Arthur Camins has been a lifelong student and teacher of science and innovation.
Here is his proposal for disruptive innovation.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/18/1789193/-Want-Innovation-Disrupt-Inequity
He writes:
Let’s all answer what teachers call an essential question. The answer reveals core moral values and political judgments.
Should every child in the United States have access to the same level of high-quality education resources?
“Yes,” means bringing every public school up to the standards of class size, teaching effectiveness, curriculum and support resources, breadth of learning, and professional development for teachers that upper-middle-class families take for granted.
If you answer, “Yes,” without reservation, keep reading. If your answer is, “No,” and you want to continue to ration education resources to keep rewarding the already privileged, you can stop reading because your values will lead you in a different political direction. But I’d suggest that you develop an honest answer that you can both live with and defend when someone on the short end of resources asks you, “Why not?” to your, “No.”
Now, the follow-up question:
Is education equitable, now?
Maybe that is rhetorical because by almost anyone’s measure the answer is, “No.”
Now, some people answer, “Yes,” to the first should question, but when what they advocate for or accept is analyzed it is clear in practice they meant, “No.”
Advocates for charter schools and vouchers say, “Yes,” to the equitable should but meant, “No,” because at best those efforts help only some children and drain limited resources from the schools that other children attend.
Anyone who defends the patently inequitable practice of funding public education through widely divergent local property taxes may say, “Yes,” to the equitable should but meant, “No.”
Anyone who makes the case that turning the education of the nation’s children over to the market forces may say, “Yes,” to the equitable should but meant, “No,” because there is no arena in which competitive private enterprise has produced equity.
People who want to curb or end teachers unions may say, “Yes,” to the equitable should but meant, “No,” because states with unions have stronger education systems with better results than those without unions.
At best, there is a gap between intent and action. At worst there is dishonesty or unwillingness to define and explore the first principles that frame solutions.
What are your first principles?
Read the rest of the article.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Disrupt Inequity”
It seems to be a legitimate way to address our educational disparities, but it takes investment. America does not have to will to invest in the poor in our current political climate. Politicians work for the 1% that want to turn public education into the education industry. Instead, many elected representatives clear a path for billionaires and corporations to use public money for magic bullets that, do not address inequity; their schemes and products create greater inequities, Their so-called solutions drain public funds from public schools, and leave the most needy students in schools with larger class sizes and depleted resources. “Reform’s” big “solution” is to abandon public schools, and shift public money into private, wealthy pockets.
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Super article by Camins.
Lawyers know how to SPIN words. Marketers know how to SPIN words. Sale folks know how to SPIN words. SPINNING WORDS is their occupations. They went to college to learn how to SPIN and DECEIVE.
I went into my cell phone provider’s store. All I wanted was to NOT HAVE TO DEAL with PHONE sales. I wanted a face-to-face encounter. Well, the sales person in the store, couldn’t do this for me. Instead, we had to call the phone number and speak to someone. That someone who answered the phone was RIDICULOUS. Person kept trying to SELL ME service and equipment I DO NOT NEED. The person in the store was appalled as I was. The person on the phone DID NOT LISTEN and HAD TO GET THROUGH the script. The person on the phone spoke so fast, both the person in the store and I could not understand what this person said to us, while the phone we were using for this call was on speaker. This experience was HORRID for both the person in the store and me, the person who pays for the service. I found this entire experience to be DISGUSTING. What should have taken a few minutes, ended up taking 30 minutes. Wait time was about 5 and we had to call back 2 times.
My husband had a similar experience as well. He didn’t go into the store, but needed some help. Person on the phone couldn’t answer the question, so just HUNG UP. HUH? Unbelievable.
I have more examples of this kind of manipulation.
So I ask this question:
Does the Common Gore really help students learn about ALL the PROPAGANDA being USED on them?
MY answer: NOPE!
My opinion: How convenient for the the DEFORMERS. The deformers, I believe, just want to Make America DUMB and DUMBER so the rest of us are just their slaves, and don’t question authority and the status quo.
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Can’t agree that it is a “super article”. Yes, there is a lot of positive in it but I am reading a lot that reiterates a lot of the same arguments, especially regarding the schools’ abilities to influence a students behavior in certain means, ways, directions which are very much in dispute by those whose children go to said schools. It is a delicate balance needless to say. Overall a good argument, not super. See below for more detailed discussion.
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My hope in everything I write is to get beyond what’s wrong and to frame alternative ways to frame the goals of education. The big idea is to shift away from, “I’m on my own,” to “We’re in this together!”
We all need to talk about best how to do that. The values of democracy and the common good (that includes equity) are the foundation.
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I think your article achieves your stated goals brilliantly. I like the way you take a reader, who likely consider himself pro-equity, down an algorithm of sorts where one finds oneself in a place of inequity. I think this is a great way to challenge those who are not education experts (like myself) on the requirements of an equitable education.
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“Before we jump to solutions, let’s start with first principles: Education should prepare every student for life, work, and citizenship. That is all three goals, not one or the other. All. That principle affirms equity and broad purpose education.”
I’m a little confused by the statement(s) here. Is the principle of preparing students for life, work and citizenship an affirmation of an equitable and broad purpose of education? If so, how?
Be that as it may, a statement of the purpose of public education, and there is a difference between just education and public education as public education is a subset of education in general, can be gleaned from 20 of the states’ constitutions:
“The purpose of public education is to promote the welfare of the individual so that each person may savor the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the fruits of their own industry.”
Now there is a secondary rationale given in 10 of the constitutions and that is for the continuance of the government. I believe we have to start with those constitutions as the fundamental guide as our society is one built on a social contract theory and supposedly is one that adheres to a rule of law, notwithstanding questions of what should be done when the law is unjust itself. Where else to start?
What many on all sides of the political spectrum, and even those outside of that spectrum, appear to fear is the over domineering of the state, through the public schools on the education of their children. And rightly so as the parents have the ultimate responsibility for that “upbringing”.
Which brings us to the crux of the limitations of what a public school may or may not be able to do in “preparing every student for life, work, and citizenship” because what may constitute that preparation is as wide and varied as the citizenry itself. And, as it is, the parents, many times through their religious affiliations have far greater sway on that preparation than the teacher can every begin to have. To assign the responsibility for that total education to the public schools is wrong and is what the edudeformers and privateers do in order to destroy our community public schools by assigning an impossible task to them.
The public schools cannot and should not shoulder the “savior” of the children mantra. The public schools are there for a purpose, no doubt, see above but far too many involved have a “savior” complex in their attitudes and behavior not only to students but to the parents and public. And that is not conducive to providing the type of opportunities that should obtain for all students. More in next post. . . .
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“In the United States, education prepares some children for all three than better others. That is not a given. That is not a natural phenomenon. That is a choice made politicians elected by the citizens who choose to vote. That is a result of too few people who believe in equity not questioning and pressing decision makers or worse. That is a result of too few schools preparing students for participation in democratic citizenship.
Those are the problems. We need to elect people who profess and fight for equity and democracy.”
Again, the blame put on the public schools for that lack of “preparing students for participation in democratic citizenship”. Hogwash! Put the blame where it belongs, on the parents and/or the preachers who pound mythical crap into innocent brains and who practice (illegally) politics from the pulpit every week, all with the supposed authority of a “higher being”, using fear tactics, scaring children into submission.
No doubt that the inequitable resource distribution in relation to public education has a large negative effect on those on the bottom end of that distribution and that the distribution is not a natural phenomenon and can, therefore, be reversed and corrected. But it will not be corrected by electing “people who profess and fight for equity and democracy” because damn near all politicians already elected profess that sentiment and tell us that they fight for equity and democracy. And they don’t.
Where does that leave us?
I’m at the point of believing only massive civil disobedience on the part of teachers in refusing to take part in unethical educational malpractice mandates will be the ONLY solution. We certainly can’t count on the supposed “leaders” of the public school realm, the administrators to do so, they’ve shown no cojones so far. Maybe it has to come from the school boards, but I ain’t holding my breath as they are pretty much beholden to the superintendents in most districts.
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Dwayne,
I am not “blaming schools” for the unequal preparation of students. The reasons are complex. Simply saying it’s parents and preacher is too simplistic.
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Sure, politicians profess all kinds of stuff and make fanciful claims about what they do. It’s up to voters to hold them accountable for professing more democratic and equitable values and then to act on them.
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Arthur says
Want to disrupt the status quo? Disrupt inequality. Now, that would be innovative!
But here is the thing. (tongue in cheek)
Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation (CCI/DI) claims that equity problems will be solved by edtech.
I kid you not.
Marketing for this ridiculous idea is underway with a new book “Who You Know: Unlocking Innovations that Expand Students’ Networks” by Julia Freeland Fisher, director of education research at the CCI/DI (BA from Princeton University and a JD from Yale Law School); with the foreword from Clayton M. Christensen (business consultant, LDS religious leader, Harvard academic), and contributions from Daniel Fisher who works as a “subject matter expert for the U.S. government.”
To be precise, Daniel Fisher’s job title in May 2018 was “Economic and Social Development Subject Matter Expert” for the “Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction” quarterly report, monitoring fraud, waste, and abuse. For a related and eye-opening look at the US funded frauds in Afghanistan (with Daniel Fisher among the credited authors) see https://www.slideshare.net/RobSentseBc/sigar-afghanistan-januari-2018.
I cannot see why any of these contributors think of themselves as experts in addressing equity issues, and least of all the many entrenched social and economic inequities bearing on education and “success” in life.
The CCI/DI website and promos for the book begin with the assumption that student support and learning models in schools are deficient. Why? The supports and models are insufficiently focused on teacher-student relationships and access to caring adults. The book is intended for teachers and school administrators whom the book marketers portray as ignoring how edtech can “increase the social relationships students have with their teachers, peers, and others.”
A major claim is this: “Opportunity gaps are a function of not just what students know, but who they know.”
The proffered remedy is this: “Deploy emerging technologies that expand students’ networks to experts and mentors from around world.”
At least for the authors and participants in shaping this book, what students need for success is “social capital,” especially as that is enabled by edtech products. Those products (coincidently) are available from the CCI/DI “marketplace” at https://whoyouknow.org.
As of August 20, 2018, this marketplace website had assembled 119 apps/platforms for teachers and school administrators. The marketplace can be searched by four levels of education, seven “focus areas” of interest to app/platform entrepreneurs for the education market, and four “relationship” categories: Tutor, Near Tutor, Mentor, and “Industry Expert.”
I tested these overlapping search categories and found them not very helpful in narrowing the list of products/services.
Here are some excepts from the Amazon pitch for the book.
Who You Know explores this simple idea to give teachers and school administrators a fresh perspective on how to break the pattern of inequality in American classrooms. … “Opportunity gaps are a function of not just what students know, but who they know.” … Exploring the latest tools, data, and real-world examples, this book provides evidence-based guidance for educators looking to level the playing field and expert analysis on how policymakers and entrepreneurs can help.
There is more promotional ling–about “next generation learning,” “transforming schools,” and so on. The book comes with endorsements from four people active in promoting “digital” learning in schools. I put digital in quotes because I work in arts education where digits are not about numbers 1-9 or only 1 and 0, but parts of the human anatomy, specifically hands and feet, both with wonderfully flexible uses if you are blessed with them and they are healthy.
I am not sure that this book is really informed by the subtle distinctions between social capital and cultural capital articulated by social economist and Nobel Laureate Gary S. Becker in 1964 or the Marxist Pierre Bourdieu (1986).
I am NOT favor of the reduction of out humanity to “capital” of any kind.
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Forced equity is on the horizon- the racist statue in N.C., protected by former Gov. Pat McCrory, Art Pope and management of the University of North Carolina was toppled last night, in honor of the 9 parishioners who were robbed of life by a White supremacist .
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Notre Dame’s Michael C. Desch, got $3.6 mil. from Charles Koch (2015-2020). Desch spoke to the Mencken Group, an organization that the SPLC cites as racist. The days of colonialist domination are on their way out. With luck, the anti-democracy wealthy will feel the heat, before the demise of their lifestyles that include 10 yachts, 22,000 sq.ft. mansions and lavish compounds in the state of Washington. And, with luck, the paid promoters of the Koch/Gates agenda, who live closer to the regular people, will be targets which will be no loss because they don’t even contribute to GDP.
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