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?

[FrdmLvr]

I'm not talking about kids questioning content. In fact, I tend to question THEIR "prior knowledge" regarding issues such as global warming, etc. In fact, I encourage a good discussion. I find ways around teaching that PC stuff anyway. What I'm talking about are kids who bring the petty - yes I said it - PETTY differences they have with each other into the classroom, they think everything should stop if they happen to have some issue that needs to be addressed immediately, they argue with each other while the teacher is teaching, they interrupt the teacher, name-call, start fights, ask to see the social worker during class because something happened on the bus or at lunch. (last week, this was one issue: a girl wanted to talk to the principal because a girl came up to her table at lunch and told her her hair was ugly). These two have their differences, and were separated earlier in the school year (one was placed in another classroom) because they became so disruptive with their preoccupation with each other in the classroom. Because of their past history with each other, the mother had to be called - not an infrequent thing that happens btw. Oh, and I was called a BITCH by a mother (just so happens to be the mother of the other girl who I had transferred out of my room who called my student's hair ugly at lunch) and had the phone slammed down on me because I called her to talk about her daughter's unacceptable behavior.

A very high percentage of these kids have absolutely no concept of what it means to be in school. This year, I'm teaching 5th grade, but I have dealt with this in high school, middle school, fourth and now fifth grades. The entire school is this way. This is a school with a very high percentage of Detroit Public Schools "refuges". This has been a "school of choice" for as long as I've taught in the district. I am one Republican, conservative to the core, who is thoroughly against the concept of "school of choice". It has completely destroyed this formerly great, blue collar school district. Here is the biggest kicker: Although I haven't heard this yet from my fifth graders or my fourth graders last year, it was very common to hear this in my middle school and high school classes (and in the hallways) "Why you actin' so white?" If a child would participate in class, or act respectfully in the hallway, someone would always use this tactic on them. That always got a write up from me for racism, but it never did any good because it never stopped them. They never cared if they went to the principal's office with a write up.

[goldi]

About three years ago, my brother went to Japan to observe their public schools. There were absolutely no computers in the classrooms.

[reed13k]

I’ve said for many years the following:

1) None of these education measurements mean squat. Most other countries, including Japan (where high school is typically paid for by the family) and China, do not require High School attendance. Those who are not worried about going to college or certain types of work do not attend high school they go into apprenticeships and trade schools. The measurements are not apples to apples, they are apples to oranges (ties in with my next point). Therefore any country to country comparisons that do not account for this issue are useless data with no basis in facts.

2) Even Jobs stated that one of the major issues is unions and their lack of accountability in enforcing teacher standards.

3) Finally unless the homes enforce the standards the kids do not do the work needed to reinforce what is taught and therefore it is not retained. This is the main issue; while it can be addressed to some degree by teacher enforcement of homework and individual coaching, those are the rare exceptions and will not work for all. Parents if you want your kids to do well enforce discipline at home and set high expectations.

[reed13k]

My wife is Japanese - so when she takes the kids to Japan to visit during the summer we put them into school (their school year is 4 qtrs with mid sized breaks instead of 2 long semesters with a big summer break.

I laughed out loud when Newt talked about kids cleaning the school because that is exactly what happens in Japan. Each class has their own classroom plus one general area that they are responsible for. A lot of their social interaction happens during these periods. There is no discussion, teacher says ok clean up and they each have rotating assignments - wipe the floor and walls down with rags, sweep, feed the class animals, water the class garden, chalkboards, bathrooms, you name it. They also have assignments to get, serve, and cleanup for lunch every day.

Best part is - THE GIRLS LOVED IT - because they felt like they were treated as adults and had responsibilities. There was no “do we have to” - not because the teachers would do anything, but because the kids self-police themselves if someone isn’t pulling their load. (I will admit there are some issues with bullying, but no worse than in the States and in most cases they are self-resolved whereas here a lot of times it goes on forever because no one is allowed to hurt Little Timmy’s, the bully, feelings.

[af_vet_rr]

Finally unless the homes enforce the standards the kids do not do the work needed to reinforce what is taught and therefore it is not retained. This is the main issue; while it can be addressed to some degree by teacher enforcement of homework and individual coaching, those are the rare exceptions and will not work for all. Parents if you want your kids to do well enforce discipline at home and set high expectations.

Amen. I see this all the time - not just situations like the kid throwing a tantrum in the grocery store and the parents caving in to him.

I think it directly ties into how many parents were raised by liberals from the baby boomer generation. I'm a baby boomer, and when we raising our two oldest kids, we were around military families for the most part, but I encountered many people from my generation who raised their children with a sense of entitlement and a lack of discipline. Plenty of people who said they would never spank their kids or try to shape their personalities. I see them letting their kids become couch potatoes, I see little kids running around with iPhones or playstations constantly playing videogames. These kids are getting very little out of that, while the parents are just being lazy and selfish and letting TV or videogames raise their kids.

The chickens are coming home to roost, and the children of the hippies are doing an even worse job of parenting.

It scares the hell out of me to think about the next generation. There is already a huge sense of entitlement - when my daughter was doing her student teaching, she witnessed a parent yelling at a teacher because her kid got an A- instead of an A+. This was elementary school - you'd think the parent was worried their kid wouldn't get into college. That parent's attitude will most surely be passed down to their children.

We did a lot of shopping in December at some malls, and because my hip was bothering me, I spent a lot of time sitting down peoplewatching while my wife shopped. It is depressing how many children are being raised by parents who don't give a damn or who let their kids push them around.

When kids learn that they can push their parents around, they are going to apply it to all adults, especially teachers. Some will get lucky, even if they don't know it, and find teachers who won't put up with their crap, or end up in athletics with coaches who won't put up with that crap, and they'll straighten out, but a lot will skate through school and then find themselves lost when they are forced to fend for themselves.

Then again, there seem to be a lot more kids living at home these days long after they should have gotten a job and moved out.

[goldi]

It’s a different culture in Japan, but in this country, parents pay school taxes through the nose and they don’t want their kids doing jobs that the janitors should be doing. Gingrich wants to get minority children used to working for a paycheck, not doing “community service” (which is a crock as far as I’m concerned. Community service is for those who break the law, not public school kids), and for this, he gets hammered by self-serving minority politicians who want minority kids to stay on the plantation forever because it enables them to enrich themselves at the public trough.

[MacMattico]

Sorry if I misunderstood. I can’t imagine trying to teach in that environment, and feel bad for the kids that want to learn, because they’re out there, but in some schools they just want to blend in with the rest so they’re left alone.

[Swordmaker]

The Naysayers are pooh-poohing iBooks Author and the Apple initiative on textbooks—PING!

Apple iBooks textbooks Ping!

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Don't respond to the Anti-Apple Thread Trolls!
PLEASE IGNORE THEM!!!

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[Loud Mime]

Very Interesting!

[itsahoot]

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

Child Protective Services.

Children have rights, and they know how to exercise them, because the schools they go to spend a lot of money teaching them how to intimidate their parents.

[itsahoot]

I doubt anything can save Public Education, but this tool presents more value to budding writers than it does to educators.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The Naysayers are pooh-poohing iBooks Author and the Apple initiative on textbooks—PING!

This is actually the first article I've seen posted on FR about iAuthor. Did I miss something? Seems like I'd have heard about it from you, if not from the homeschool ping lists. But - until now - nothing since the actual Apple presentation about iAuthor.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The Naysayers are pooh-poohing iBooks Author and the Apple initiative on textbooks—PING!

This is actually the first article I've seen posted on FR about iAuthor. Did I miss something? Seems like I'd have heard about it from you, if not from the homeschool ping lists. But - until now - nothing since the actual Apple presentation about iAuthor.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The Naysayers are pooh-poohing iBooks Author and the Apple initiative on textbooks—PING!

This is actually the first article I've seen posted on FR about iAuthor. Did I miss something? Seems like I'd have heard about it from you, if not from the homeschool ping lists. But - until now - nothing since the actual Apple presentation about iAuthor.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I just viewed the video at the Apple site. My summary is that Apple has

1. added a textbook section to the iBook store.
2. created an authoring tool to expedite the creation of interactive iPad textbooks. These textbooks will sell for less than $15 apiece (electronic copies of course) and will stay with the student rather than having to be returned after a school year.
3. the reader for the iBooks enables the student to append notes to the text, and collect those notes to make study materials. The authoring app facilitates the use of very powerful graphics and interaction with the material.
4. iTunes U. allows educational institutions to create free online courseware.

The authoring app and the iPad reader app are available now, as free downloads.