If you ever want to know why teachers are being vilified on the news

[erodriguez]

I give you these articles.

In Florida, Virtual Classrooms With No Teachers

MIAMI — On the first day of her senior year at North Miami Beach Senior High School, Naomi Baptiste expected to be greeted by a teacher when she walked into her precalculus class.

“All there were were computers in the class,” said Naomi, who walked into a room of confused students. “We found out that over the summer they signed us up for these courses.”

Naomi is one of over 7,000 students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools enrolled in a program in which core subjects are taken using computers in a classroom with no teacher. A “facilitator” is in the room to make sure students progress. That person also deals with any technical problems.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/education/18classrooms.html



Headlines from the NY daily News.

Education Dept. plans to spend $52M on computer contractors as it lays off 4,600 teachers

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2011/03/04/2011-03-04_education_dept_plans_to_spend_52m_on_computer_contractors_as_it_lays_off_4600_te.html



From Ed Week:

Digital Learning Council Releases 'Road Map' to Ed. Overhaul

The recently commissioned Digital Learning Council has recommended major changes to state education policy that include abolishing seat-time requirements, linking teacher pay to student success, and overhauling public school funding models.

The recommendations are part of the council's 10 policy suggestions in a report issued Wednesday for states to use digital learning as a catalyst for education reform.

The council, headed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, also suggests that, not only should all students have access to digital learning opportunities in the form of online or blended courses, but they should have choices between providers and methods of access.

Someone wrote about this on Du here.

http://www.democratunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x548998

The endgame cometh

There is no coincidence that Former NYC chancellor Joel Klein left the schools to join an educational software company that contracts with the city.
There is no coincidence that Rupert Murdoch bought that company about a week after Joel Klein joined it.
There is no coincidence that Jeb Bush is pushing online learning and the abolishment of seat time.

There is money to be made and teachers and their unions stand in the way.

[snot]

1. Guess what:

That route's been tried before, and abandoned; because kids learn from people much better than from machines.

When I was a kid, in 1963, they tried to teach us math via a tv show. It was a disaster; I basically lost a year in that subject; and the program was discontinued.

Then again, in 1966, they tried to teach us foreign languages using pre-recorded lessons that we listened to in little booths. This worked slightly better, but still not as well as a human teacher, and was also abandoned.

These products present profit opportunities for corporations, but I believe studies confirm that they are inferior to human teachers.

[erodriguez]

6. Agreed

However, this time they'll destroy public education before it is abandoned.


HI HO Silver Bullets, Away!

[Lorien]

18. I don't think that they care that the systems will fail the needs of the students.

As Matt Damon said "they aren't teaching students, they're training them." And what are they training them for? To become low wage workers and obedient consumers who never question anything that fox "news" spews at them. This is once again about profits and putting the bottom 98% "in their place". We can't allow it to continue.

[ieoeja]

19. And this is exactly how I usually get new training at work.

Our managers think it works great. Of course, they just need to know ABOUT the new technology, they don't need to actually be able to DO anything with it.

To date 100% of those of us who have to do the actual work would tell you this training was nearly worthless 100% of the time.

[nclib]

2. This is so sad.

What happens when kids don't understand something? Who do they go to?

[polichick]

3. That should lead to vilification of economic decision makers, not teachers.

[Bozita]

4. Simply infuckingsane!

[no_hypocrisy]

5. How does learning from computers help students who can't read or

dyslexic?

[erodriguez]

7. The computers will read it for them. Albeit in a slightly more monotone and robotic voice.

[BlueIris]

8. Awful.

Horrifying, in fact.

[PA Democrat]

9. Crony capitalism comes to public education.

Think the computers will teach the kids about THAT?

[Newest Reality]

10. Ah, yes!

So, if my theory is correct, we keep going in this direction.

If corporations can phase-out what we think of as and education, (which I differentiate from just training) and privatize and mechanize the process, it is a shoe-in for churning out customized drones for the new regime. They will know enough, technically, to perform well for the corporate monoculture. The defective will be relegated to the growing Underclass as undesirables, (which they already are).

What about the more technical skills and thinking that is required for upper-levels of control and more scientific tasks? Well, after the class war is over, those educated in high-class institutions will have it easier when it comes to controlling and managing the new waves of drones who have had their minds disenfranchised from critical thinking and a well-rounded education that would have developed and accentuated their unique abilities and potentials.

They can also use visas to insource better-educated people from any country that provides something above the drone level.

[erodriguez]

12. Bingo!

None of these people would give their own children the type of education they are pushing. That includes President Obama.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. But, but, who will the Teabaggers rally against if there are no teachers to hold accountable for

students who can't read, write, or do math?

[erodriguez]

13. They still will have brown skinned people.

[WinkyDink]

14. Neil Bush: "IGNITE!"

[11 Bravo]

15. Ahh, the Suckratic Method.

[erodriguez]

16. hehehe! Good one!

[Lorien]

17. As an online instructor I can tell you; this will fail epically.

I teach online for a university at the Master's level. My students are all across the globe, and not surprisingly, my American students struggle the most with an online curriculum while students in Korea and China manage fairly well. The problem is reading comprehension and attention span. Even when I only ask them to read 15 pages of material a week some fail open book tests. Without a teacher RIGHT THERE to hold their hands and walk them step by step through the course material they either struggle or fail. And these are MFA students who WANT to be there, unlike middle school or High school students who would rather be anywhere else.

[CanSocDem]

20. I think you're right.

But your own experience is a testament to the concept. Imagine the cost benefits of attending lectures from home.

I'm not surprised 'motivation' is a prime ingredient. In my 'teaching' experience that included regular high school, paid vocational training and expensive private lessons, I found the students who were paying for their education, to be the most motivated.

Of course it's all moot if the school system isn't all that interested in providing a good education.

[spanone]

21. save a fortune, stay home, go online, take courses

[jwirr]

22. It seems to me they forgot the last step - close the buildings down and

teach the kids at home on their own computers. :sarcasm:

[IDemo]

23. Same story in Idaho

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/02/20/1535065/a-reform-plan-a-long-time-in-the.html

In October 2009, Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna held a re-election fundraiser in the Capitol Hill offices of Dutko Worldwide, one of America’s top lobbying firms.

Sponsors included two leading voices in the Republican education re-form movement: former U.S. Education secretaries William Bennett and Rod Paige.

<snip>

Among Luna’s contributors in October 2009:

- K12 Inc. of Virginia, an online company with 81,000 students and operator of the Idaho Virtual Academy. In Idaho, IVA enrolls 2,930 students and received $12.8 million from the state in fiscal 2010. K12, its employees and major stockholders spent about $44,000 supporting Luna; $25,000 of that was funneled to an Idaho interest group for independent advertising on Luna’s behalf.

- Apollo Group of Phoenix, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, an online university with more than 400,000 students. Luna’s plan would allow high school students to earn college credits at state expense once they complete high school requirements. Apollo Group gave Luna $5,500.

- Executives of Scantron Corp., a Minnesota-based leader in testing technology that is aggressively expanding into online education. Scantron employees and family contributed $7,450.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/02/20/1535065/a-reform-plan-a-long-time-in-the.html

[Tatiana]

24. I hear Florida Virtual Schools is making a killing.

They are also spreading their "virtual schools" to other states like Arizona.

We are funnelling millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars to these education corporations and all we're getting sold is worthless crap.

The only type of student this would benefit is someone who can work independently, has discipline, and has a high level of reading comprehension.

That is NOT the student who is scoring below average on our standardized tests. None of these so-called "reformists" would ever subject their children to this type of instructional environment. I include charters in that equation as well. How many legislators or wealthy people send their children to charter schools as opposed to private schools?

[montanto]

25. Bad news is the

good, qualified, caring, inspired teachers will be lost. Good news is their scheme isn't going to work worth shit. That plan will fail from day one. They'll learn that the only alternative to real human teachers is . . . well, real human teachers. Epic fail at work. Sorry for those who will have to pay for that revelation with their careers, and the other taxpayers who pay for the experiment.

[Starry Messenger]

26. k&r

[Journeyman]

27. This could be a very positive thing for students in gang-controlled neighborhoods . . .

At last, they could attend classes without fear of assault, without having to run a gauntlet each day in hopes they don't get dragged into running with gangbangers. Certainly, there are negatives to it. But for some students, this may be the ticket to the personal enrichment denied them in non-functioning schools, a way out of an increasingly untenable situation.

Let's hope the growth in this industry happens in the right places and for the proper reasons. And use as a cheaper alternative to human interaction isn't the proper approach.