Student learning depends twice as much on family characteristics as on anything that happens in school. Income inequality has more to do with how well our kids do in school than standardized tests or teacher evaluations.
So why does the public discourse on education focus so much on "reforming" the public schools? Because the corporate "reformers" have everything to gain from diverting public resources to their for-profit projects and everything to lose from promoting discussion of and solutions to poverty and income inequality:
...the topics of poverty and economic inequality will inevitably prompt a conversation about changing the underlying economic policies (regressive taxes, deregulation, etc.) that create crushing poverty and inequality. For corporations served by the existing economic paradigm and for the politicians and activists those corporations underwrite, such a conversation is simply unacceptable because changing the policies that create poverty and inequality potentially threatens their existing financial power and privilege. Thus, those corporations, politicians and activists in the “reform” movement do whatever they can — bash teachers, scream strong-but-meaningless words like “accountability,” criticize public school structures, etc. — to shift the education conversation away from poverty and inequality [David Sirota, "New Data Shows School 'Reformers' Are Full of It," Salon.com, 2013.06.03].
Your local teachers are not your enemy. Neither are black helicopters. Systemic poverty and concentration of wealth are.
I normally take Kelo stories with a grain of salt. I am wondering how you feel about this. I wonder how lower income families are going to be affected as well as the education of their kids if they can't afford the replacement cost.
http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/students-responsible-for-lost-or-broken-computers/?id=145791
It's not about improving education or fighting poverty; it's about selling product, whether it's charter schools, or home-school aids, or computers. It's all in the stuff that can be sold, not intangibles like knowledge or wisdom.
I like playing with technology and computer communications, but I am not at all convinced that computers serve any useful purpose in education...except perhaps in learning to type. Perhaps every kid should have a blog.
Actually, I would be glad to see every child have a blog... also known as an authentic public portfolio of educational progress.
Eve is right. It's all about money. Self-styled "reformers" of public education are actually fronting for corporations that make billions publishing textbooks, common core state standards materials, standardized tests, and (most recently) teacher evaluation materials. No, these reformers aren't interested in fighting poverty. They're interested in amassing more wealth.
I played with blogging with my comp class this year. I had mixed results but I think I learned how to fix a few of the errors that I made.
I agree with Cory; the kids seem to care more when they know their work is public.
Posting some summative products publicallymight be a good idea for juniors and seniors. I'd argue the young'uns need a little more protection from prying eyes.