[quote=livinincali]
But if kids are working on their own through content at their own pace then you don’t need to put 30 kids in a room with 1 aide. You could take 100 of the kids that this type of teaching works really well for and put then in a room without the disruptive kids. You could put disruptive kids in isolation or in smaller groups. You’re not forced to commit to this 30 people in a room dynamic.
The biggest problem I have with the education system is there has been absolutely 0 improvement in efficiency or effectiveness with the technological advancements we’ve made over the years. In my opinion I think there would have been some improvements if the School Districts weren’t so resistant to change. A private company that resistant to change would have failed by now, but because it’s public and supported by tax dollars they don’t have to change. That is where the biggest problem lies. Tenure is just one of the numerous barriers that protect the school district from having to change.
Say something that’s been fairly successful like the Preuss school. Naysayers want to dismiss those results because they don’t have to deal with the challenges that exist in poorer neighborhood schools. But maybe that’s exactly what the public schools should be doing. Take the smart kids in the poor schools and put them together with good teachers and accelerate their learning process rather than just teaching to the middle with disruptive kids causing problems for everybody. Segregate the students not by race, color or background but by IQ or desire to learn.[/quote]
Now for the other parts of your post, I have a personal example with my own three kids. We use an excellent online curriculum for the basics, and I still have to monitor them, explain things they still have difficulty understanding, and keep track of all of their work (even though much of it is online, we still need to make sure they are progressing at a decent rate). Though my kids are pretty well motivated, and we block out time for them every day (no phone, playdates, or other distractions during this time), it can still be a lot of work to keep them all on task throughout the day.
I would also argue that you are totally wrong about no improvements in efficiency or effectiveness with technology over the years. Most classrooms use technology to supplement lessons, and some use technology almost exclusively (usually charters, magnets, etc.).
Schools are constantly changing, but all too often, that change results in little to no improvement simply because you can’t change what’s coming into the schools. The student body is the #1 factor in how well or poorly a school will perform. You could pretty much put a group of highly gifted kids in a closet with a bunch of books, and they would come out well educated. Not so much for students with average or low IQs and no support at home.
