Comments on: iPadGate

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 14:22:05 +0000

Yes, I've mentioned Finnish schools before. I was amused by the documentary narrator's breathless description of such innovative teaching methods as having students perform math problems at the blackboard. No wonder they're so far ahead of us!

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 05:14:59 +0000

Go to YouTube and find this excellent 1 hour, four part series on education in Finland: The Finland Phenomenon 2011 Full documentary It's eye-opening. And they did it in one generation. And mostly without iPads, although they are pleased to include new tech.

By: Kent

Kent — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 17:52:37 +0000

LAUSD has become a cargo cult, only the iPads aren’t made from bamboo and coconuts.

By: Tschafer

Tschafer — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 15:20:42 +0000

Any time the phrase, “This is a civil rights issue” is used, expect stupidity to ensue…

By: Chris C.

Chris C. — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 11:59:59 +0000

In the late 1990s, my daughter went to a public elementary school that was trying out an experimental curriculum that demanded much more work, from both teachers and the students. She (and most of her friends) did quite well, despite a wide variance in the quality of the teachers. About a year after she left for middle school, the program was dropped due primarily to pressure from the teachers union (complaints about the amount of work involved).

My impression then, and in observing her schools through college, is that many, if not most, teachers want to find a magic bullet that will give great results without hard work on their part. (As Thomas Sowell has noted many times, college education majors have a lower average SAT score than the overall average SAT score. Not a good starting point for each successive generation.) Thus the eagerness to embrace each new fad or panacea.