I Suspected, But ‘Did Not Know’ For Sure June 30, 2009
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos, Opinion.trackback
I’ve admired the work of Karl Fisch, especially his contribution (Did You Know, a.k.a. Shift Happens) to the discourse on the role of technology and connectedness in education, but there was always one section of the presentation that bothered me. The section that show the number of students in China and India in advanced classes far outnumbers the total number of students in the US. I’ve always felt uncomfortable about that. Should the US always have the highest number of advanced students? Is that even possible? In a world where the US makes up less than 5% of the total population, I don’t think so. Should we be concerned about this state of affairs in the US? Are we losing our ability to compete? Will we become irrelevant because other counties are becoming more capable, better educated? Or does the reverse hold true? Should we instead celebrate and support better education around the globe? Is this a win-lose situation, or is there a win-win outcome? Watch the embedded TED Conference video below and be better informed. I know I was; better informed that is.
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Incredibly interesting. I have to say that as a teacher, a little competition is a good thing, but our students are getting tired of being compared in a negative way to China. It should be about working together like Mr. Tabarrok says in his video. About spreading those idea leaders around, sharing the responsibility for being the leader.