For this week I have a couple of education related questions which we should really be working to understand and to answer:
The first question is a fundamental one which needs addressing. We live in an increasingly global world, and by this, out students (and the rest of us, if only by proxy) are in competition for the future…
Is there a reason to be alarmed by the fact that there are so many other countries where students (elementary, middle school, high school, or college) have so much more mastery over math, science, languages…actually the whole curriculum, including physical fitness?
Are there some things which we can be pleased about in this area?
My second question is based upon my own observations, in that there are some pretty obvious changes in how subjects are taught since I was a student. The increasing move towards more and more collaborative class work is one of the first things I noticed. I wonder just what has been the motivation behind this change. I wonder who and where it first started?
I’m not saying that there is any intrinsic problem with students developing some collaborative skills, it’s just that the only people I see who are driving this are classroom teachers who have no experience in the rest of the adult world…it makes you wonder…
Is there any real value in spending so much time in schools, being inculcated in cooperative effort when the global business world is predicated upon competition?
Is this something which is a new phenomenon (the focus upon cooperation), or is this something which has always been a focus in secondary and higher education?
