Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Department of Education and Stupidity, Again

BAM! Paragraph one out of the box!
No matter who you are, where you grew up or what you want to do, we all know digital skills and connectivity are crucial for success in today’s job market.
Does a painter, a farmer, a plumber, a chef, or a boxer really need digital skills and connectivity? NO! Some of those jobs might be helped by marketing on the internet but you can hire people to do that!

This is how an article from the Department of Education starts off to brag about how more money was spent for the government to get tablets and high speed internet for American Indian schools. This is supposed to be good because it will give students access to educational apps in STEM. This is supposed to solve the problem of indian youths having the lowest graduation rate across schools.

Money and gadgets do not improve education or graduation rate. The educational system needs to be examined. Students are not going to say "Hey! The school has tablets and the internet. I'll stay and graduate!" That is a bit of insipid simple thinking.

In addition, as far as STEM : Math just needs textbooks, pencils, and paper. Science requires the same as mathematics plus equipment for experiments. Only the technology and engineering portions of STEM really benefits from this.

However, this still does not solve the problem of the graduation rate.

Verizon and Microsoft are donating data and equipment, but there is still an over-arching government program which costs money.

Also we get some multicultural buzzword BS in the post. This somehow makes the education "culturally relevant" and "culturally appropriate."

Really? A freaking gadget is somehow more culturally sensitive or helpful than a person?

Fix the system; more spending never helps.

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