The Upcoming, Troubling, PBS “School of the Future”
On Wednesday, Sept. 14, 9 pm ET, PBS and NOVA will air a two hour special called “School of the Future.” The advertisement tells us much. They are warning that the future for children demands that students need better preparation to succeed due to globalization. What they probably won’t tell us is that this future will likely continue to be manipulated by corporations.
Technology
This abstract, strange future they speak about (possibly puzzling to the smartest among us), will be about technology, of course.
Their message appears to be that we better address technology that can be used with students, even to study their brains to see if they can learn faster and better. The goal is to close the achievement gap.
The ad has that hint of emergency for which school reformers are known.
Sal Kahn of Kahn Academy fame will be on the program. I don’t mind Kahn’s online instruction, but it is naïve to believe that such a program will replace public schools and real teachers.
And that’s what today’s technology is about. Don’t be deceived by the few teachers that The Upcoming, Troubling, PBS “School of the Future”: