kabmoore's blog

Pros and Cons of Homeschooling

kabmoore — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:53:29 +0000

Pros:

parents control the people with whom their child interacts
parents control curriculum
parents control exposure to morals
parents control daily activities
parents control scheduling and are able to plan family activities at their discretion

Cons

socialization is often lacking
parental instructors may not be properly educated
monetary assistance is unavailable
taxes are still due for public schools even though there is no immediate benefit to the family
group sports are not as organized or recognized for future scholarship
accreditation may be questionable

Roles of Education in the Preservation of Culture

kabmoore — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:44:31 +0000

I used to believe education/educators served as role models to our youth, preparing them to interact as adults in society. The movie “While You Were Sleeping” could be the title to my ignorance of the innovations and/or “advances” of many educators, politicians, religious leaders and icons of today. It seems like it happened over night and continues to decline. It seems the moral compass has been affected by a new magnetic north which points to individual selfish concerns.

Ideally public and prominant figures would emulate all I hold as morally centered and just. Publicists and the media seem to spin circumstances and situations so we lose site of the specific legal and moral issues at hand. Liing to a political body or side stepping the truth with double talk should be sufficient grounds for impeachment and sufficiently distasteful to a moral community to insist the impeachment be upheld.

Like many parents of today, educators just want to be your friend. They are reluctant to discipline, reprimand or even tell a student they are wrong. I don’t know a resolution to the decline other than complete anarchy and overturn. When did we give teenagers the right to be rude to; contradict; or even overrule an elder? Was it when many elders were no longer deserving of respect and power?

How Does the Intersection of Culture and Technology Effect Education?

kabmoore — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:00:52 +0000

I’m at a loss when it comes to what really effects education. Appearances would suggest administrators have the students’ best interests at the forefront, but experience tells me finances and legal issues are at the core of most decisions. Case in point, attendance: policy forces a student’s attendance through the court system (truancy) and could be perceived as a district’s attempt to get students into the classroom where they can learn. This is actually driven by finances as schools get funding/income according the the number of warm bodies in the school building from day to day.

Back to the question… If culture and technology do effect education, I would hope it is the culture of the community in which the school is based. In the case of online education, I would hope state or national guidelines are in place and followed to reflect the culture of that online community. I tend to be conservative, but accept the ‘free exchange’ of information. “Free” doesn’t have to mean offensive or abrasive however.

How Has Culture Effected Technological Innovation and Adoption?

kabmoore — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:55:15 +0000

Innovations in technology are often repsonses to cultural needs. Like inventions outside technology, their inception is an accidental discovery or a puposeful attempt to meet a need. Constant scrutiny from world wide users causes modifications to existing technology which molds and sometimes broadens its applications.

Adoption of technology by schools seems to be controlled by politicians rather then educators. Financial concerns rule the acquisition. If students can sell candy bars for money to fund a trip to Washington, D.C., can’t funds be found for needed technology. These same single minded people fear the unfamiliar. They place restrictions on access and usage without reason or understanding.

How Has the March of Technological Innovation Effected Education? Learning? Culture?

kabmoore — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:37:20 +0000

Technology has made education more accessible, specifically to migrant students through Project Estrella, a satellite-television-transmitted educational programming project with laptop lending devised so these students can maintain a consistent curriculum as they move. As a tool for Professional Development, technology has expanded the audience able to be reached and the resources available to educators. Students can go on virtual field trips or interact in simulations. Our local schools incorporate technology as a means of supporting daily record keeping and business functions. In the classroom, VCR’s have been replaced by DVD’s and a projector may be installed in the ceiling, but few teachers utilize the access they are extended. The most active days of use of the year were in March while all TV’s in each junior and senior high school room were tuned to the NCAA boy’s basketball playoffs. From my narrow exposure to our schools and their teachers with whom I have had graduate courses, I only find technology used to fulfill quotas set by administrators. There are nearly unlimited applications of technology for every content. Utilizing it only for conveyance of the same old lecture is a travesty.

If we lived in a world where inappropriate sites didn’t exist, students could peruse the Internet on all topics they needed to research. Blogs, messaging and the like, could be extended as part of the classrooms. Students could develop their own blogs and websites as course extensions, ‘gators to keep appraised of specific site updates, or email / IM to stay up-to-date on assignment details or information they missed due to absences. Teachers could maintain the same references to keep in touch with their students locally or abroad. Family vacations during school days would no longer be a challenge.

Other than culture specific iconoclasts, cultures seem to be converging through technology. Languages are translated, currency is converted, connections are instantaneous – cultural lines are being blurred with every transaction. I can see the detriments and benefits from this ease.

The Children’s Machine – Valid Today?

kabmoore — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:32:49 +0000

The Children’s Machine published in 1992 paints a picture of a world with technology infiltrating society in nearly every aspect, save schools. If technology should exist, in most cases it is only serving as a new conveyance to present the same old curriculum. Though strides have been made since the release of this book, computers and other technology are still underutilized. Some barricades are imposed by the schools themselves in an attempt to “protect” the students. With many colleges incorporating computer access with every course, it won’t be long before all public schools follow suit. The only hurdles then will be funding, physical space and ignorance.

Papert, S. 1993. The children’s machine, Rethinking school in the age of the computer. Basic Books, New York, NY.

How Does Papert View the World

kabmoore — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:20:56 +0000

–It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him enough fish for a week of meals.–

–It is better to teach a man to think and learn than to layout step by step procedures to complete one task.–

“Take time” – this makes me think of society’s measuring stick for students entering college – the ACT. The time constraints on the exam force the testee to rush through responses and possibly give an errant reply though they understand the subject matter. Their incorrect answer will count the same as the incorrect answer given by the “mentally defective” testee.

“Mathetics” – take time – talk – connect with regions of knowledge already of interest “characterized as entering a culture [rather] than as understanding a concept.” (p. 100) Make a personal connection.

Papert, S. 1993. The children’s machine, Rethinking school in the age of the computer. Basic Books, New York, NY.

What can be done in Educational Settings to Address Issues of the Silicon Ceiling?

kabmoore — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:11:35 +0000

I still don’t get it. In the 1980’s, I never understood the driving concern to get more females in the sciences. I see the fluffy words this article (Silicon Ceiling…) uses, but still don’t see the detriment to women who don’t consider a life in IT. If the article listed reasons, I believe these are those: IT inequity “… constitutes a production divide that is socially undesirable for reasons of social governance, social cohesion, and economic self-realization;” and “…present[s] a serious threat to information technology equity and governance in the next decade.” The articles further clarification continues to baffle me. Does this author not know of gender inequities in government, law and corporate venues? Why does IT’s inequity need to be addressed so fervently? Mankind has evolved with gradual steps to gain confidence in new and different arenas. IT is no different. When I took COBOL; FORTRAN and Pascal in the early 80’s; I did so to widen my understanding of a new and evolving society even though writing a single program took numerous hours because the 15×20 room-sized computer kept overheating or crashing when someone’s program ran an infinite loop. Females and other people squashed by inequities will eventually be interested in IT and join the fun.The lives of people in the U.S. don’t all revolve around computers and the internet for a reason. Some parents spend their full income on shelter, food and clothing. They don’t go to the nearest Starbuck’s and catch up on the morning’s happenings via wifi. They don’t check out blogs and chat about last night’s American Idol castoff. Life is monotony or at best a daily struggle. They want a better life for their little girl, not propaganda about the life she should choose. College is not for everyone. Students should be told from the first day they enter a school building that they can make anything they want of their lives and teachers should serve as their travel agent or tour guide. Reveal every option and layout the path. The true enticement comes from seeing others in that field who enjoy the work and the benefits. Some people work for mental/emotional fulfillment, but for more, work is for monetary gain. An individual’s drive may stay constant or waver from one goal to another.IT’s equity will find its own level as long as the path to the degree is shown to be attainable. Women and minorities have joined the men’s clubs in other disciplines. Show them the path – and “they will come.”

How Does Digital Technology Improve the Level of Equity? How Does it Hamper? How Does Access (or Lack of Access) to Digital Technology Effect a Culture?

kabmoore — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:31:33 +0000

With digital technology freely available and with such a wide array of offerings, I see no one being discriminated against. Access is only challenged by expense, geography or speed. I fear I am short-sighted, but I see technology as an unbounded, unbiased commodity. I would see only the limited vision of users as the only corralling effect.As was evidenced by the story of the waterman, access to technology can be monumental, but the people must find the fit. I believe Americans are spoiled from companies creating programs that fit specific needs. Innovative thinkers create solutions for needs. If our children are raised on a featherbed of convenience, they may never experience the thrill of finding a solution to a unique problem because they won’t have had to find resolutions to anything in their lives.

Is Equity Possible? Is it Desirable? How does Equity Relate to NCLB?

kabmoore — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:25:05 +0000

I believed equity was possible and existed in the mind of many individuals. If an individual believed they were being treated less than equal there was little we could do to change their perception, save swaying the scales in the opposite direction. I would have believed that to my dying day until I moved to Eastern Kentucky. Though many individuals here seem to be ignorant of any inequities, I see obvious examples of it every day. Husbands speak in seriously derogatory tones and comments to their wives; bosses treat their male staff as comrades and the females as underlings; teachers use old-fashioned stereotypes to give examples in their lessons; and the society of this region looks to males to fill positions of authority or superiority. In this area, I don’t know if equity would be desirable or if the attempt at equity would create a cataclysmic divide. It is not a matter of age. The youth of this area are being raised to accept this status quo.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initially included all children, but has been perverted to only focus on those challenged. Equity in one classroom including a range of highly challenged to gifted students would require an instructor with a lot of help or the patience of four saints. Equity and NCLB were meant to go hand in hand. Every child deserved the same exposure, same challenges and same opportunities as every other. This still has potential to succeed if we keep our sites high enough to keep the gifted students engaged. Every student should be permitted and encouraged to pursue the pinnacle of their abilities.

I was not in the education vein when NCLB lost its focus and am glad, as I would have been saddened to watch the movement and frustrated to sit helpless witnessing the permutation.