Yet as a new school year begins, the time may have come to reconsider how large a role technology can play in changing education. There are promising examples, both in the United States and abroad, and they share some characteristics. The ratio of computers to pupils is one to one. Technology isn’t off in a computer lab. Computing is an integral tool in all disciplines, always at the ready.
Until recently, the impact of Title IX, the law forbidding sexual discrimination in education, has been limited mostly to sports. But now, under pressure from Congress, some federal agencies have quietly picked a new target: science.
Actually, what buys that education is Berea’s $1.1 billion endowment, which puts the college among the nation’s wealthiest. But unlike most well-endowed colleges, Berea has no football team, coed dorms, hot tubs or climbing walls. Instead, it has a no-frills budget, with food from the college farm, handmade furniture from the college crafts workshops, and 10-hour-a-week campus jobs for students.
Education advisors for presumptive presidential nominees John McCain (R) and Barack Obama (D) outlined the candidates' stances on key issues June 6, with both emphasizing a larger role for technology in schools.
For as long as wealthy Americans have given their money away,
education has been a leading recipient of their largess. Andrew
Carnegie, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller: the biggest philanthropists of
the 20th century all gave significant portions of their fortunes to
schools, teachers and libraries.
A New York City charter school set to open in 2009 in Washington Heights
will test one of the most fundamental questions in education: Whether
significantly higher pay for teachers is the key to improving schools.
FOR the eighth straight year the Bush administration has ritually
proposed taking a hefty whack out of the federal subsidy for public
broadcasting. The cuts would in effect slice in half the money that
public television and public radio get from the government. If we follow
the usual script, this means it’s time for upset listeners and viewers to
rally to the cause, as they have in the past, and browbeat Congress into
restoring the budget.
The city is expanding the use of cash rewards for students who take
standardized tests with a $1 million effort financed by philanthropists who
will pay students who do well on Advanced Placement exams.
But in academia these days, that person is less a subject of ridicule than
of soul-searching about what can done to shorten the time, sometimes
much of a lifetime, it takes for so many graduate students to, well,
graduate. The Council of Graduate Schools, representing 480
universities in the United States and Canada, is halfway through a
seven-year project to explore ways of speeding up the ordeal.
Ed tech leaders are commending changes proposed in a House
committee discussion draft on the future of NCLB, saying such changes
would be a big step in realizing that the use of technology in the
classroom is essential to improving schools and learning in the 21st
century
RSS for user "mniemitz: policy"
Yet as a new school year begins, the time may have come to reconsider how large a role technology can play in changing education. There are promising examples, both in the United States and abroad, and they share some characteristics. The ratio of computers to pupils is one to one. Technology isn’t off in a computer lab. Computing is an integral tool in all disciplines, always at the ready.
discuss this
email this
When an Edtags member saves something that piques your interest,
click their photo or username to read their profile.