Devoted Reader John L. sends along a candidate for Idiotarian of the Year. Out of - surprise! - Oregon comes the most flowerly, nonsensical paen to progressive "education" that I've ever read, and that's saying something, even for the dean of a school of education:
Follow me on a little imaginative journey: You and I have invented the wondermeter, a device that captures bold ideas and original insights.
Which, like the wondermeter, aren't worth much unless they're patented. But I digress.
Using the wondermeter we are able to measure the daily wonder production of Oregon. As it turns out, every Oregonian has at least three bold ideas and original insights a day. The population of Oregon is almost 3.6 million. According to the wondermeter, at least 11 million bold ideas and original insights erupt in Oregon every day. That's approximately 4 billion bold ideas and original insights a year. Four billion.
Do you find it as amusing as I do that the type of touchy-feeling educators who are always saying that we can't quantify learning have so boldly quantified ideas here? Nope, we can't trust test scores - but we can trust their estimate of 4 billion!
The news that Oregon's middle- and high-schoolers are not doing well on standardized tests is disappointing, but it may also be pointing us in the wrong direction. More scientific discoveries have taken place in the last 10 years than in the previous 600. To reduce learning to the measuring and mismeasuring of antiquated knowledge is a huge strategic error that will result in considerable suffering and a weakened economy.
1. How many scientific discoveries have been made by kids who haven't mastered basic science skills?
2. How many scientific breakthroughs were generated by people who consider scientific facts, and vast stores of scientific knowledge, to be "antiquated knowledge"?
It is said that Oregon loves dreamers. What would an inclusive, high-performance education system look like for Oregon's dreamers?
Four billion ideas a year, bouncing around, with no discipline, factual knowledge, or structure to ground them to anything in reality. That's what it would look like. Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics live in them - and Peter W. Cookson Jr. of the Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education would like all of your children to spend at least 8 hours a day there.
Maybe more:
Coordinate all the state's educational assets. There is a disconnect between higher education and K-12 education, there is a disconnect between the public sector and the private sector, and there is a disconnect between universal education and education for economic productivity. Instead of a competitive model, let's imagine a cooperative model where all the state's assets are used.
Can you say, "cradle-to-grave welfare state?" I knew you could!
...Enable Oregonians to be culturally competent. A just education system ensures that each student, no matter what his or her age or background, is celebrated and supported. Oregon has already made great strides through the state's Department of Education by placing cultural competency at the forefront of the educational agenda. This effort ought to be emphasized and enlarged.
Because, as we all know, scientific breakthroughs, and strong economies, depend on the cultural competency of students. This is why cultural competency - not reading skills, not the ability to compete in a global economy through the use of mathematics and computer science - should be at the forefront of the educational agenda, according to them.
At least they're honest about their priorities.
Accountability is one of the current buzzwords in education, but accountability is too often translated into test scores. I am suggesting an accountability that goes far deeper. We are accountable for the welfare of our citizens. Oregon's dreamers deserve opportunities to make their dreams real. Wonder is our most precious natural resource; we dare not squander it.
We can be the authors of our own miracle.
Five bucks to the first person who can explain just what the heck this means.
Posted by kswygert at August 30, 2004 11:33 PM