FutureWatch 1: K12 criticism a’la You Tube

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The first video I watched was the “I’m-Trying-Way-Too-Hard” Vision of K-12 Students Today. A quick scan revealed many similar videos of unhappy, solemn, and grumpy students holding up hand-written messages of how bored and uninspired they are, would much rather be listening to their iPods and watching TV, and that China, a country famous for its human rights, fair labor practices, and religious as well as free-thinking tolerance, has more honors students than the North American continent (as though ANY of these malcontent students or educators would jump at the chance to learn or teach in China’s educational system). Videos like this point out two issues to me: The tragedy of the degradation of the American parent and the imbecility and hypocrisy some make when juxtaposing disparate facts to further their agendas.

First of all, many of the notes held up by these students are a result of poor, uninvolved parenting rather than an educational issue. Where is the parent of the student spending 16 hours a week watching TV but only 3 hours reading a book? The hours spent reading a book were probably at school (but one can’t be sure), while much of the TV watching was at home, probably in their own rooms while their parents were downstairs watching DVR’d episodes of The Biggest Loser with a bowl of buttered popcorn in one hand and Diet Coke in the other. A lot of the “screen-time” touted in these videos is not of students being innovative and bettering themselves– it is due to absentee parenting and allowing technology to do the babysitting. The bottom line: More students succeed with two involved parents interested in their lives, regardless of– and even sometimes inspite of– the presence of technology. My son is at a high-performing magnet school. Why is the school high-achieving? Parent involvement. Parents at this school are so involved there is a waiting list to be a chaperon on field trips. The PTA earned enough money in one year to create a computer lab. Yes, I want my son to know how to use a computer– but at his age he needs a foundation of knowledge and skills so that one day he can autonomously fulfill a PBL assignment, not be handed one to complete in the first grade. Let’s be honest– the dioramas and projects of first graders are often the result of a parent’s toil than a student’s. There is a school in our cul-de-sac that is low performing and atrocious. They don’t even have a PTA– not enough parents are interested. Unfortunately, “America” would rather point the finger at educators not doing their job, yet there is no criticism or accountability for parents not being parents.

Secondly, certain statistics are presented in these as though they justify and validate the assertion that students in America are not being educated to compete in the world and that our educational system is wholly to blame. So we see phrases about the number of Chinese honors students followed by statistics that 1/2 of students won’t graduate from high school. The desired response is “Why do we suck and why is China so awesome?” This is such a flawed connection because it begs any number of questions and dismisses a multitude of troubling issues. What qualifies one as an honors student in China? And what opportunities await them upon graduation? What happens in China when a student does not do well in school? Undoubtedly there is shame and consequences. In America they are touted as misunderstood heroes– and our movies glorify the slacker. How many single-parent households are there in China? How many children does the typical family have (um, one)? How much welfare money does the Chinese government give to single women with multiple childr– oh wait, they aren’t allowed to have multiple children without heavy fines. What about the fact that China is an oppressive, controlling communist nation? What percentage of Chinese work in factories– just making the labels on everything that say “made in China”? How many schools attended by lower-income children would collapse on them in an earthquake while the privileged children’s school down the road is structurally sound? I mean, come on– claims and allusions of this nature in videos like these are erroneous and irresponsible. And yet the expectation is for the view to cluck his or her tongue and say “Shame on us!”

The second video I viewed was the “Star Trek idealistic” Networked Student. What I mean by that term is that whenever you watch Star Trek, everyone in Star Fleet is altruistically motivated– everyone is motivated by the nobility of the forwarding of their own intellect and understanding and take action for the good of humanity, which is why Star Trek will always be placed in the future as humans beings with such utopian souls and motives, for the most part, do not exist. The premise of videos of this ilk are that, because of technology, learners will be inspired to reach amazing heights of learning– building interconnected communities of intellectual honesty and integrity that will be a bastion of higher-level learning and thought. When given a topic or assignment, they will do thorough research, seeking out the facts; they will then evaluate blogs, separating the facts from opinion– that they inherently know how to do as they have been taught by ???– and then start their own blogs to express their own coherent and validated ideas, which they have been taught to do by ??? The flaw in the idealism expressed in this philosophy is two-fold: It circumvents a necessary knowledge and skills foundation in order to be successful at higher-level cognitive tasks and ignores the fact that human beings are inherently lazy and will usually take the path of least resistance and ease. There are some necessary components of being a disciplined, clear-thinking learner: hard-work, persistence, and accountability. People do not intrinsically think logically nor do they work assiduously– both are learned/taught behaviors. The accountability is key. One can be assigned a chapter in the book the instructor believes to be valuable– yet, most students, with a multitude of demands upon their time, are not going to read the chapter unless they know they are going to be held responsible for doing so. And not necessarily even then– if 15 years of teaching are any indicator. What is the MOST COMMON denominator of students who succeed and do the work required of them? Two involved parents– not the technology to which they have access.