I really enjoyed Dr. Yong Zhao’s podcasts. What amazing new ideas for the future! I think a lot of teachers might not like some of the ideas that he is presenting. That’s one of the problems in our national school framework—like Zhao mentioned, we are trying to hold on to an antiquated system. We are not evolving with the technology.
One of Zhao’s comments mentions that we are not preparing our students to live and compete in a globalized world. Our students one day will need to work with other people from other cultures. Our current reform (like NCLB) is not addressing digital, virtual, and global issues.
A very controversial statement that Zhao made was that the American educational system doesn’t empower the people: Our system is more communist (offering no viable competition) whereas China’s is more capitalistic.
I really liked his comment that the use of technology is limited by what adults think is appropriate, and is frequently without trust of younger students. Another great comment was that schools reduce the potential of laptops into the power of a pencil.
With the use of the Internet, students can engage in life inquiries. However most schools spend time and money blocking things like: myspace, Youtube, chat rooms---we’re ignoring the reality of the power. We’re acting as if technology is a cave-don’t let our children go into the space because we don’t know what is there.
The second podcast focused on how we are trying to make new tools fit into the existing system (with constraints and restrictions). Dr .Zhao asked the question: Do you have the vision; do you have the courage to use the new technology? We sometimes forget that students are powerful agents and can be active contributors. Dr. Zhao gave the example that a 10 year old can make art, video or a music file. We are depriving children of possibilities. We act as if the role of the student is just to receive knowledge, and their performance is evaluated by getting good grades.
One of my favorite lines from the podcast was: Education is life, not preparing students for life.
2 comments:
Excellent comments, Nat! You pulled out quotes that particularly struck me when I listened to these podcasts the first time as well. I was really struck by the comment he made saying that American schools are communist and Chinese schools are capitalist! An interesting perspective that made sense as he explained the differences (i.e. no competition between American schools and much competition between Chinese schools).
I also love the quote you mentioned at the end of your post. "Education IS life, not preparing students FOR life." If we truly believed that and structured our schools to reflect that, a lot of things would need to change!
Hi Nat,
I agree with your comments. I liked his comment about Education and life too. Leaning is growing and if we don't learn, we can't expect to grow. If we keep ourselves and our kids sheltered, we can expect to fail.
Post a Comment