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What’s Wrong With Letting Tech Run Our Schools
June 14, 2017
My newest Bloomberg View column is out!
What’s Wrong With Letting Tech Run Our Schools
You can see all my Bloomberg columns here.
Categories: Uncategorized
mathbabe 
What do we know? That every single educational reform that was tried in the last 50 years failed. Fake successes were achieved by moving the goal posts. This is especially true in math education. As for tracking, that unfortunately existed way before this latest technology push. So, I say give it a chance. Let’s see how it does before sending it to the graveyard with “new math,” “integrated math,” “common-core math,” and various other attempts. At least, IMHO, it cannot make things any worse.
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What do we know? That every single educational reform that was tried in the last 50 years failed. Fake successes were achieved by moving the goal posts. This is especially true in math education.
So, why should this be any different? And on top of that, they’re tracking every keystroke of our most vulnerable population. We must demand accountability.
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It should be different, just like Google is different from everything before it (including alta vista and previous search engines). Look at census bureau data and look how hard it is for average Joe to find relevant data. I hear there is an effort to Google-ize the data. I hope it succeeds.
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abekohen, your optimism is misplaced. As Cathy clearly states education is political and while it has always been problematic that public officials make these decision at least they are accountable to their constituents; the tech gods are not.
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Accountable? Look at the political hot potato regarding the NYC subway system. We are failing our children. We’ve tried every conceivable “public official” solution to no avail. Let’s give the techies a chance. Where would we be today without Google? I use it for medical info, programming questions, and almost every facet of my life. Let’s stop vilifying tech.
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“Although they undoubtedly mean well…” That seems a bit naive. This is about social control and profit. What most don’t realize is that much of this will be linked back into predatory public-private “pay for success” partnerships that will replace public funding for education and demand data-driven performance measures to justify those outside investments-see “efficacy” and “evidence-based” programs. Digital classrooms are nodes of Smart Cities and will turn children into data laborers. They are already creating “smart” blockchain contracts tied to social impact bond programs; SIBs are being vetted for Smart City infrastructure finance; payments and deliverables will be automated-overseen by the technocrats and out of the hands of citizens. Children will suffer. BTW Bloomberg Philanthropies is deeply involved in all of this.
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Have you ever talked to an edtech worker? They definitely think they mean well.
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The “they” is undefined. Is your “they” a programmer or Mark Zuckerberg? Because the creation of llcs like Chan Zuckerberg and Laurene Jobs’ Emerson Collective make clear that this is a business decision. The most highly-capitalized companies in the world now are all cloud-based computing, and they all have vested interests in the ed-tech transition. It’s NOT just about selling computers, or software or cloud infrastructure. Ultimately they hope to use Pay for Success to create K12-P20 derivatives markets of educational student data. All of the pieces are clicking into place. I give it maybe 5 years. You of all people are in a position to understand the role of global finance in all of this. If this is new to you, please investigate it. It needs to be exposed. And be aware that Bloomberg (and the Arnold Foundation) are major players. I just tweeted you a couple of pieces that provide valuable background information.
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Useful information-social impact finance is the piece of the puzzle everyone is missing. It’s the ultimate marketplace-the profit will be well beyond merely selling tech-related goods and services.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2016/11/social-impact-bonds-the-titans-of-finance-as-the-altruistic-merchants-of-schooling-and-the-common-good/
http://dissidentvoice.org/2017/02/impact-investing-and-venture-philanthropys-role-in-sowing-the-seeds-of-financial-opportunity/
https://narrativedisruptions.wordpress.com/education-technology-surveillance-and-americas-authoritarian-democracy/
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What’s wrong?
Here is a researched list:
The years old Technocratic move to shift education.
The Global Silicon Valley initiatives with the 21 steps (where school boards are obsolete).
The Annual International Data Mining Conferences, where the express intent is hiding how information is harvested. Many of the education reformers either present or use what comes out of these.
The massive amount of taxpayer money ESSA has earmarked for increasing digital resources.
That an Obama administration contrived set of programs (Digital Promise and Computer Science for All) were codified in ESSA.
That all US Federal cabinet agencies and untold third parties harvest the private information every single day. School and student data is the new cash cow. Those very vendors claiming to be updating resources for classrooms is taking in billions in data mining profits.
That the current Trump Administration has a federal budget with lots of loops for educrats to manipulate via technology.
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Oh, I don’t know, perhaps the complete alienation of humanity that will undoubtedly ensue?!? Why should we allow private, for-profit entities to run education “like a business”?
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They start out meaning well – both the politicians and the tech people and then it moves to “we can do some good, why not make a little money on the side” to convincing themselves that what the’re doing is actually in the best interests of the kids. It’s really sad to see.
There’s really one test that anyone who pushes ed reforms – tech or otherwise should be given. It’s simple and revealing — would you force your product or idea onto your kids and your kid’s schools?
Just about every one of these politicians and oligarchs send their kids to schools with small classes, experienced educators, and diverse programs. Their schools have the tech but it doesn’t drive the education – the educators do.
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The problem is that adaptive learning ed-tech models are making their way into private schools as well. Zuckerberg’s AltSchool brand is now targeting Montessori and Reggio Emilia schools. They will brand them differently. Poor communities will get call-center type Rocketship academies, while the affluent kids who are plugged is may sit on wool rugs and be surrounded by wooden blocks. But the two models are converging even though their presentation differs. Look up micro-schools. It’s the “new” thing coming down the pike. My guess is that DeVos and her associates are aiming to create “value” model micro-schools using ed-tech that will cut staffing costs. As public schools die, anyone who has the ability will grab a voucher and head to a value ed-tech operation. They will still probably need to take out a couple of thousand in loans to cover the remaining tuition beyond the vouchers, which will further enrich the student loan companies. It is the loan interests like Nellie Mae (spun off Sallie Mae) and Lumina who are working hand in hand with the tech sector to advance this mode. Just look to Acton Academy and their growth projections. The argument that these “reforms” are not going to show up in private schools is no longer going to be the case. Yes, perhaps in the most elite private schools, but people should be aware a new ed-tech oriented private industry sector is being built.
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The school system in the USA is not terrible, once the PISA results are controlled for poverty (the PISA is the main test used to compare educational systems internationally). http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/january/test-scores-ranking-011513.html
Plenty more places to find this information.
We are generally in the top 10, but our poverty impacts so many people and is so deep, that it leads to very low scores that impact all scores. Those that score high on these tests are in general very equal societies, Finland (very low poverty), or China (known to cheat).
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