Comments on: democracy & scale http://aresnick.mit.edu/blog/scale-is-fundamental-to-democracy/ changing things around. . . Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:28:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Alexander Fairley http://aresnick.mit.edu/blog/scale-is-fundamental-to-democracy/#comment-13 Alexander Fairley Sat, 04 Aug 2007 00:15:39 +0000 http://scripts.mit.edu/~aresnick/home/blog/2007/08/01/scale-is-fundamental-to-democracy/#comment-13 <p>"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." Wendell Phillips</p> <p>"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." Mark Twain</p> <p>\begin{rant} The real scale of education is individual. What, and how the aggregate of teachers are mandated to teach the aggregate of students is, in my view, insignificant. Teaching ability certainly cannot be mandated. Passion, and intellectual honesty are difficult to institutionalize. The biggest problem for the education of young Americans isn't a matter of policy, but is rather a matter of a popular culture driven by advertising which tends to discourage critical thinking about the state of the world or genuine sources of satisfaction in favor of consumption of unneeded goods. The education lobby will forever be decrying a lack of funding, because that's just what nearly all lobbies do, but I have a hard time believing that any sort of governmental policy is going to fix our educational system. Real education(of the life altering variety) always has been and always will be auto-didactic , and as I see it the best hope for change lies in some kind of grass roots cultural movement encouraging people to spend more time reading great works seriously, and less time trying on clothing. Not that I'm holding my breath :D \end{rant}</p> “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” Wendell Phillips

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Mark Twain

\begin{rant} The real scale of education is individual. What, and how the aggregate of teachers are mandated to teach the aggregate of students is, in my view, insignificant. Teaching ability certainly cannot be mandated. Passion, and intellectual honesty are difficult to institutionalize. The biggest problem for the education of young Americans isn’t a matter of policy, but is rather a matter of a popular culture driven by advertising which tends to discourage critical thinking about the state of the world or genuine sources of satisfaction in favor of consumption of unneeded goods. The education lobby will forever be decrying a lack of funding, because that’s just what nearly all lobbies do, but I have a hard time believing that any sort of governmental policy is going to fix our educational system. Real education(of the life altering variety) always has been and always will be auto-didactic , and as I see it the best hope for change lies in some kind of grass roots cultural movement encouraging people to spend more time reading great works seriously, and less time trying on clothing. Not that I’m holding my breath :D \end{rant}

]]> By: Alec http://aresnick.mit.edu/blog/scale-is-fundamental-to-democracy/#comment-12 Alec Thu, 02 Aug 2007 02:23:58 +0000 http://scripts.mit.edu/~aresnick/home/blog/2007/08/01/scale-is-fundamental-to-democracy/#comment-12 <p>Right right. I'm not suggesting (or rather, I didn't mean to suggest) that education as a whole has one scale. But assessment certainly does. And funding does. And curriculum design does. And so on.</p> <p>But, point taken.</p> <p>Man, I kinda regret those diagrams.</p> Right right. I’m not suggesting (or rather, I didn’t mean to suggest) that education as a whole has one scale. But assessment certainly does. And funding does. And curriculum design does. And so on.

But, point taken.

Man, I kinda regret those diagrams.

]]> By: Pope Squiberis http://aresnick.mit.edu/blog/scale-is-fundamental-to-democracy/#comment-11 Pope Squiberis Thu, 02 Aug 2007 00:34:48 +0000 http://scripts.mit.edu/~aresnick/home/blog/2007/08/01/scale-is-fundamental-to-democracy/#comment-11 <p>I don't think you can simply say, "What is the scale of the education problem?" Education is a complex issue with many aspects all of which do not necessarily have the same proper scale (not to mention that scale itself is context dependent). For instance to current scheme links together the scales of evaluation and funding, which doesn't necessarily make sense. Of course, I realize you are merely bringing up the question of scale without assumptions or specifications. Still, the language tends to suggest education has a scale and asks "What is it?" Educational reform ideas can exist on many scales, and we have to ask where what is appropriate and how those scales interact. Neh?</p> I don’t think you can simply say, “What is the scale of the education problem?” Education is a complex issue with many aspects all of which do not necessarily have the same proper scale (not to mention that scale itself is context dependent). For instance to current scheme links together the scales of evaluation and funding, which doesn’t necessarily make sense. Of course, I realize you are merely bringing up the question of scale without assumptions or specifications. Still, the language tends to suggest education has a scale and asks “What is it?” Educational reform ideas can exist on many scales, and we have to ask where what is appropriate and how those scales interact. Neh?

]]> By: Alec http://aresnick.mit.edu/blog/scale-is-fundamental-to-democracy/#comment-10 Alec Thu, 02 Aug 2007 00:23:24 +0000 http://scripts.mit.edu/~aresnick/home/blog/2007/08/01/scale-is-fundamental-to-democracy/#comment-10 <p>Reading another Kohn essay ("Beware of the standards, not just the tests") and came across the following quote, "If there has ever been a more undemocratic school reform movement [than mandated standards, curricula, and testing] in U.S. educational history, I haven't heard of it."</p> Reading another Kohn essay (“Beware of the standards, not just the tests”) and came across the following quote, “If there has ever been a more undemocratic school reform movement [than mandated standards, curricula, and testing] in U.S. educational history, I haven’t heard of it.”

]]>