JBD

The Aussie communications giant slaps around the "world leaders" at Davos for not only failing to do their basic jobs, i.e. don't screw up people's lives by interfering, but also whacks them for letting the teacher unions warp the education system to perpetuate a self-serving political agenda.

Education is an industrial process. Bill Gates is slowly learning this lesson after watching millions of his charity dollars get spent on trendy theories and techno toys, with no measurable positive effect. So he studied on it some, and now he thinks he has to help teachers "inspire" students (like he was, sez he) so that they want to learn. His underlying message - students "uninspired" by their teachers will never want to learn.

Wrong again, Mr. Blue Screen of Death. This is the same daffy notion that teachers and administrators always use to demand ever-greater spending on everything other than actual instruction. What makes students successful is mastery of their subjects. Mastery requires work - reading, practice questions, repetitive drills, memorization, testing, etc. Teachers need to teach mastery of their subjects. The "inspiration" come from the knowledge that failure to master the subject means fewer choices as an adult.

Let's be real: some kids can't master some subjects no matter how hard they try or how "inspired" they are. We're wrong to try to force them, and even wronger to kid them into thinking they did when they did not. But somehow we've let the education establishment change reality so that No Child [is] Left Behind, even though many should be.

So say goodbye to another $50 mil, Bill. Sooner or later you'll realize that education is preparation for life, and to the extent that preparation mirrors life, it will be successful. You don't hire software developers who can't develop software, do you Bill? They why pay teachers to pretend that kids are learning the skills required when they are not?

Posted by: JBD at 03:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 327 words, total size 2 kb.