Comments on: The status quo no longer suffices: An open letter to the Ames (IA) School Board http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html Technology, leadership, and the future of schools Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:42:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: rons sons http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html/comment-page-1#comment-20010 rons sons Fri, 07 May 2010 19:53:16 +0000 http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html#comment-20010 Scott: i wonder if the board will understand the implications of your suggetion to emphasize the focus of education on the applied use of "higher-level level cognitive skills" at the p-12 level. when increasing focus on an area it is by default neccessary to reduce the attention paid to other areas. Kids are not small adults. Older teachers who understand this are not able to effectively communicate this to those who believe that "higher level" level skills are teachable to the advantage of kids who have not been adequately nurtured and developed as children. Further, most people are simply not capable of higher level thinking. It is not a matter of will or education, they simply don't have it. elitists who believe that everyone can be a leader are simply not in touch with the people they are trying to help. The idea that society can survive without the fungible jobs that can be done by the lowest offshore bidder is in contradiction to reality and consistant with an adolescent understanding of the relation of STEM issues to larger societal problems. recent Phd grads i used to work with had marginal empirical skills and were innocent of any functional understanding of epistomolgy or taxonomy even though their understanding of their narrow area of expertise was great. This left them vulnerable to gross misunderstanding of information they gleaned from high tech sources. Giving them more access to information just overwhelmed them and often their lives collapsed. There is room for grooming select students for training in the skills of higher level thinking, but advocating that for everyone who shows up at college, let alone pre-school, is one reason we have about the highest dropout rates in the industrialized world. children must be nurtured as children, not treated as potential employees. I am sorry Scott but your premise is simply wrong. Ron Sons BS MA Iowa '71 Scott:
i wonder if the board will understand the implications of your suggetion to emphasize the focus of education on the applied use of “higher-level level cognitive skills” at the p-12 level. when increasing focus on an area it is by default neccessary to reduce the attention paid to other areas. Kids are not small adults. Older teachers who understand this are not able to effectively communicate this to those who believe that “higher level” level skills are teachable to the advantage of kids who have not been adequately nurtured and developed as children. Further, most people are simply not capable of higher level thinking. It is not a matter of will or education, they simply don’t have it. elitists who believe that everyone can be a leader are simply not in touch with the people they are trying to help. The idea that society can survive without the fungible jobs that can be done by the lowest offshore bidder is in contradiction to reality and consistant with an adolescent understanding of the relation of STEM issues to larger societal problems.
recent Phd grads i used to work with had marginal empirical skills and were innocent of any functional understanding of epistomolgy or taxonomy even though their understanding of their narrow area of expertise was great. This left them vulnerable to gross misunderstanding of information they gleaned from high tech sources. Giving them more access to information just overwhelmed them and often their lives collapsed.
There is room for grooming select students for training in the skills of higher level thinking, but advocating that for everyone who shows up at college, let alone pre-school, is one reason we have about the highest dropout rates in the industrialized world. children must be nurtured as children, not treated as potential employees. I am sorry Scott but your premise is simply wrong.
Ron Sons BS MA Iowa ’71

]]> By: Daniel B. Hink http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html/comment-page-1#comment-20009 Daniel B. Hink Fri, 07 May 2010 19:35:26 +0000 http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html#comment-20009 Utterly False. You are a perfect example of the destructive force that "Progressive ED" has been on Public Ed in the last 50 70 years. "The new educational paradigm requires an emphasis on critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, creativity and innovation, information fluency and media literacy, data synthesis and analysis, and the applied use of many other higher-level cognitive skills, much more frequently than we currently are doing in our classrooms" MY GOD what a load of useless EDU-BABBLE!! I teach inner-city HS, 78 % Hispanic (1/2 of those Eng as 2nd Language). They need to read and write; to do arithmetic (so no one cheats them out of money) to understand how a credit card works, and what an APR is. E.D. Hirsch makes it VERY clear, you can’t teach “critical thinking” until you can 1st think. You have the same ED sickness that comes from that fluffy, non-judgmental, non-competitive, non-academic mentality E.D. Hirsh calls derisively “Thoughworld”, I see it every day. PLEASE read E.D. Hirsh's "The Schools We Need", and realize YOU and your type are the greatest detriment to US ED, not a lack of laptops, or a lack understanding of the "new educational paradigm" (why must everyone of you guys throw "paradigm" around?) It is our abject failure to meet the most basic of ED requirements in the K-8 areas. Our complete failure to implement the most rudimentary ED standards found in ALL of the 1st World Counties. Why is the US not even in the top 20 of Math, Science or History scores in the World? Is it because we don't provide "emphasis on critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, creativity and innovation, information fluency and media literacy, data synthesis and analysis" NO!! Because we teach Math, Science and History BADLY!! Get you head out of the clouds and get down to where the real problem is. Utterly False.

You are a perfect example of the destructive force that “Progressive ED” has been on Public Ed in the last 50 70 years.

“The new educational paradigm requires an emphasis on critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, creativity and innovation, information fluency and media literacy, data synthesis and analysis, and the applied use of many other higher-level cognitive skills, much more frequently than we currently are doing in our classrooms”

MY GOD what a load of useless EDU-BABBLE!!

I teach inner-city HS, 78 % Hispanic (1/2 of those Eng as 2nd Language). They need to read and write; to do arithmetic (so no one cheats them out of money) to understand how a credit card works, and what an APR is. E.D. Hirsch makes it VERY clear, you can’t teach “critical thinking” until you can 1st think.

You have the same ED sickness that comes from that fluffy, non-judgmental, non-competitive, non-academic mentality E.D. Hirsh calls derisively “Thoughworld”, I see it every day.

PLEASE read E.D. Hirsh’s “The Schools We Need”, and realize YOU and your type are the greatest detriment to US ED, not a lack of laptops, or a lack understanding of the “new educational paradigm” (why must everyone of you guys throw “paradigm” around?)

It is our abject failure to meet the most basic of ED requirements in the K-8 areas. Our complete failure to implement the most rudimentary ED standards found in ALL of the 1st World Counties.

Why is the US not even in the top 20 of Math, Science or History scores in the World?

Is it because we don’t provide “emphasis on critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, creativity and innovation, information fluency and media literacy, data synthesis and analysis”

NO!! Because we teach Math, Science and History BADLY!! Get you head out of the clouds and get down to where the real problem is.

]]> By: Howell Wright http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html/comment-page-1#comment-19393 Howell Wright Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:56:10 +0000 http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html#comment-19393 Scott, you are right on target with your letter to the booard...I hope they not only understand your letter, but allow you to present to them the need for transformation in our public educational system. There are superintendents that understand the importance of using technology as a learning tool for students to create, be innovative, and think critically; all of which bring joy to learning. We are at a time that we can not afford to move to a new direction, best wishes for your district. Howell Wright Scott, you are right on target with your letter to the booard…I hope they not only understand your letter, but allow you to present to them the need for transformation in our public educational system. There are superintendents that understand the importance of using technology as a learning tool for students to create, be innovative, and think critically; all of which bring joy to learning. We are at a time that we can not afford to move to a new direction, best wishes for your district.
Howell Wright

]]> By: Mark Moran http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html/comment-page-1#comment-19392 Mark Moran Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:41:40 +0000 http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html#comment-19392 Brilliantly written, Scott. As a former corporate lawyer, I owe much of my success to effective research skills that evolved as new tools came along. As a former executive officer at a company that had 1,200 employees worldwide, I know that without adequate information literacy training, kids will not succeed in a 21st-century workplace. The “old school” ways won’t cut it; I’ve mastered those, and yet now spend each day re-learning how to communicate effectively. And as the founder of a company whose mission is to help librarians and teachers teach students the effective use of the Internet, I have pored through dozens of studies, and recently oversaw one myself, that all came to the same conclusion: Students do not know how to find or evaluate the information they need on the Internet, nor synthesize it and communicate it to others. The good news is that many schools seem to be getting the message. Hopefully for you, so does the Ames School Board. Mark Moran Brilliantly written, Scott.

As a former corporate lawyer, I owe much of my success to effective research skills that evolved as new tools came along. As a former executive officer at a company that had 1,200 employees worldwide, I know that without adequate information literacy training, kids will not succeed in a 21st-century workplace. The “old school” ways won’t cut it; I’ve mastered those, and yet now spend each day re-learning how to communicate effectively. And as the founder of a company whose mission is to help librarians and teachers teach students the effective use of the Internet, I have pored through dozens of studies, and recently oversaw one myself, that all came to the same conclusion: Students do not know how to find or evaluate the information they need on the Internet, nor synthesize it and communicate it to others.

The good news is that many schools seem to be getting the message. Hopefully for you, so does the Ames School Board.

Mark Moran

]]> By: Darin King http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html/comment-page-1#comment-19391 Darin King Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:53:41 +0000 http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html#comment-19391 Nicely said, Scott. I hope it makes a difference for the students in Ames! Nicely said, Scott. I hope it makes a difference for the students in Ames!

]]> By: Scott McLeod http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html/comment-page-1#comment-19390 Scott McLeod Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:05:47 +0000 http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html#comment-19390 Here's the link. Thanks, T. Grimm! <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4g5M06YyVw" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4g5M06YyVw</a> Here’s the link. Thanks, T. Grimm!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4g5M06YyVw

]]> By: T. Grimm http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html/comment-page-1#comment-19389 T. Grimm Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:59:13 +0000 http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/03/the-status-quo-no-longer-suffices-an-open-letter-to-the-ames-ia-school-board.html#comment-19389 For an on-point video, check out the recently posted video A Vision of 21st Century Teachers on YouTube. For an on-point video, check out the recently posted video A Vision of 21st Century Teachers on YouTube.

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