supposed to offer high-speed Internet to schools and libraries for lower rates. But it has faced criticism for not delivering on its promise.”
Just like the RTTT money that has cost many districts more to implement than they received from RTTT. The computers and bandwidth required by the PARCC assessments will cost our small school district approximately 2 million dollars. In New York our state government has enacted a tax cap so we won’t be getting any more tax dollars to pay for computers. What will be eliminated in order to pay for this? Arts? Athletics? IB and AP? Kindergarten? Teachers? Class sizes will most likely increase if we have to come up with an additional 2 million dollars. Hello, Mr. Obama, there is more to education than testing and technology despite what Mr. Gates may say or what monies he is able to “donate” to convince people of the contrary. Testing, technology and teacher bashing are not going to eradicate the poverty that has lead to unfortunate educational outcomes. Though they are undoubtedly much cheaper, less complicated and easier to discuss in a thirty second sound bite/photo op than the truth.
It really wouldn’t be much of a loss if Advanced Placement courses and testing were eliminated…but the College Board is all in for the Common Core, and says its its products (PSAT, SAT, AP) are “aligned” with the Common Core….
Gifted high school students need some courses to take. What would you replace iAP courses with?
Democracy, of course every College Board product and test will be aligned with the Common Core. David Coleman, the lead author of the Common Core, is now president of the Common Core.
I’m beginning to think there was a Common Core Coup.
This is a copy of Windows 7 which thinks it knows what you want to do before you do. Haven’t you all experienced with Windows 7 without hitting the mouse to go there it just does when you do not want it to? What is the difference with this? Also, is the Federal government going to pay for all of this expensive installation and equipment? In California, according to the law no one follows as we are a lawless state as is the whole country now, you cannot spend construction bond money on equipment that does not lase at least 10 years. This means that construction bonds can pay for installation of the lines but not for the computers and pads. LAUSD is going to spend illegally about a billion on this. There is no oversight of anythingmore. It is the Wild West. Now California has “Education Realignment” coming from Brown, who is not the same as his dad Pat Brown, which will have no accountability and total flexibility with all funds including catagorical like special education on top of the corrupt RTI. At the highest level school in silicon valley they do not allow computers or caculators just like when I was in school and they did not exist including ball point pens. We got a better education than now then. We could do math and read. Has the human mind genetically changed in 40 years? No way. We still learn the same as the wiring is the same and we are still people. The rate of technology has fooled us all into thinking we are something different and we are not. As Eisenhower’s commander in Panama in 1920 told him “Ike, the tools of war have changed in the last 2,000 years, but one thing has not and that is “human Nature.” So, what is different? Nothing.. Obama is a tool of the right wing when you look at how he has governed. As a friends grandfather taught him “I hear real good, but I see a whole lot better.” Only one thing counts and that is not what they say but what they do. Obama is not our friend and that is why they had the convention in a right to work state who does not care about the common person just like the prez. Let him put up the money then talk. How can school districts spend this kind of money when most seem to be broke? As usual, no one follows the money.
Increasing access to the internet will do nothing without an increase both training for staff and access and training for students. Our high school went to a one-to-one policy and gave every student an Apple MacAir. Some staff were able to make great strides in the use of the computer in the class room while others barely utilized the new technology.
I applaud President Obama’s desire for oversight of young people’s brains, but his proposal doesn’t go nearly far enough.
My edu-venture will remedy the shortcomings of bio-exterior technology, and guarantee a miraculous solution to the achievement gap.
My super-miniaturized wifi receivers, combined with my patented KiddieChipsFirst technology, will allow Pearson to download its tests and product placements directly into the cerebrums of our most valuable assets, and allow our developing human capital to upload their responses, so that remotely-sited “teachers know what is going on in the student’s brains.”
Finally, Michael, a real solution! I’ll be looking for your picture on the cover of Time magazine!
“He wants “teachers to have an ability to assess learning hour by hour and day by day,” a senior White House official said Wednesday. “That vision … is really not possible with the connectivity we have today.”
As though they don’t do that now.
And how does one find the time to use technology to teach, assess, analyze, paln and teach again in an hour?
Can’t wait to buy it! Will it also auto-upload to inBloom all my data?
Resistance Is Futile❢ You Will Be Assimilated❢
Good one. Thanks.
Dollar for dollar, I would rather – MUCH RATHER! – the money be spent on HUMAN connections than on digital. Our whole school system is so proud of itself for all the Promethean Boards it’s installed and installing, but I weep at the thought of how many TEACHERS could have been hired for that money. *cry*
Absolutely spot on with your words Diane. Yes, there are MUCH more important educational issues the President should be addressing, and for him to promote this agenda just makes me so very angry . President Obama, a man I once supported , just seems to keep disappointing me.
Shouldn’t he have instead traveled to Chicago to offer support to the thousands of families whose lives will be in upheaval in a matter of months.
Couldn’t find any comfortable shoes …
It is always interesting to see differences in public education across the country. My youngest son’s junior high school had slate boards.
‘“He wants “teachers to have an ability to assess learning hour by hour and day by day,” a senior White House official said Wednesday.’
Definitely what we need: micromanage those kids. It is doing so much for the competency of teachers; let’s spread the wonderfulness to our children. If we have resources, they are programmed from morning to night and/or plugged into the latest techno treat. We can control every free thought they ever had in their silly little brains. I was so lucky that I grew up in a time that free time was play time, and there was no adult trying to tell me how to do it. We played kickball in the street and drew hopscotch squares on the driveways. We caught fireflies and played “Ghost in the Graveyard” or freeze tag. We even got to be bored! If we admitted it, there were always chores to fill the void. We became very good at entertaining ourselves. I loved to draw and scavenged the waste baskets for paper with blank sides or envelopes I could dissect for clean “canvasses.” My dad read to us before bedtime and tried to skip parts of stories that we all knew by heart. I can still see my mom smiling when my little sisters voices could be heard loudly proclaiming his mistakes. His attempts became part of the nightly ritual. I got my own library card when I learned to read in first grade. That card was an important achievement to all of us. My parents were always there to support us and guide us if needed but they let us be kids and grow at our own rate. I wish all children had the same chances I did to be a child.
Me too. Your childhood and mine even if I did have to memorize the multiplication tables and write in cursive!!!
Me three. Thank you 2old2tch for sharing your memories. My siblings and I had similar glorious adventures. What breaks my heart is that so many of my students have the majority of their experiences online in front of a screen. They are 14 years old and have never played a board game, used a hammer, created art with sidewalk chalk, built a model car or plane, turned a sock into a puppet to entertain a younger sibling, planted seeds, performed in a skit, made a drum out of an oatmeal box, wandered the aisles of a library, made holiday cards for seniors, or built a scooter. Their childhood is almost over and their understanding of the world is 2-dimensional. Yeah, right, let’s all digitize. Why have any real experiences when we can all just “interact” on social media?
This seems hopeful: A proposal to get the Federal Government our of our schools!
http://edworkforce.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=337029
I wish I could digitize the president, convert him, Arne Duncan, and his cronies into word documents, and then permanently delete them.
Call Spock and Scotty and see what they think.
But in the meantime, we’ll just have to write to Obama and tell him what we think of his education vision. No file deleting here.
BTW, Gates is slated to invest something like 5 billion dollars in developing video technology that would record teachers teaching “24/7” and then have the footage distributed to and shared by educators, admins, and lord knows who else. . . . Big Brother Gates watching and evaluating. It is a classroom space that has computerized cameras planted all over the place.
We teachers have always taped ourselves, but it’s been done on a case by case basis individually, not formed into a systemic design that captures everyone everywhere, save for the toilet stalls.
Will Gates at least pilot this somewhere? The idea is fascinating and seemingly empowering when teachers can conduct peer crittiques.
The problem – and it will never go away – with all of this is that the viewing of the footage can fall into the wrong hands and be used for wrongful purposes. Such usage obliterates the “productive, additive, safe, non-judgemental” environment and purpose the taping is supposed to originate in and serve.
Who should we trust more: teachers and administrators taking upon themselves to conduct taping and critiquing, or a formal, nationalized system designed by Bill Gates and aided and abetted by the state and federal gonvernments?
I have no problem with the president’s desire to improve Internet capability in America’s public schools. It’s necessary. After all, as a country, we are far behind other developed nations in Internet access, speed, and cost efficiency. But improving Internet infrastructure, access and cost are not simply school problems, they are national ones.
Like our health care, we pay a lot more – and get much less – for our Internet service than do citizens in most OECD nations. As one technology expert (Susan Crawford) suggests, “Because the U.S. government has allowed a small group of giant, highly profitable companies to dominate the broadband market, American consumers have fewer choices for broadband service, at higher prices but lower speeds, compared to dozens of other developed countries, including throughout Europe and Asia.”
You know the names of the companies, right? And the related tech companies?
The Christian Science Monitor reported that in North Carolina, President Obama said that “The goal is to improve the infrastructure needed for connection speeds of at least 100 Mbps (megabits per second) – and moving toward 1 Gbps (gigabits per second).”
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2013/0606/Obama-wants-faster-Internet-in-US-schools.-Would-you-pay-5-a-year-for-it
The problem is not getting better and less costly Internet and broadband service. The problem is the Obama plans to give taxpayer funds to these same “private companies” in order to get them “to compete” for service, and for mobile devices and software. Never mind that consumer and school “choices” are already severely limited.
What’s driving all of this? First, the untruth that Americas’s public schools are in “crisis” and need a healthy dose of “reform” to recover. Second, the unsubstantiated assumption that public school reform leads to “economic competitiveness.” Third, the coming Common Core standards – based on the first two fallacies – require more computing devices and broadband capability.
Obama’s technology plan is the right idea for all the wrong reasons. It’s not just the tail wagging the dog in a vicious circle, it’s that the tail is a cheap synthetic that’s been hastily stitched on.
I’ve noted previously that there is no “crisis,” and that we’ve know that since the Sandia Report researchers concluded in 1993 that:
* “..on nearly every measure we found steady or slightly improving trends.”
* “youth today [the 1980s] are choosing natural science and engineering degrees at a higher rate than their peers of the 1960s.”
* “business leaders surveyed are generally satisfied with the skill levels of their employees, and the problems that do exist do not appear to point to the k-12 education system as a root cause.”
* “The student performance data clearly indicate that today’s youth are achieving levels of education at least as high as any previous generation.”
I’ve also pointed out that “economic competitiveness” is more than merely a lame excuse for education “reform,” especially of the type promoted by Obama and Bill Gates, and Wendy Kopp and MIchelle Rhee, and the Business Roundtable and the U.S, Chamber of Commerce.
The U.S. already IS internationally competitive.
The World Economic Forum ranks nations each year on competitiveness. It uses “a highly comprehensive index” of the “many factors” that enable “national economies to achieve sustained economic growth and long-term prosperity.”
The U.S. is usually in the top five (if not 1 or 2). When it drops, the WEF doesn’t cite education, but stupid economic decisions and policies.
For example, when the U.S. dropped from 2nd to 4th in 2010-11, four factors were cited by the WEF for the decline: (1) weak corporate auditing and reporting standards, (2) suspect corporate ethics, (3) big deficits (brought on by Wall Street’s financial implosion) and (4) unsustainable levels of debt.
Last year (2011-12), major factors cited by the WEF are a “business community” and business leaders who are “critical toward public and private institutions,” a lack of trust in politicians and the political process with a lack of transparency in policy-making, and “a lack of macroeconomic stability” caused by decades of fiscal deficits, especially deficits and debt accrued over the last decade that “are likely to weigh heavily on the country’s future growth.” The WEF did NOT cite public schools as being problematic to innovation and competitiveness.
And this year (2012-13) the WEF dropped the U.S. to 7th place, citing problems like “increasing inequality and youth unemployment” and, environmentally, “the United States is among the countries that have ratified the fewest environmental treaties.“ The WEF noted that in the U.S.,”the business community continues to be critical toward public and private institutions” and “trust in politicians is not strong.” Political dysfunction has led to “a lack of macroeconomic stability” that “continues to be the country’s greatest area of weakness.”
And yet, The Christian Science Monitor article states that “The Obama administration also sees educational technology as a matter of global competitiveness.” The article cites a school district in California (Cajon Valley Union School District) as a model for what is expected to happen. They even have a nice video on YouTube, which for some odd reason, is introduced by Rep, Duncan D. Hunter (R). Hunter is the protypical conservative Republican who favors more testing and accountability and school vouchers and the privatization of Social Security, and who opposes gay marriage and universal health care and genuine tax reform.
Then again, go to the Cajon district’s website and you’ll find the top priority is to enable students to “master skills, gain knowledge, and develop personal attributes to be competitive in a global society.” This district has a special STEM program, even though there is nothing resembling a STEM shortage in the U.S., nothing even close. One of its other strategic goals is an increased use of technology for “efficiency” through on-line learning.
There’s this implicit assumption that more technology – like more Advanced Placement courses –– means “better.” Absolutely not. The research is clear that AP courses are more hype than reality. Soo too with technology. It’s a valuable tool.
But, Christine Rosen reported on some of the problems in 2008. She noted:
“Numerous studies have shown the sometimes-fatal danger of using cell phones and other electronic devices while driving, for example, and several states have now made that particular form of multitasking illegal. In the business world, where concerns about time-management are perennial, warnings about workplace distractions spawned by a multitasking culture are on the rise. In 2005, the BBC reported on a research study, funded by Hewlett-Packard and conducted by the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London, that found, ‘Workers distracted by e-mail and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers.’ The psychologist who led the study called this new ‘infomania’ a serious threat to workplace productivity.”
The threat to workplace productivity is not made lightly. Rosen added:
“One study by researchers at the University of California at Irvine monitored interruptions among office workers; they found that workers took an average of twenty-five minutes to recover from interruptions such as phone calls or answering e-mail and return to their original task. Discussing multitasking with the New York Times in 2007, Jonathan B. Spira, an analyst at the business research firm Basex, estimated that extreme multitasking—information overload—costs the U.S. economy $650 billion a year in lost productivity.”
Public schools are not exempt from this cautionary information.
In his 2003 book, The Flickering Mind, Todd Oppenheimer wrote that
technology was a “false promise.” That is, all too often technology is no
panacea to improving learning and often undermines funding that might have
gone to reducing class sizes, and improving teacher salaries and facilities.
Based on his many classroom observations, Oppenheimer said that “more often
than not” classroom use of computers encouraged “everybody in the room to go
off task.” He noted that a UCLA research team investigating results from
the Third International Math and Sciences Study (TIMSS) reviewed video from
8th grade math and science classes in seven different countries. One
difference stood out: while American teachers use overhead projectors (and
increasingly now LCDs), teachers in other countries still use blackboards,
which maintain “a complete record of the entire lesson.”
A recent Texas study found that “there was no evidence linking technology immersion with student self-directed learning or their general satisfaction with schoolwork.”
The New York Times reported recently on classroom use of technology in Arizona, where “The digital push aims to go far beyond gadgets to transform the very nature of the classroom.” As the Times reported, “schools are spending billions on technology, even as they cut budgets and lay off teachers, with little proof that this approach is improving basic learning.”
This is what now constitutes education “reform” in the United States. It’s far more about money and political posturing than it is about learning for democratic citizenship, public education’s core mission. Sadly, the majority of education’s “leaders” are going along for the ride, though they spew the obligatory platitudes.
To paraphrase Charlie Pierce, this is your public schooling, America. “Cherish it.”
Here’s the giveaway “tell” of the liberal, snob, bias of “democracy.” “They even have a nice video on YouTube, which for some odd reason, is introduced by Rep, Duncan D. Hunter (R). Hunter is the protypical conservative Republican who favors more testing and accountability and school vouchers and the privatization of Social Security, and who opposes gay marriage and universal health care and genuine tax reform.”
“democracy” seems to hate Republicans because they ask “who will pay?” and want less government rather than the more we find we are getting. Voter suppression by IRS harassment of conservative groups. And now the IRS enforcing Obamacare. The NSA vacuuming up everyone’s telephone conversations, email, facebook posts, and what else who knows, maybe even eventually the Common Care data. Then the rest of the “democrats” (translate tyrants) will really have the data on you to differentially award health care benefits, or college scholarships, or jobs with the government, or NOT. Too Christian? No liver transplant. Too young, no lung transplant. Think gay marriage should be a state decided matter? No approval for Federal contracts because you are “discriminatory.”
So how do you like your socialist Big Brother President now, Mr. or Ms. “democracy”? He sacrificed you teachers because he doesn’t fear losing your vote. AND he knows you’ll dutifully implement Common Core and its testing, data collection from Pre-School through College with only a few hand wringing whimpers, but with loyal party acquiescence. Enjoy the chaos in solidarity.
Chase the diversions in the news from the corruptions. Meanwhile, out of a baffled, rear-guard, delaying action, the poor country bumpkin tea partiers go charter and vouchers as fast as they can to escape the socialist indoctrination. And we who say so endure the impugning of one’s motives by being called a “troll.”
Maybe at some point the stench of the corruption will become so intense that even public school teachers with their nose plugs in will smell it and choke and vomit out the source: El Presidente. Naw. Won’t happen.
Democracy,
The one sentiment I think Harlan is right about is that government has intruded into our lives far too much and, while it used to dance and flirt with corporate America, it is now in bed with it altogether.
This is a federal and often state government that no longer represents the average person, and both the democrats and GOP are almost equally rotten and corrupt. The game has gotten to the point where you campaign one way to your constituents and you govern a different way to thank all of your corporate sponsors who funded the majority of your election.
It is depraved, but that’s what our system has become.
Harlan wants to believe that teachers love Obama. So little does he know because he is not a PUBLIC school teacher. He also wants to believe that Obama is a socialist, but a socialist would never appoint Penny Pritzker, one of the most vile and loathesome individuals to roam the earth.
Facts are not Harlan’s friends. But neither are most commentators on this site . . . .
If Harlan were to find some common ground (even I have with Mr. Underhill on occasion) and not be so inappropriately consdescending toward us public school teachers, imagine how much more productive the outcome.
But Harlan’s word count is far higher than his emotional and social intelligence. Don’t be angry with Harlan; it’s probably his disability speaking more than him.
Poor Harlan just cannot seem to get things right. Facts are not his friend.
Harlan says that Republicans merely ask, “who will pay?” Untrue. They never asked that as Reagan and Bush1 ran up deficits and debt. And every Republican in Congress voted against Clinton’s tax increase on the wealthy in 1993. he said it would “ruin” the economy and cost “millions” of jobs, Instead, the U.S. embarked on an unparalleled economic expansion, with more than 26 million jobs created. Moreover, the nation built up budget surpluses that were to be used to pay down debt and secure Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Republican also never asked that when Bush2 instituted more unfunded tax cuts, and when he refused to pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or to fund his Medicare drug benefit plan.
See more on that here:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/19/republican-budget-hypocrisy-health-care-opinions-columnists-bruce-bartlett.html
Underhill claims – falsely – that the IRS under Obama suppressed voting. The only group that has tried systemically to suppress voting in the US. is the Republican Party.
As to the National Security Agency and FBI snooping, it’s been going on a long time. As The Washington Post points out, the spy program, “code-named PRISM, has not been made public until now. It may be the first of its kind….PRISM was launched from the ashes of President George W. Bush’s secret program of warrantless domestic surveillance in 2007…PRISM recruited its first partner, Microsoft, and began six years of rapidly growing data collection…Government officials made clear the identities of its private partners as PRISM’s most sensitive secret…”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html?hpid=z1
And yes, The Post acknowledges that “President Obama presided over exponential growth.” But “socialism” has nothing to do with it. In fact, in education (Race et the Top), health care, and national security, Obama is governing more like a conservative Republican than liberal Democrat. But, of course, ideologues refuse to admit it. The ACLU says this: “It’s a program in which some untold number of innocent people have been put under the constant surveillance of government agents . . . It is beyond Orwellian, and it provides further evidence of the extent to which basic democratic rights are being surrendered in secret to the demands of unaccountable intelligence agencies.”
The Post article add this: “there has never been a Google or Facebook before, and it is unlikely that there are richer troves of valuable intelligence than the ones in Silicon Valley… ‘98 percent of PRISM production is based on Yahoo, Google and Microsoft; we need to make sure we don’t harm these sources’ …the NSA, whose lawful mission is foreign intelligence, is reaching deep inside the machinery of American companies that host hundreds of millions of American-held accounts on American soil.” The ACLU says this: “It’s a program in which some untold number of innocent people have been put under the constant surveillance of government agents . . . It is beyond Orwellian, and it provides further evidence of the extent to which basic democratic rights are being surrendered in secret to the demands of unaccountable intelligence agencies.”
I agree, But it shows just how much the telecommunications and tech corporations are in bed with the government. And it illustrates the folly of the current brand of corporate-style education “reform.”
There’s stench alright, Harlan. But it comes from the rotting of the corporate culture, from desiccated brains that refuse to think (including your own, and that of most Republicans and too many Democrats), and from the deterioration of public education’s core mission of schooling for democratic citizenship.
2nd paragraph, 4th line: They said it would “ruin” the economy and cost “millions” of jobs….
@Democracy and teachingeconomist,
I’m not a big fan of the College Board either. While our local high school offers a few AP courses, the majority of our “college level” courses are IB (International Baccalaureate). IB differs greatly from AP. AP has been described as “an inch deep and a mile wide”. The AP history courses that my children have taken have involved mostly memorization of nano-facts followed by knowledge regurgitation. The course seems to involve mostly outlining chapters in the textbook using index cards. Then they are tested on the most minute and often irrelevant details of what they have read. For AP World History they might spend only a few days studying the European Renaissance, a few days studying China etc. The test itself is always hit or because so much material is covered over the course of a year that there is no way for the teacher to cover any one country or time period in depth and no way to know which of the many topics that were covered during the course will appear on the test.
IB utilizes a very different approach, and incorporates critical thinking to a greater degree. For example, the students might be asked to discuss the causes of World War I. They would then study several historians with different perspectives about this. They would look at primary sources as well. They would then be asked to analyze, synthesize and ultimately evaluate the ideas presented referencing the sources that they have studied to substantiate their conclusions. IB English contains an oral exam in addition to the written ones. From what I can tell, my children have utilized the skills that they acquired while taking IB to a greater extent once they got to college than those that they acquired while taking AP. Some people have expressed concern that colleges do not accept credit for IB. I have looked a dozens of colleges with my kids during the college application process and I have not found this to be the case. I don’t want to seem like a sales person for IB. It isn’t perfect either. For one thing, it is a bit more expensive for school districts to offer than AP. But I do think that it better prepared my children for college level work than AP did.
Just as a side note, I currently live in New York, but I am originally from San Diego. I learned that several schools in San Diego that serve largely low income students received grants to become IB schools several years ago. They include my high school and elementary school. It would be interesting to know what impact the IB program has had on these students’ academic achievement.
I have no experience with IB programs. There seem to be only eight high schools in my state offering an IB program. They may be an alternative to AP courses. Because I live in a university town, gifted students often here can often just take the university courses while still in high school, though at the families expense.
@hrh88:
It seems to me that IB programs are far better than AP courses.
They are also much, much rarer. And many colleges do not grant them credit, though this may be changing. See:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/admissions-101-getting-college-credit-for-international-baccalaureate-courses/2012/02/21/gIQAJVIQRR_blog.html
My guess is that with the onset of the Common Core, and the College Board’s tight ties with it –– along with its claim that its products, the PSAT, SAT, and AP, are “aligned” with it –– Advanced Placement will proliferate even more.
One advantage of the AP set up is that it allows students to prepare for the exams in a variety of ways, not just by taking classes that are offered at the High Schools. This is especially important in a state like mine where most high schools are very small.
Wonder who is paying Obama for this $%&^!
PP!
Speaking of Deus Ex Mackinac …
Mackinac Center Report Touts Cyborg Teach-to-the-Test “Schools”
“Transformative”! Can we stop using this word yet? I agree with others who find the idea of even more erosion of students’ privacy creepy. I would also like to point out that no technology is going to make kids engaged in their classes every waking minute. It is an impossible task we ask of our teachers. Kids are kids, and some things don’t change.
There is no scientific evidence that computers in the classroom increases academic performance.
I’ve heard the Superintendent from Mooresville, Dr. Mark Edwards, speak to the “transformation” in his district – and it was and is. He downplays the lofty terms because seems he just sees technology as common sense – no miracle solution or quick fix. But it has been transformative. It’s not drill / kill, it’s not about tests, They worked backwards from what how kids learn, what they should learn, and then figured out how technology fit in. Test scores went up significantly but I did not hear that it was because they used technology to digitally connect standards to brains to test taking. It’s projects, research, inquiry, and more. As superintendents go, he “gets it.” (The guy from microsoft who followed him scared the heck out of me and what their vision of tech use in education is).
As for Mr. Obama and “He wants “teachers to have an ability to assess learning hour by hour and day by day,” a senior White House official said Wednesday. “That vision … is really not possible with the connectivity we have today.” Nooooooo! (Ok, connectivity is a good thing)
But what teacher wants to assess learning hour by hour. “Checking for Understanding” and “Guiding Practice” before turning kids loose is one thing – but this reads like “substitute the brain with the computer” – more factory model garbage in – garbage out. I’d rather read words like “imagination” “creativity” “composition” “blending media to illustrate meaning” “quick links to primary source material” “run with curiosity.”
And, agreed, the White House should devote every ounce of energy to poverty (connectivity for all is a good start), roots of poverty, reducing violence, supporting (mental health / family services) kids and adults, and world peace.