The book "The Flat World and Education" implies that the world is becoming flat once again due to our country's inability to grow and develop a well-rounded educational system in which every student is able to access relevant material. Our world has evolved and we need to grow with it.
The book suggests that the reason our country continues to fall behind others is due to our unequal distribution of resources. "These disparities reinforce the wide in income among families, with greater resources being spent on children from the wealthiest communities and the fewest on the children of the poor". There seem to be a large amount of evidence that points us to the conclusion that our education system is stagnant and still operating on a system that was designed in the 1900's. We need to change the way we treat the education system and follow suit with some of the countries that out rank us. For example Singapore where education is a priority - classrooms are full stocked for students needs, teachers are well trained and qualified, student work is always displayed, and technology is plentiful. We need to stop living in the past and find innovative ways to allow every student to access the curriculum so that they are prepared for the jobs that are offered today and that will be created tomorrow. I am passionate about learning and every child deserves the opportunity to learn and develop their own opinions and ideals. Not every student is the same and as educators we need to recognize that. This book is discusses the importance of problem solving, working as a team and being creative. I truly believe that physical education takes roll in all of the solutions that this book is suggesting. I am enjoying the book and am looking forward to reading more.
7 Comments
2/3/2018 10:30:27 pm
I agree with your assertion of the book title comparing it with our current world. There were a lot of data, within the first three chapters alone, proving that there must be a major paradigm shift in our educational system if America wants to compete with the rest of the world.
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Sarah Tinloy
2/6/2018 09:57:45 pm
James- That is a, in my opinion, very important questions. And a question we might want to explore more in depth. If you take a look at the Healthy Kids survey given to all the school they state that majority of students do not feel like they have an adult on campus they can connect to. And I have definitely noticed this within my PE classes at Valley Oak.
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James Macariola
2/6/2018 10:08:22 pm
I can totally see how student success can be tied in to school site-staff-student relationship. It is like in coaching, if our players do not believe in our coaching philosophy, trust in our coaching methods, or buy into the program we are trying to create, then it doesn't matter if you are the greatest coach or teacher, the student-athlete will never perform to the fullest potential due to the lack of trust. 2/10/2018 03:48:04 pm
Sarah,
Yolanda Webb
2/7/2018 12:03:35 pm
Great questions and I think that these could be reasons for students failure. However, I don't think it would be fair to blame it solely on the school districts and relationships with teachers as there could be many factors playing a part in why they are failing. I have seen teachers that done what so called experts and critiques of education claim they should do and yet there is still student failure. For example you have situations in which children are dealing with the loss of a loved one, subsequently there is nothing a teacher or anyone can say to move them towards academic progress because they are too hurt and traumatize over losing there loved one. No one is GOD. There is no superman or superwoman that can fix all problems, especially when living in a society that is saturated with problems that impact people in different ways.
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Yolanda Webb
2/7/2018 11:31:32 am
I agree with your response and the overall comments in reference to Darling-Hammonds (2010) work. In addition, to what has been discussed, I believe there are other factors that are playing a part in the decline of academic excellence amongst students within the U.S., such as the lack of discipline starting at home. It is unfair to blame teachers, when the parents role is equally significant. In some cases, there are students acting out because they understand there aren't any consequences at home. I am not here to point the finger at parents either as they are dealing with issues that make it difficult to fully enforce discipline such as working many hours, single parents, etc. Especially in cases where there is a single parent having to work to jobs, subsequently they are likely to be too tired to engage in enforcing discipline or checking for homework once they arrive home.
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Matt Kelly
2/13/2018 07:45:33 am
I agree with a lot of what you said. It seems crazy to me that 50 years after these issues were supposedly addressed, there has been very little progress made. We have the 7th largest economy in the world, yet still struggle to address basic needs for our students. I know that California attempted to address this problem with the way that they fund schools, yet the struggles still remain.
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