Hedonism is eating to western kids. Cut their facebook/smartphone/fancy-clothes BS. Reintroduce school uniform code, reintroduce corporal punishments, reintroduce mark/rank-based merit assessment system. Problem solved. What western educators are doing is the exact opposite. They think drenching kids into unregulated technology that can entertain more than educate and liberalising school life will somehow make kids smarter. No! It will make them hedonistic at a very young age. It will put them on path to an unsustainable life.
What the heck?
I understand bringing back some of the punishments to the school system. Having run through the US public school system myself, I know that often the only discipline is internal from the value system you've installed in yourself. In other words, the school didn't discipline me, I disciplined myself.
This said, you've gone a bit off the deep end. In India school is a priviledge, in the US it's basically cheap babysitting. We will have to pay for this idiocy sooner or later....
I think it's more a sign that US schools are failing than more tech not helping.
Agreed. No child left behind, then the litany of hate that followed, damaged the US. Our school systems have been on the decline for years, but parents are unwilling to allow teachers to met out punishment. Having no consequences, in the child's perception at least, breeds children that don't feel that education is a priviledge. This will be the downfall of the public education system in the long run.
Using presentation devices in a classroom as a teaching tool has been around for decades. For instance, showing a historical documentary (movie) and then initiating discourse to get the students thinking, or using overhead projectors.
Tech for the sake of making things easier for the students should not be used unless the student(s) can prove they can accomplish the same task without the device.
Just my opinion.
Dang skippy. I remember watching VHS tapes to understand WWII, human biology, and scince. Technology made a textbook fit into a couple of videos, and gave me a less dry way of learning.
On the other hand, I've experienced "movie days" whenever a teacher was too lazy, or didn't want to broach the next subject. Technology doesn't teach children.
Either a teacher makes the subject interesting enough for the student to want to teach themselves, or they ram the subject down a student's mouth to supress the gag reflex. Any other teaching methodology is going to fall flat, because the knowledge isn't interesting enough or ingrained deeply enough.
Some students fall into the self teaching category. You have gifted and talented programs for them. The students on the opposite end go to special classes and get attention from negative actions. Those students in the middle are without either attention, and flounder.
I guess this author (cited article for this thread, not those that comment) thought that tech would be the magical panacea that gave those in the middle the attention they actually deserved. Looking at this problem wholistically; unless the tech is the nannybot 9000, and allowed to deliver negative and positive reinforcement, it won't come anywhere close to solving the problem
