School's not out

If hyperlearning is the education mode of the future, I predict that although school is out, buildings will still be used to house students during the day, maybe in the form of day care centers. Unless, of course, their parents’ jobs have also evolved to the point where all parents work at home, which is unlikely. Anyway with day care centers, workers would be called care providers since they no longer teach; they only need to provide basic care. But what if the kids fight with each other, or trashes the computers, would the care providers intervene and “teach” the kids appropriate behavior. Or would hyperlearning tools cover that too?

I do not agree with Perelman (1993) that “there is no job in this economy that truly requires an academic diploma or degree for its successful performance”. I feel that there are many jobs that requires years of learning and training before a person can be pronounced as proficient. Although a diploma or a degree may not be needed as credentials, they do serve a purpose. Besides the academic diploma or degree also serves to impart confidence on those who the person with the credential serves. Imagine going in for a surgery, and not seeing the surgeon’s credentials. I partially agree with Perelman in the issue of employment decisions based on academic diplomas. Employers should not hire or promote based on the academic diploma alone but take into consideration other factors as well. A Harvard degree should never be judged more valuable than a Lehigh degree. And by the way, Perelman received his doctorate from Harvard University, and I’m sure this credential has worked to his advantage.

Education is for everyone, so let’s not forget the special education population. Parents and advocates have for years fought to have students with disabilities included in regular education classrooms with typical students. Fifty years ago most students with mental retardation do not get to participate in public education or be in the same school with typical peers, and we have only recently made progress in including students with disabilities and according to Gaskin settlement (Court orders/Gaskin, 2006), we still have a long way to go. If school’s out, I assume for regular education students, so then where is inclusion for special education students? Would students with disabilities return to their homes where historically they've been educated (or not) or will they remain in “schools” that will once again segregate them from their typical peers?

References

Court orders/Gaskin. (n.d.). The Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN): A Professional Development Network. Retrieved April 18, 2006, from http://www.pattan.k12.pa.us/regsforms/CourtOrdersGaskin.aspx

Perelman, L., J. 1993. School’s Out. Wired Magazine. Issue 1.01. Retrieved on April 14th, 2006 from http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.01/hyperlearning_pr.html

Rethinking Assessment

I agree with Bond (1995) that assessments should inform teaching. Students should be assessed not just to gage their learning but also to inform the teacher on his/her teaching.
It is interesting though the idea of a revolutionary assessment that will require teachers to provide good instruction and to cover important learning outcomes. Clark and Clark (2000) state that schools “..must have assessment programs that complement the curriculum and encourage expansion, involve teachers in the design and implementation of assessment, and provide students with a challenging, active learning environment.” However under NCLB, it is inevitable that many teachers, especially in struggling schools, will teach to the test when it comes to high stakes testing and meeting AYP.

Growing up in a country where there is one national curriculum for all schools and where standardized curriculum-based assessments were held at certain milestones in a student’s life, reading this article seems to be counter intuitive. Students in Malaysia wear the same uniform, read the same textbooks, and take the same national examinations at the same time and day nationwide. If given a choice I would not want to go through those two weeks of pre-university examinations where students have to basically regurgitate all that they have learned in the last one and half years. Public university entrance is based solely on the result of this examination. And if a student were to fall ill during the examination period and is not able to take the examination, s/he would have to wait another year regardless if s/he is the top student in the school during school-based examination. No wonder I still get examination nightmares. However at the same time I am unsure if I would have learned better or more if I was brought up in the U.S.

References
Bond, L.A. (1995). Critical issue: Rethinking assessment and its role in supporting educational reform. Retrieved April 7, 2006, from the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory Website: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/assment/as700.htm

Clark, D.C., & Clark, S.N. (2000). Appropriate assessment strategies for young adolescents in an era of standards-based reform. The Clearing House, 73, 201-204.

Diversity and Multiculturalism

Historically, IQ tests have discriminated against students from culturally and linguistically diverse background by over identifying students from these minority groups into special education (Banks & Banks, 2004). Assessment and special education placement procedures have improved since then and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) no longer allows identification based on a single test. However now with NCLB, we find that many schools that are failing to make AYP are schools with a large population of students from culturally and linguistically diverse background (Johnson, 2003). I have to agree with Reeves (1997) that multiculturalism and diversity are definitely not an international issue.

There is no such thing as a culturally neutral program and there is no such thing as a program that would be culturally appropriate for all students. However there is such thing as audience analysis and depending on the audience, the program could be modified to be more culturally sensitive. The danger is in the unwillingness of some people/companies in making the necessary modifications. While creators of educational programs are more than willing to modify their programs to be more culturally sensitive if they are going to sell it at a high price to large company in Taiwan, they may not be so willing to modify their programs for a few minority students in a small economically challenged school district. And even with the modifications, teachers/instructors play an important role in dealing with issues of diversity and multiculturalism in the classroom.

References

Banks, J.A., & Banks, C.A. (2004). Multicultural education: Issues and perspective (5th ed). New York: Wiley.

Johnson, T. (2003). Race, education, & No Child Left Behind: A guide for journalists. Oakland, CA: Applied Research Center.

Reeves, T.C. (1997). An evaluator looks at cultural diversity. Educational Technology, 37, 27-31.