The nature of public education is one of change. The most important aspect is that we attempt to educate all children. This is a corner stone of our democratic governance and social systems. Other nations dont even pretend to attempt this. As such, our challenge is to deal with a diverse clientele while the needs of oyur kids continually ramps up. In many ways our system is entrenched in industrial age methods for an information age education system. Turmoil is natural when the traditional begins to be replaced by the new but needed strategies and tools necessary for our kids to learn.
Yes and unfortunately change in large bureaucratic institutions, such as public school systems and government is very slow. The private sector in many cases has made the transition to a digital workflow years and years ago. It's hard to imagine public school systems catching up as the pace of change is only increasing.
I would argue that change in public schools needs to be accelerated if the public school system (already under siege) is to survive and continue playing its important role role in society of providing education to all students regardless of their backgrounds. The fact that school systems have not been changing quickly enough is a contributing factor to the difficult situation public education finds itself in.
Public institutions do take longer to change than private institutions. Businesses and private institutions have to make money to survive so updating and streamlining is seen as an investment in future monetary profit. The number of employees often decreases in response to more efficient practices thus balancing costs.
Public institutions, on the other hand, do not produce monetary profits. Even though we know a well educated workforce spurs the economy it is not viewed the same way. Therefore public institutions have a harder time making the up front investments and can only decrease staff to a certain extent due to safe and orderly priorities. However it is absolutely certain that we must invest and increase the rate of change in our schools. Public education is under siege and without rapid acceleration will be discounted as antiquated institutions. That requires a lot of support by the public which often seems absent these days.
Hi Mr. Chavez, the forum looked a bit lonely, so I decided to jump in. I appreciate and respect your comment that our attempt to educate everyone in this country is not necessarily a task undertaken by the rest of the world although it should be. As we administer this responsibilty to a diverse and changing culture, we are also reconsidering what we do and how we do it. In addition, perhaps we should also examine how we measure what we do as well. Some of our paper and pencil nation wide test practices would not be out of place in a classroom from 100 years ago. Is it time to take a new look at these as well?
I agree with some of the comments that have been stated in this forum, but many nations do approach education in a more holistic manner. In many countries around the world, the responsibility in the learning process is on the student. In this country, teachers are the first to be blamed when students are not showing enough growth.
I agree, especially with the last comment that this will take time but that it is completely necessary for our students to move forward and become competitive in the work force. I know it is hard as we start to completely integrate the technology and as the study informed us that it may take up to 5 years to completely integrate it with the entire curriculum.
After reading your post, I wondered, "who should be driving the changes in public education?" Is public ed in the US poised for a revolution as someone stated in a later post? My experience is that people and institutions change when they reach a certain level of discomfort.
Well said Mr. Chavez. Change takes time. We are currently moving towards a new way of teaching. Technology has been present in our classrooms for many years, but the idea of using technology and abandon books/paper is a scary thought for most veterans in the field. If we want to compete in this world, we need to take the plunge forward. That means having faith, learning from the traditional and improving the past.
Very well-stated. We need to revolutionize our teaching. I was at a conference last week and one of the most powerful statement was: We need a revolution, not an evolution. I know change takes time, but we can shorten this time with tight systems, focused vision, strong support and acknowledging/rewarding accomplishments. We can move the mountain much more quickly by working smarter, not harder.
I totally agree! We need to reach for higher ground in education. As an educator who has particpated in more than one rodeo, I can tell you that change begins with me. As educational leaders, we must take advantage of every learning opportunity that is made available.