Robots in Education

[LWolf]

Gerald Bracey
Fellow at the Education Policy Studies Laboratory at Arizona State University
Posted: June 15, 2009 05:28 PM

I'm having trouble figuring out which parts to post; it's all too good to leave out. I'll start with a nice description of our new Secretary of Education; examples follow, if you click on the link.

<snip>

Engineers have made great advances in robotics in recent years. Everyday-robots can vacuum rugs and mop floors. More advanced models can act as secretary of education. Call it the Arne model. Boot it up and it talks and talks and talks. But it appears to lack two functions, the ability to say anything concrete and the ability to link its various sayings with the old human function known as logic.

Here's where Duncan uses the failed NCLB to provide impetus for his desire to dismantle schools and "replace" them with all of those invisible heroes just waiting to jump in and "show us how it's done."

<snip>

In none of the speeches I've heard or read--and I've been tracking them pretty closely, has the robot Arne used the word "constitution," a document which, in the field of education is supposed to ensure that each state does its own thing.

What he does often mention, as in his speech to the National Press Club in late May, is, "What we have had as a country, I'm convinced, is what we call a race to the bottom." That the two "we's" obviously have different referents is of little import. What is, is that in that downward race, some 35,000 schools have been identified as "failing" under that Katrina of public education, No Child Left Behind. "Last year," Duncan told the governors," "there were about 5,000 schools in 'restructuring' under NCLB. These schools have failed to make adequate yearly progress for at least five years in a row."

Connecting the dots:

<snip>

Finally, robot Arne told the governors he was throwing $350 million into test development to back up the new high standards because, "I think in this country we have too many bad tests." I'm sure ETS, CTB-McGraw Hill, Pearson, etc., loved that one since they make most of them, but if that's true, then logic might make one wonder if those "bad tests" were the right ones to identify the bad schools. But as I said at the start, Robot Arne doesn't do logic.

And it's too bad the reporter covering the talk didn't ask Arne what a "good" test would look like. That question would have produced a deluge of clichés ("tests that measure whether students are mastering complex materials and can apply their knowledge," etc.), but nothing specific because, as I said at the start, Robot Arne doesn't do concrete.

Read it all here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gerald-bracey/robots-in-education_b_215883.html

[earthside]

1. Very good article.

Thanks for posting this.

The one area in which I have my most profound disagreements with President Obama, and where I am most disappointed, is education.

Obama on this issue really is NOT being innovative, is NOT proposing real reform, and is NOT empowering parents or children or teachers.

With this hack Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education, all we will be getting is more privatization (charter schools), more high stakes testing (NCLB), and more money to be funneled to the corporate 'education-industrial-complex' (McGraw Hill, PESI, Microsoft, etc.).

Bracey really nails Duncan -- good for him.

[LWolf]

2. Your welcome, and I agree with your comments. nt