The "Tiger mother" has been the target of everyone's hate in the US. Not having read the memoir or the controversial Wall Street Journal article, I did not want to write a knee-jerk reaction, based purely on what I read in the media. I have finally read the article, and now feel ready to express an opinion.
I am well aware that in here the terms "western" and "Chinese" parents refer to stereotypes. There are many bad parents in the east and many good parents in the western society. This is more of a general discussion of parenting values most common in each culture.
Surprisingly, I found myself agreeing with most of what Ms Chua had to say. She says "What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences." I absolutely agree - you cannot enjoy something unless you are accomplished at it. To get really good at something you have to go through a phase of absolute frustration and boredom where you have to keep doing the same thing over and over again until it clicks, and it is a rare child that will be willing to work through that on their own. Most will quit. However, if the child does work through that frustration, and attain mastery, the experience will forever be a source of self-confidence to help work through other difficulties in life. Many such successful experiences, stacked together will constitute resilience and perseverance - qualities very hard to instill. I also agree that western parents are often too concerned about their child's self-confidence, not realizing that "there's nothing better for building confidence than learning you can do something you thought you couldn't." Confidence comes from true accomplishment, not false praise.
In all the criticism of Ms Chua, there seems to be an underlying assumption that she does not love her children. Do only lax mothers love their children? I would argue that a mother who is willing to let go of short-term gratification that comes from her children liking her the next day, in favor of their long term success, loves her children even more. Ms Chua talks about cuddling and hugging her children. She is not all tough and no love. How the techniques used by Ms Chua affect a child depends heavily on whether the child feels loved, whether she realizes that her mother truly cares for her and will do anything for her. If Ms Chua had her daughter practice "The little white donkey" for hours, do not forget that Ms. Chua was right there with her for all those hours as well. She didn't just threaten her child, leave her with the piano and go shopping! Not many parents have that kind of staying power and would have resorted to bribing and then eventually given up. You have to care enough about your child's future to spend that kind of time with them, and I am sure that the child can see that caring in their day to day life. As Ms Chua says "For their part, many Chinese secretly believe that they care more about their children and are willing to sacrifice much more for them than Westerners, who seem perfectly content to let their children turn out badly." I know many women from eastern countries who give up a social life, stay on in bad marriages and sacrifice luxuries, just so that their child can become a successful adult with a secure future. Whereas many western mothers use the mantra "happy mothers make happy babies" to justify all kinds of ill-advised behavior.
As far as academics go, the constant effort these days in schools to make learning "fun" and, then providing all kinds of external motivations to get the ever distracted children to learn, annoys me no end. The purpose of education, especially the kind taught up to middle school, is not entertainment, but is to establish a basic foundation on which higher education can be based. If you don’t have arithmetic down in elementary school, and your parents don't care enough to ensure that you do, there is an extremely small chance you will ever be able to study advance math or engineering. Basic education - reading, writing and math is a lot of boring drill work. It is a myth that children will not do anything unless it is "fun". They will surely not, if left to themselves, but working with parents with the right attitude and who set correct expectations, you will be surprised what children are capable of. By setting the misguided expectation that learning should be "fun", we end up making school seem even more boring. Have you ever met a child who did not enjoy rising up to a challenge, meeting it, and basking in the glow of that success! However, helping a child through boring work and sticking with it until they get it, is hard work. In my opinion, efforts to make learning "fun" are really grown-ups way of copping out hoping that maybe children would just learn on their own.
In criticism of Tiger Mother, many have pointed out that despite all their academic accomplishments, eastern children often lack leadership skills. That has less to do with parenting skills and everything to do with assimilation. Social skills are learned from parents by osmosis, and unlike math there is no easy drill to instill those. Immigrant parents are not comfortable in the western society and usually have a hard time relating to and socializing with westerners. As a result their children lack that skill and pay the price in the work environment. They still get much ahead in the workplace because of their accomplishments, than the lack of assimilation skills would allow, and that is credit to their work-ethic and their parents' hard work.
Yes, I agree that this sometimes goes to the extreme, with too much being expected of children, and absolutely no freedom to fail. You can't set high expectations and then leave the children to fend for themselves through them. You have to be there helping, encouraging, guiding and pushing, as necessary. And then be eventually ready to back off.
My children barely watch TV and have no video games. I rarely take them out for "entertainment". We do go for movies, and to fairs and museums but I am not their perpetual activity-planner. They are not paid for chores and no disrespect to elders is tolerated. The only time I buy them non-essential items (toys, trinkets, etc.) is on their birthdays. This does not mean that my house is run like a military camp, or that my kids are not loved or praised, or a parent doesn't sit with them for hours to listen to their worries. They know their parents will be there behind them all the way, but they have to hold up their end too. Does that make me a "Tiger mother". Maybe it does.
Raising kids in a non-native environment while constantly worrying about striking the right balance.
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Monday, August 23, 2010
Confidence and Ignorance
Mark Twain said "To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence" and it is shocking how true that is. In my search for a new job, I have put out a concerted networking effort to connect with local tech business community. And very quickly I have arrived on a set of people who are trying to establish themselves as "experts" in job search or personal branding. I sat through a webinar on this and got ingenious advice such as "polish your shoes when attending an interview", "highlight what makes you unique" and "target your pitch to the person you are talking to". D'Oh! Do these people really believe that they are bringing some value here or have something unique to offer. Are they really that ignorant? Ignorant or not they present themselves with complete confidence and say really generic things as if they were offering great insights, and go about doing this with great passion. Do other people not see through that?
OK, so I am not sure how much money these people are making, maybe nothing compared to an intelligent educated professional, and for them this is better than being an administrative assistant at an office to make the same kind of money. I am still surprised that they are even out there trying and thinking this will work. I have been through graduate school and have worked with and met brilliant people, yet as Sarah Plain proves, all you need to succeed is confidence and some dumb luck, more than intellect or wisdom. Something to watch out for as we raise kids, and remember to teach our kids to not assume somebody is smart or good or whatever, just because they say they are.
OK, so I am not sure how much money these people are making, maybe nothing compared to an intelligent educated professional, and for them this is better than being an administrative assistant at an office to make the same kind of money. I am still surprised that they are even out there trying and thinking this will work. I have been through graduate school and have worked with and met brilliant people, yet as Sarah Plain proves, all you need to succeed is confidence and some dumb luck, more than intellect or wisdom. Something to watch out for as we raise kids, and remember to teach our kids to not assume somebody is smart or good or whatever, just because they say they are.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Clarification
In my last post I said "the American education system completely failed me". In retrospect I see that I have made a very strong statement without clarifying. I know blogging is supposed to be spur of the moment thing, and I try to put more thought, but not enough.
My children have been in the public school system for five years, and we have consistently met excellent teachers, whose commitment to their chosen profession is unparalleled. It is the "system" that has some issues but I have no good answers about what the best option is.
The state of Arizona has certain standards for education listing exactly what a child coming out of each grade should know. My daughter did not meet those standards in math at the end of 3rd grade. However, there was no consequence attached to that. If there was a threat that she would not be allowed to move on to the next grade, we would have smartened up and done something about it sooner. That would have been a good consequence for my family. But what about a child who has a genuine learning disability - I know children who couldn't read in third grade and it wasn't for lack of trying. It would be completely unfair and demoralizing to hold such a child back grade after grade.
In there lies the challenge of the public school system - there is a huge diversity in the learning abilities among all of the children in any grade, and one teacher and one set of standards cannot cover it all. But what is the solution? Establish a meritocracy like Singapore - only the smart kids get a comprehensive education, the ones with lower IQ go to trade school? Of course not. Or do what a home-schooling friend of mine suggests - abolish the public education system completely and let groups of like-minded parents start their own schools to teach their children how and what they want to teach. But what about those children whose parents are not at all involved in their education? Would it be fair to deny them an education? Maybe the current 2-tier system with public schools and specialized charter schools is the solution - all children get a good basic education, but if parents think their child needs something different, they go to a charter school.
My children have been in the public school system for five years, and we have consistently met excellent teachers, whose commitment to their chosen profession is unparalleled. It is the "system" that has some issues but I have no good answers about what the best option is.
The state of Arizona has certain standards for education listing exactly what a child coming out of each grade should know. My daughter did not meet those standards in math at the end of 3rd grade. However, there was no consequence attached to that. If there was a threat that she would not be allowed to move on to the next grade, we would have smartened up and done something about it sooner. That would have been a good consequence for my family. But what about a child who has a genuine learning disability - I know children who couldn't read in third grade and it wasn't for lack of trying. It would be completely unfair and demoralizing to hold such a child back grade after grade.
In there lies the challenge of the public school system - there is a huge diversity in the learning abilities among all of the children in any grade, and one teacher and one set of standards cannot cover it all. But what is the solution? Establish a meritocracy like Singapore - only the smart kids get a comprehensive education, the ones with lower IQ go to trade school? Of course not. Or do what a home-schooling friend of mine suggests - abolish the public education system completely and let groups of like-minded parents start their own schools to teach their children how and what they want to teach. But what about those children whose parents are not at all involved in their education? Would it be fair to deny them an education? Maybe the current 2-tier system with public schools and specialized charter schools is the solution - all children get a good basic education, but if parents think their child needs something different, they go to a charter school.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Kumon and the ugly monster
If you visit a Kumon math center, you will find it chock-full of children of Indian origin who start at age 4 and are doing algebra by the time they are 10. I cannot decide whether starting children in Kumon at a young age is the best way to build a strong foundation or the surefire way to teach them to hate math early. One thing I am sure of is that many parents have brought their children without any such thought - all they hope for is for their child to get ahead in the academic world because their reference point is the survival-of-the-fittest academic world of India. This saddens me because that world often produces academically brilliant people who haven't a clue about what their passion in life is and never know what to do in their free time besides watching TV. There aren't many other choices in India, but it does seem rather bizarre to be applying the same model in the US where there are so many options available.
I had resolutely decided to never enroll my children in Kumon until the American education system completely failed me. By end of 4th grade my daughter was still doing additions by counting on her fingers. It turns out that the school system does nothing to instill basic math skills that are the building blocks of further learning, unless parents do drills a home. I am well aware that knowing your math facts and times tables is not proof of intelligence or analytical abilities, but it is a skill as necessary in academic life, as being able to read is. The last person my daughter wants to take instruction from is her mother, so I had no choice but to enroll her in Kumon to get the basics right before it was too late. It was amazing what a difference two months of rigorous drills made. She can now whip through one hundred division problems in under three minutes.
And then the other day I discovered another more important reason why most children at a Kumon center are Indian. I ran into a friend at Kumon whose daughter is same age as mine. I noticed that the other girl was at level G whereas my daughter is at mere D and this monster raised its ugly head in me and took hold - a feeling of inadequacy that my child wasn't equally advanced and a desire to push her more to get her higher, and to enroll the younger one right away. My conscious mind had to beat that monster hard and remind me that the other girl has been doing this since kindergarten and mine just started, and get back to thinking about the bigger picture. So now I wonder how many children are at Kumon just because their parents' saw other children doing better than theirs. Oh my! Her 4 year old can recite the 9 times table, I better get in my child in there too!. Sigh. Will the Indian community never leave that ultra competitive world behind us no matter how far we get away from it?
I had resolutely decided to never enroll my children in Kumon until the American education system completely failed me. By end of 4th grade my daughter was still doing additions by counting on her fingers. It turns out that the school system does nothing to instill basic math skills that are the building blocks of further learning, unless parents do drills a home. I am well aware that knowing your math facts and times tables is not proof of intelligence or analytical abilities, but it is a skill as necessary in academic life, as being able to read is. The last person my daughter wants to take instruction from is her mother, so I had no choice but to enroll her in Kumon to get the basics right before it was too late. It was amazing what a difference two months of rigorous drills made. She can now whip through one hundred division problems in under three minutes.
And then the other day I discovered another more important reason why most children at a Kumon center are Indian. I ran into a friend at Kumon whose daughter is same age as mine. I noticed that the other girl was at level G whereas my daughter is at mere D and this monster raised its ugly head in me and took hold - a feeling of inadequacy that my child wasn't equally advanced and a desire to push her more to get her higher, and to enroll the younger one right away. My conscious mind had to beat that monster hard and remind me that the other girl has been doing this since kindergarten and mine just started, and get back to thinking about the bigger picture. So now I wonder how many children are at Kumon just because their parents' saw other children doing better than theirs. Oh my! Her 4 year old can recite the 9 times table, I better get in my child in there too!. Sigh. Will the Indian community never leave that ultra competitive world behind us no matter how far we get away from it?
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Lessons of 3 idiots, really?
I recently saw an Indian movie called 3 Idiots, that has been a big hit in India and among the Indian diaspora abroad. The movie is a critique of an aspect of Indian society that I had mentioned in an earlier post - the incessant pressure on young people from every aspect of the society to get ahead, at the expense of their own dreams and aspirations. The film is mostly enjoyable because the funny parts balance out the preachy parts. All of a sudden Indians are talking about this. Every day I see chain emails with subjects such as "Lessons from 3 Idiots." I am happy that this film has started a national conversation on the topic, but what I am really surprised by is that Indians are behaving as if until they saw this movie, it had never occurred to them that the academic system put too much pressure on young people.
However, what the film presents is a very simplistic solution "let education institutions expand minds and let young people pursue their dreams". It is easy to say this but to turn into a reality, it needs support from many components of the society.
A person can freely pursue her dreams only if she is also given the freedom to fail, and opportunities to start over. This the Indian society seriously lacks. Failure is viewed harshly and opportunities to start over are non-existent. There are age-restrictions on everything from college admissions to job applications. Take the example of one of the characters in the film who wants to become a wildlife photographer rather than an engineer, and viola he becomes immensely successful at it. What if he didn't? What if after pursuing photography for 5-10 years he realized that he really should have pursued engineering - no college in India would take him. The seeds of a passion need nourishment to turn into a flourishing tree. Somebody interested in wildlife photography would need to feed their passion by reading magazines such as National Geographic to learn more about the possibilities. Yet, until about 10 years ago a National Geographic magazine was not only unaffordable for the average Indian middle class but also unavailable. There wasn't any awareness either - growing up, I could count on one hand the career options I thought were available to me.
With the boom in economy of the last few years there are a lot more opportunities in modern India, and with the advent of the internet a lot more awareness. There still aren't any well-stocked public libraries that you could access for resources. Same goes for sports. There are no junior sports leagues, and unless your parents can afford to put you in some special training lessons, there aren't any opportunities to learn even if sports are your passion. While I was growing up participation in sports was looked down upon, and most children were encouraged to study rather than waste time playing.
And still the society has no appreciation for originality or creativity. Say, you were artistic and wanted to pursue art. Your creativity would have been destroyed by the time you got to middle school because the art teachers, if you were fortunate to have any, would have insisted you do things a certain way, and only the children who could produce an exact replica of some painting in a book would be considered good artists. What any "art lesson" in India would teach you is skill or craftsmanship, but it would not let you expand your creativity. Most India musicians become very skilled at their craft by rigorous practice, but are they creative?
This happens to be the main reason that holds me back when I consider moving back to India. Everybody praises the education system, and how the curriculum there is much advanced. I'd rather have a somewhat inferior system, but one that encourages exploration and provides room for failures and fresh starts.
However, what the film presents is a very simplistic solution "let education institutions expand minds and let young people pursue their dreams". It is easy to say this but to turn into a reality, it needs support from many components of the society.
A person can freely pursue her dreams only if she is also given the freedom to fail, and opportunities to start over. This the Indian society seriously lacks. Failure is viewed harshly and opportunities to start over are non-existent. There are age-restrictions on everything from college admissions to job applications. Take the example of one of the characters in the film who wants to become a wildlife photographer rather than an engineer, and viola he becomes immensely successful at it. What if he didn't? What if after pursuing photography for 5-10 years he realized that he really should have pursued engineering - no college in India would take him. The seeds of a passion need nourishment to turn into a flourishing tree. Somebody interested in wildlife photography would need to feed their passion by reading magazines such as National Geographic to learn more about the possibilities. Yet, until about 10 years ago a National Geographic magazine was not only unaffordable for the average Indian middle class but also unavailable. There wasn't any awareness either - growing up, I could count on one hand the career options I thought were available to me.
With the boom in economy of the last few years there are a lot more opportunities in modern India, and with the advent of the internet a lot more awareness. There still aren't any well-stocked public libraries that you could access for resources. Same goes for sports. There are no junior sports leagues, and unless your parents can afford to put you in some special training lessons, there aren't any opportunities to learn even if sports are your passion. While I was growing up participation in sports was looked down upon, and most children were encouraged to study rather than waste time playing.
And still the society has no appreciation for originality or creativity. Say, you were artistic and wanted to pursue art. Your creativity would have been destroyed by the time you got to middle school because the art teachers, if you were fortunate to have any, would have insisted you do things a certain way, and only the children who could produce an exact replica of some painting in a book would be considered good artists. What any "art lesson" in India would teach you is skill or craftsmanship, but it would not let you expand your creativity. Most India musicians become very skilled at their craft by rigorous practice, but are they creative?
This happens to be the main reason that holds me back when I consider moving back to India. Everybody praises the education system, and how the curriculum there is much advanced. I'd rather have a somewhat inferior system, but one that encourages exploration and provides room for failures and fresh starts.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Survival of the Fittest
I just saw this video on YouTube, and it got me wondering why is it that we don’t see a lot of original art coming out of India. India has a large population and an ancient tradition of classical forms of art, and yet you have to really strain hard to think of original artists – A. R. Rahman, M. F. Hussein and that’s it! I cannot even imagine a performance like this in “India’s got talent”. India has a huge film and music industry, yet most of the films are rehashed and adapted Hollywood scripts. Fittingly, there is no award distinguishing between adapted and original screenplay in the Indian "Oscars". The music directors for these movies are too smart to plagiarize from popular songs from big artists so they look for “inspiration” in smaller markets such as Turkey and Thailand and lift music from there.
This brings me to an article I read today about how babies can very quickly internalize the concept of probability and discover new mechanisms, just by exploring. The article stresses, however, that this type of learning best happens when babies are given freedom to explore and experiment on their own. Most babies and young children in India do not get this freedom and I think this is what ends up in stilted creativity as they grow older.
Anybody growing up in a country as populous as India, has to compete for resources at every stage of life – nothing comes to those who wait. If you don’t push through, leave aside getting a seat on the bus; you will probably not even get on the bus. If you stick to driving in your lane and politely try to pass others, you probably won’t get anywhere. Unless you excel in school in some way, you will be starved for teacher’s attention. Unless you perform, and perform really well in school you will not have any kind of a career. This is the lesson you learn at every step – life is very competitive and it starts early. Even a small block party held in the neighborhood to celebrate a holiday will have some kind of competition for kids – poetry recitation, some sort of race etc. and only the winner gets a prize. Only success is rewarded and recognized; not perseverance, not hard work, not originality – only success. You do not have the freedom to fail, and learn from it. There are no second chances. To see how endemic this has become in the culture you only have to visit a “Chuck-E-Cheese” type game parlor. There you will see the store workers as well as parents helping each child to win as many tickets as possible so that they can get a big prize in the end. This is what brought it home for me finally as I had to keep telling surprised store workers to back off. They couldn’t understand why I didn’t want them to help my child win big!
This is the reason that parents start teaching babies the alphabet, the multiplication tables and seek out academic programs by the time the kids are 3, to give them a heads up later. It is easy to find math and zoology classes for 4 year-olds in India! There is no room or time for exploration – learn your facts so that you can ace that interview for a good elementary school. If you don’t get there in the first try, you don’t have any more chances. And if you don’t get in a good school, your chances in life start dwindling right away. If you don’t do well in your 10th grade finals, you lose the chance to ever study math and science in the grades ahead. There is no room for and no appreciation for creativity, and definitely no time for discovering and indulging in your passions. Most kids spend 2-3 hours every day after school in classes to help them perform better at school. Only winning matters – and this is instilled early and often.
My intention is not to insult my roots, or the system that got me where I am today. But I do think it is time to take some pressure off the children because it seems to just keep growing. Mention this to any Indian and they will point out how Indians win math and science competitions world-wide, and thank you very much, but it is a great system. Why do Indian kids win spelling bees and geography bees – not because they are any smarter but because their parents grew up in a culture where winning competitions and memorizing facts are the tickets to success. Most Indians follow successful careers in the US, but do they ever follow their passion? Do they ever blaze a new trail in their field?
There is some upside for a system like India’s. Children learn early that you don’t get anything for just showing up, you have to perform. I have never seen kids cry at a competition in India because they didn’t win. In the US we seem to have the opposite problem where kids think themselves too entitled. I have had 8yo burst into tears at birthday parties here because they didn’t win musical chairs, and only got the basic “goody bag”, not the special prize. The American public education system has so much focus on leveling the playing field, and catering to the average that exceptional kids often feel left out, unappreciated and bored.
Is it even possible to create a perfect system?
This brings me to an article I read today about how babies can very quickly internalize the concept of probability and discover new mechanisms, just by exploring. The article stresses, however, that this type of learning best happens when babies are given freedom to explore and experiment on their own. Most babies and young children in India do not get this freedom and I think this is what ends up in stilted creativity as they grow older.
Anybody growing up in a country as populous as India, has to compete for resources at every stage of life – nothing comes to those who wait. If you don’t push through, leave aside getting a seat on the bus; you will probably not even get on the bus. If you stick to driving in your lane and politely try to pass others, you probably won’t get anywhere. Unless you excel in school in some way, you will be starved for teacher’s attention. Unless you perform, and perform really well in school you will not have any kind of a career. This is the lesson you learn at every step – life is very competitive and it starts early. Even a small block party held in the neighborhood to celebrate a holiday will have some kind of competition for kids – poetry recitation, some sort of race etc. and only the winner gets a prize. Only success is rewarded and recognized; not perseverance, not hard work, not originality – only success. You do not have the freedom to fail, and learn from it. There are no second chances. To see how endemic this has become in the culture you only have to visit a “Chuck-E-Cheese” type game parlor. There you will see the store workers as well as parents helping each child to win as many tickets as possible so that they can get a big prize in the end. This is what brought it home for me finally as I had to keep telling surprised store workers to back off. They couldn’t understand why I didn’t want them to help my child win big!
This is the reason that parents start teaching babies the alphabet, the multiplication tables and seek out academic programs by the time the kids are 3, to give them a heads up later. It is easy to find math and zoology classes for 4 year-olds in India! There is no room or time for exploration – learn your facts so that you can ace that interview for a good elementary school. If you don’t get there in the first try, you don’t have any more chances. And if you don’t get in a good school, your chances in life start dwindling right away. If you don’t do well in your 10th grade finals, you lose the chance to ever study math and science in the grades ahead. There is no room for and no appreciation for creativity, and definitely no time for discovering and indulging in your passions. Most kids spend 2-3 hours every day after school in classes to help them perform better at school. Only winning matters – and this is instilled early and often.
My intention is not to insult my roots, or the system that got me where I am today. But I do think it is time to take some pressure off the children because it seems to just keep growing. Mention this to any Indian and they will point out how Indians win math and science competitions world-wide, and thank you very much, but it is a great system. Why do Indian kids win spelling bees and geography bees – not because they are any smarter but because their parents grew up in a culture where winning competitions and memorizing facts are the tickets to success. Most Indians follow successful careers in the US, but do they ever follow their passion? Do they ever blaze a new trail in their field?
There is some upside for a system like India’s. Children learn early that you don’t get anything for just showing up, you have to perform. I have never seen kids cry at a competition in India because they didn’t win. In the US we seem to have the opposite problem where kids think themselves too entitled. I have had 8yo burst into tears at birthday parties here because they didn’t win musical chairs, and only got the basic “goody bag”, not the special prize. The American public education system has so much focus on leveling the playing field, and catering to the average that exceptional kids often feel left out, unappreciated and bored.
Is it even possible to create a perfect system?
Friday, May 4, 2007
Laptops in School
I just read this artcile in NY Times and I would be laughing hard, if it wasn't so sad. Who ever thought that giving students laptops will enhance their academic performance? And why are they now flabbergasted that the laptops are more of a distraction than help? How could they not see that the idea was ridiculous to begin with? Do the decision-makers even realize that the high-tech jobs are going to people educated in developing countries like India, who probably had very limited access to computers even while pursuing degrees in computer science and engineering, and they are doing great, aren't they? Abroad and here. I am sure even a Psychology major in a typical US college things she cannot function without a personal computer.
Education, success and acquisition of knowledge has nothing to do with technology. It has everything to with hunger, motivation, and a passion for learning. No amount of high-tech gadgetry can teach attitude. What is sad is, this is so obvious. It is common sense and yet school administrations had to spend millions to learn this. So the question is what kind of people are running our schools and making crucial decisions such as diverting funding from Art programs to individual laptops? The same people who think that children shouldn't be taught calculus as it is never used in "real life". Yeah, you probably don't need it if your real life is making dumb decisions about running schools! If you have money to burn, raise teacher salaries. As I said, I would laugh if it hadn't been such a humongous waste.
Education, success and acquisition of knowledge has nothing to do with technology. It has everything to with hunger, motivation, and a passion for learning. No amount of high-tech gadgetry can teach attitude. What is sad is, this is so obvious. It is common sense and yet school administrations had to spend millions to learn this. So the question is what kind of people are running our schools and making crucial decisions such as diverting funding from Art programs to individual laptops? The same people who think that children shouldn't be taught calculus as it is never used in "real life". Yeah, you probably don't need it if your real life is making dumb decisions about running schools! If you have money to burn, raise teacher salaries. As I said, I would laugh if it hadn't been such a humongous waste.
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