iBooks Author is cool, but will not save education

John's Wise Thoughts ^ | 21 Jan. 2012 | John Walker

[walkwu]

If you paid any attention to the rumblings in the technology industry this week, you would know that Apple released a piece of software that will supposedly revolutionize the educational industry. iBooks Author is the culmination of many years of internal developments at Apple. Modernizing education was, of course, the passion of Apple's late legendary leader, Steve Jobs, and was the project he most wanted to see come to light.

Let me be clear, what Apple released Thursday, Jan. 19., is revolutionary. It will change many aspects of education within the United States and potentially worldwide. However, it will not solve the educational problem.

So, what is the educational problem? As Apple stated in its presentation Thursday, the United States ranks 17, 23, and 31 in reading, science and math, respectively in the world. This is a problem. What wasn't pointed out, however, is that there was one country that was at the top of all three categories. Any idea which country in the world is ranked number one in reading, science and math (at least according to Apple's statistics)? Here's a hint, four out of the top five countries in each of the three categories came from Asia.

The answer as to the number one position?

China.

Yes, China.

This leads to an obvious question: why is China number one? Is it because the Chinese are inherently smarter than anyone else? Is it because they have educational materials that are not available anywhere else? Or is it because they have better teachers than anyone else?

[ClearCase_guy]

The only things that matter are hard work, persistence and passion.

So, America is mostly screwed.

[Salvavida]

Garbage in, garbage out. This just makes the garbage flow faster.

[JRandomFreeper]

why is China number one?

Because if you don't do well, they will kill you, jail you, or beat you. And they lie.

Give me that kind of latitude, 60 1st graders, and all of them would be reading at an 8th grade level in 6 months. The ones that lived, anyway.

/johnny

[FrdmLvr]

Chinese parents expect their children to be respectful and obedient to their teachers.

This is the missing element in the American educational system today. Respectful children learn. Mouthy and disrespectful children with bad attitudes who are disruptive, indifferent and laxidasical about their lessons learn very little, if anything at all.

[Sir Napsalot]

The technology

Will not ‘save’ education. But,

Will revolutionalize the control of the only acceptible ‘correct thoughts’ more easily.

And that is the goal of education / educators nowadays.

[chickenlips]

What you have described is the excessive pride of the self-esteem movement that leads to making students that are puffed up and not teachable.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks walkwu.

It will change many aspects of education within the United States and potentially worldwide. However, it will not solve the educational problem. So, what is the educational problem? As Apple stated in its presentation Thursday, the United States ranks 17, 23, and 31 in reading, science and math, respectively in the world. This is a problem. What wasn't pointed out, however, is that there was one country that was at the top of all three categories. Any idea which country in the world is ranked number one in reading, science and math (at least according to Apple's statistics)? Here's a hint, four out of the top five countries in each of the three categories came from Asia.

See, all we need to do is make a law restricting family size to one child. /s

[Fee]

Big gov types never understand that children spend 13 percent of their time in school, 1 percent at church if they go to church and the rest of the time at home. Which will influence children the most? Home!!!! So no matter how much you spend for the schools per student, it will be meaningless if the child’s home life is a failure. Look at inner city minority schools as an example. You can triple current spending per student it will still fail and lag in performance.

[MacMattico]

You got that right! And don't most other countries only test the “college bound elite” while we include test scores from 21 year old 9th graders that have missed 80 days of school?

[MacMattico]

Students should be respectful, but not to the extent that they are forced to swallow the union party line hook, line and sinker.

With a billion people and forced, threatened education you're going to get some kids testing well. I kind of like those rebels that question some of the brainwashing going on today, getting creative and thinking for themselves. If not all of our science students would be worshiping Algore, and there are enough of them out there that know to reject liberal education assumptions that keep us in the forefront.

[af_vet_rr]

This is the missing element in the American educational system today. Respectful children learn. Mouthy and disrespectful children with bad attitudes who are disruptive, indifferent and laxidasical about their lessons learn very little, if anything at all.

I think it's a society problem in general.

It was reinforced to me again tonight when I stopped by to pick up some groceries. I witnessed some little kid, probably 8 or 9 years old, throwing one helluva temper tantrum because he wasn't getting a certain type of cereal. He started pulling cereal boxes off the shelves and even tore one open and spilled it.

His parents, yes, multiple, parents, tried to pretend like it wasn't happening and were in fact trying to reason with the kid, as if he is an adult or capable of being reasoned with. The dad finally told the kid that he would buy him the cereal if the kid calmed down. The kid still knocked a couple of more boxes off the shelf.

The kid grabbed a couple of boxes and left in a huff, with the parents following. They didn't pick up any of the boxes their kid had pulled off the shelves, they left a mess of at least a dozen or so boxes scattered on the floor not to mention the the spilled cereal.

People want to know what's wrong with America, that was a prime example to me.

People coddling their kids and then not even picking up after them.

When I was a kid, if that had been me, the moment that I screamed and started to pull just one box of cereal off the shelf, my dad would have had me halfway out the door and there would have been definite consequences. I could kiss goodbye the chances of my parents buying that cereal for me anytime in the next year, but that would have been the least of my worries. My parents would have also found the store manager and paid for the spilled cereal and helped clean up.

A few weeks ago, I saw a kid throw food at his mom in a restaurant, and she pretended like it didn't happen. So of course he did it again.

This kind of crap is going to doom us as a nation. I see too many parents who treat their kids as if they are little adults and try to reason with them or they pretend like everything is okay or its just a phase.

[af_vet_rr]

Big gov types never understand that children spend 13 percent of their time in school, 1 percent at church if they go to church and the rest of the time at home. Which will influence children the most? Home!!!! So no matter how much you spend for the schools per student, it will be meaningless if the child’s home life is a failure.

AMEN! How many of us know people who think that TV or videogames are acceptable babysitters for their kids?

I thank God my kids turned out okay and are raising their kids well. I have too many friends whose grandkids are growing up on a diet of videogames and TV.

We have created an entitlement culture that shirks the responsibility of raising its young.

[af_vet_rr]

You got that right! And don't most other countries only test the “college bound elite” while we include test scores from 21 year old 9th graders that have missed 80 days of school?

It's crazy. We used to never have all of these standardized testing when I was a kid. I was in public schools, Hell, we moved around and I went through a lot of military schools or schools in places with a lot of other kids who were being moved around because their parents were in the military.

Liberals would tell you that because our parents moved around so much or with one parent gone for long stretches of time, or being stationed in foreign countries, that we would have a hard time succeeding. The problem for the liberals is that our parents were were good people who wanted us to have a better life than they did, but they didn't coddle us. I occasionally get together with folks from when I was a kid, and by all rights many should have been failures for having moved around a lot or been stuck in government schools, but the large majority of us had no problems and were quite successful in our careers.

I bet that if they had been pushing all of those standardized tests on all of us military brats, a lot of us would have had problems, given that some folks changed schools within a single year.

This standardized testing nonsense is the result of the entitlement culture I mentioned - they think everybody should be treated as if they are going to college.

Newsflash: Not everybody was meant to go to college. Some people are going to drop out, some folks are going to be working in blue collar jobs, welders, farmers, restaurants, etc.

We need to stop the No Child Left Behind crap before it destroys the nation's schools, and we need to stop this liberal nonsense that everybody could potentially go to college. Liberals do not understand that many people will end up in jobs that liberals frown upon, and will be perfectly happy with those jobs.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

My dad had a way of pecking you on top of the head with his finger. It was a real attention getter. He didn’t let you get away with nonsense in public.

[wrench]

The more techno-toys added to the schools does absolutely nothing to help increase education levels in this country.

Get rid of the computers, tablets, smart-phone apps, etc, except in labs to teach computer skills such as word processing, spread sheets, drafting, etc.

Our kids are learning nothing with these toys except how to post to face book, buy or steal on-line music, and play on-line games. I am tired of subsidizing this horrendous waste of money.

[MacMattico]

My husband was well into his MA degree because he was “supposed” to get a Graduate degree when he realized “I can’t do this for the rest of my life!”

Fortunately he also was able to get a well paying skilled job where he could work with people and outside of an office.

[MacMattico]

My daughters both can't write in cursive to save their lives. I've at least got them working on a decent signature.

And many kids think if they can get onto Facebook that makes them Computer Science experts.

My older daughter got rave reviews on her French class PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint is a simple program that makes the work look good, not like in the “old days” when you had to make a project/presentation from scratch. She's in 8th grade, she needs to do the work, not Apple.

[PIF]

Apple is doing this doing this because helping education become better has long been a goal.

However, as Steve Jobs said in an interview around 1996 (before he returned to Apple), “What is wrong with education no tech will fix. What is wrong with education is political”.

Jobs wanted the US to be the leader in math and sciences.

[FreedomPoster]

This article about the Apple education technology announcement:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/01/apple-education-jobs/

includes this quote from a 1996 interview with Steve Jobs on education and technology:

“I used to think that technology could help education. I’ve probably spearheaded giving away more computer equipment to schools than anybody else on the planet. But I’ve had to come to the inevitable conclusion that the problem is not one that technology can hope to solve. What’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent.

It’s a political problem. The problems are sociopolitical. The problems are unions. You plot the growth of the NEA [National Education Association] and the dropping of SAT scores, and they’re inversely proportional. The problems are unions in the schools. The problem is bureaucracy.”

Computer software, or lack thereof, isn’t the problem. Even Steve Jobs knew that. Too bad our political class does not.