The Hidden Agenda Behind 21st Century Learning
Public-private partnership is strangling our education system.
How has our public education system gotten so off track?
High-stakes testing, obsessive data collection, and lofty promises of technology’s potential to “revolutionize” education are contributing to ever-increasing amounts of school-based screen-time. The invasion is occuring with complete disregard for what it taking away from in terms of basic developmental needs, as well as for screentime's negative influence on nervous system health. Health and development risks aside, research suggests computer use in schools drags down test scores.
Why collect copious amounts of data if the process of data collection itself negatively impacts student performance? Or the ability to acquire real-life skills? Not surprisingly, when education policies are ineffective and impractical but continue to move forward like a freight train, what’s typically greasing the wheels is--you guessed it--money.
This month's post is by Tara Ehrcke, a high school math teacher and public education advocate in British Columbia. I highly recommend reading the more complete article foundhere, as Ms Ehrcke manages to paint a disturbing but clear picture of the complex public-private relationship that’s placing a stranglehold on public education in the US and Canada. Below are snippets of her insightful commentary:
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A false narrative about our schools is spreading through the education community and the public at large. Apparently, with the turn of the clock and the dawn of a new century, our schools are suddenly inadequate. As Canadians for 21st Century Learning and Innovationarticulates the issue, “public education in Canada must be transformed to position Canadians for success in the knowledge and digital age.”1 The Partnership for 21st Century Skills puts it this way: “Every child in the U.S. needs 21st century knowledge and skills to succeed as effective citizens, workers and leaders.”2 A common turn of phrase is that we must leave behind the “factory model” of schooling and embrace the technological change of the new century.
A peek beneath the surface reveals that the drive for change and the changes sought are not new, necessary or unique, but in fact familiar — cost cutting, privatization, and restructuring public education around technology. Despite the promises, 21st Century Learning will not bring “success”. The crisis of “factory schooling” is manufactured. And The Hidden Agenda Behind 21st Century Learning | Psychology Today: