An interesting twist on the Khan Academy approach. Why not have students create their own video uploads teaching core content? Check out Lincoln MS, in Santa Monica, where kids are creating their own math teaching videos.
As teacher Eric Marcos puts it, "the best way to learn something is to teach it. I’ve heard kids say that when they were trying to explain how to divide fractions, they knew to flip the number over but they didn’t know why.” Because they were creating a tutorial video, “They found out that they didn’t know why” – and then, naturally, they found out why."
Awesome.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Customized schooling-- only something for the super rich and the very poor?
I came across this NYT article a month ago, and have been meaning to post about it since then.The community of Millburn, NJ is is a twist right now over the issue of charter schools due to the opening of a new mandarin-immersion school that will draw students from a number of surrounding districts. There's vocal opposition, the sentiment of which is summed by this quote from Matthew Stewart, a resident who thinks charter schools should only be allowed to operate in underperforming systems:
“Public education is basically a social contract — we all pool our money, so I don’t think I should be able to custom-design it to my needs,” he said, noting that he pays $15,000** a year in property taxes. “With these charter schools, people are trying to say, ‘I want a custom-tailored education for my children, and I want you, as my neighbor, to pay for it.’ ”
The assumption I struggle with in this statement is that entering into a social contract means being willing to ignore public inefficiency and problems. The point here is that the district wasn't meeting parent needs, and wasn't flexible enough to change on its own. Even if not underperfoming on the most normative measures, the district was underperforming as a public service in other ways. So the public utilized a PUBLIC OPTION (charter creation) to provide an option to a group of kids and parents who needed it.
What's so wrong with customized education? And why should we only offer it to kids in blatantly failing systems or to those who can afford to opt out of the public option entirely?
**Certain folks like to throw around tax figures to show how much they're paying for other people's kids... $15,000 goes to support many municipal services, of which schooling is one. I wonder how many kids Mr. Stewart sends to the schools?
“Public education is basically a social contract — we all pool our money, so I don’t think I should be able to custom-design it to my needs,” he said, noting that he pays $15,000** a year in property taxes. “With these charter schools, people are trying to say, ‘I want a custom-tailored education for my children, and I want you, as my neighbor, to pay for it.’ ”
The assumption I struggle with in this statement is that entering into a social contract means being willing to ignore public inefficiency and problems. The point here is that the district wasn't meeting parent needs, and wasn't flexible enough to change on its own. Even if not underperfoming on the most normative measures, the district was underperforming as a public service in other ways. So the public utilized a PUBLIC OPTION (charter creation) to provide an option to a group of kids and parents who needed it.
What's so wrong with customized education? And why should we only offer it to kids in blatantly failing systems or to those who can afford to opt out of the public option entirely?
**Certain folks like to throw around tax figures to show how much they're paying for other people's kids... $15,000 goes to support many municipal services, of which schooling is one. I wonder how many kids Mr. Stewart sends to the schools?
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