Now comes the good part:
A modern personal computer has educational potential, too. But unlike the Brainiac, it is used today almost entirely for entertainment. Video games have no educational value whatsoever. they are degrading, addictive and stultifying. The promise of the high technology developed by previous generations has largely been squandered.
Placing a book in the hands of a child is infinitely more beneficial than giving them any type of electronic device. Reading is an active intellectual promise that expands children's intelligence, builds their vocabulary, and increases their command of language and thought. A modern computer is not an educational asset unless its use is closely monitored, restricted and supervised.
And education begins at home. There is little that teachers can do with children who have not been challenged at home but instead have been indulged and entertained with an array of electronic devices.
I was going to just link the article but I never bothered setting up my free digital account with the paper, so that took care of that. I did notice the irony of the article being published on National Digital Learning Day and the fact that I couldn't read it in a digital format but the good old newsprint version worked like it always has for a couple of hundred years.
Changing the subject slightly, several of us met this morning for a meeting about the new Career Pathways program we'll be initiating next school year. It was actually kind of a meeting before the meeting. We got a little info from one of the guidance counselors and we should hear more next week when we meet with the director of the Co-Op we belong to. It looks like the majority of the pathways will involve two or three hour class times instead of one hour. Not sure how that's going to work out, either here or through out the state. Might be tough to keep kids on the pathway if they fail math or English as so often happens. No one seems to know what the licensing requirements for the teachers will be, either. It won't be easy to locate that many people with a vocational license and are they going to run off those who don't have one?
Lots and lots of craziness out there right now. Hope it all works out.
5 comments:
For my sake I hope it works out too.
As a struggling former student of KVSC a few I mean a lot of years ago! Being out in the world for a while I realized all the things being taught really meant something and I should have paid more attention. Now a 3.879 gpa college student (not bragging) I realized that school is like the military they are not asking you to do something never done before, they just want you to try your best and to find your niche(sp). The problem in my mind is I was never challenged in school but led like sheep to graduation with out challenge or causing to may waves. There is definitely something to be said for a student that can turn something into something else but allot more goes for a student that want to learn to turn something into something else. I'm done one rambling just worked all day with my 18 yr old nephew KV grad (what a slug).
Glad I had a good friend tell me to work towards a vocational specialist degree.
On a side note all incoming freshmen class of 2013 must take at least one online course to familiarize themselves with technology before allowed to graduate passed in the last day or two?
For my sake I hope it works out too. X2
I'll find out more on Monday. Unfortunately, I still maintain that all the reform ideas that are being pushed are going down the wrong path. Time will definitely tell.
But as I was once told it can only get better RIGHT?
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