Feds want to help schools by rushing to buy imperfect technology
The Feds have decided schools are bad and that the solution is spend billions on imperfect technology as fast as we can.
Stephen Krashen
In The National Education Technology Plan, released in 2010, the US Department of Education insists that we introduce massive technology into the schools immediately, because of the "the pressing need to transform American education ...", even if this means doing it imperfectly: Repairs can be done later: "... we do not have the luxury of time: We must act now and commit to fine-tuning and midcourse corrections as we go."
These statements assume that (1) our schools are really really inadequate, and we must rush to fix them; (2) technology is the major part of the fix; and (3) imperfect technology is better than no technology.
None of these assumptions are supported by evidence.
(1) There is no evidence that there is a crisis in American education. When researchers control for poverty, American students' international test scores rank near the top of the world. Also, the
Stephen Krashen
In The National Education Technology Plan, released in 2010, the US Department of Education insists that we introduce massive technology into the schools immediately, because of the "the pressing need to transform American education ...", even if this means doing it imperfectly: Repairs can be done later: "... we do not have the luxury of time: We must act now and commit to fine-tuning and midcourse corrections as we go."
These statements assume that (1) our schools are really really inadequate, and we must rush to fix them; (2) technology is the major part of the fix; and (3) imperfect technology is better than no technology.
None of these assumptions are supported by evidence.
(1) There is no evidence that there is a crisis in American education. When researchers control for poverty, American students' international test scores rank near the top of the world. Also, the