TECHNOLOGICAL OPTIMIZATION IN EDUCATION

I e-mailed the following to a friend in Texas earlier this morning

I tend to believe that standards of excellence can be maintained across the board in primary and secondary schools, by developing an online curriculum, (or on DVD ) with the best instructors and available course materials.

There seems to be a flaw in the old model, because if you can have excellence with an online/distance learning scenario, all students in Texas can benefit across the board, and you know they are getting the best available curriculum and instruction.

What accounts for the flaw ? Now is it a way or thinking ? A paradigm, that's not being effectively communicated or inculcated ? Both on the part of the system, and students and their parents ? Now with Hispanics, there's the challenge of converting English into a preferred first language, from a mandatory second language, as well as the availability of computers, and teaching computer literacy.

If people want to immigrate to Rome, they need to speak and write like the Romans, metaphorically speaking. We can be a melting pot, but one with standards, that uplifts the level of literacy and education of our citizens.

If schools standardize on an online "Curriculum of Excellence" - it can be threatening somewhat to teacher's jobs, but they can help answer questions, tutor, and motivate. Change and growth are scary propositions. Jerry Farber used to write about education, even in a university setting as "Learning by Regurgitation". The question here is whether it is better to have a Professor that can motivate and inspire students , and opposed to lecture from notes and handhold students ? Excellence can be communicated via distance learning and multimedia, there is no longer any excuse or reason for delay.

Now if we are in the early stages of a worldwide OCW (Online Coursework Initiative) why are we not taking advantage of excellence in instruction for credit. If you take the top Ivy league schools such as Yale, Harvard,Dartmouth, Brown, and Princeton or top State Universities such as the U Texas Austin, UW Madison, U. Michigan and compare the standards of instruction to community colleges and universities that are not a highly rated, you can become painfully aware of the differentiation, by speaking with a student who graduated from or transferred to an average institution from a top institution. The differential is unfortunate, for want of a better metaphor, blatant.

Given we have briefly addressed excellence in instruction and curriculum, we need to look at the exceptionally disciplined student, with a passion for knowledge that has learned to both independently study and really take advantage of inherent cognitive skills, where a student can manifest a passion for quality creative work. Many of my professors used to complain about students who were ill prepared for university, by being deficient in their writing skill, and not knowing how to think.

Now in Texas (and other States) there should be a greater budgetary emphasis on University education, simply because this is the level where creativity can best express itself, and knowledge and excellence best perpetuated. This is the cutting edge of society and our future civilization on the highest order, the benefits of which can filter down to secondary and primary schools and across city, state, and national boundaries. This should not leave out multicultural boundaries. This is best served through networks and telecommunications. The proliferation of excellence along with standardization, cut redundancy, helps eliminate mediocrity, and can save
substantial budget dollars. this is not to say personalized instruction ought to be dispensed with in it's entirety, but any parent would want their child to learn the best, from the best out there,
hopefully to have a motivated, inspired child with a passion for knowledge and learning.

I believe that Texas Legislature ( as well as other States and Congress) should realize that University Education is the best contribution we can make to our future,to civilization and humanity. Excellence needs to be proliferated and shared.

My last point is the Internet and education need to be more of a force to restore the world civilization index to a higher level. Both corporations and universities, as well as manufacturers, should take old PC's, older notebooks, load them up with linux/unix and get them in the hands of LDC's , of small villages and towns in the third world, and let the Internet do what it was originally supposed to do in the first place: Teach Humanity and bring us closer, and uplift the overall quality of life and the state of knowledge in or world. even old 2501 routers would do the trick. Why would manufacturers or corporations want to destroy older technology, when it could be pout to good use ? Today more than ever there should be no excuse for illiteracy to exist anywhere on the globe. Reality may say different, but there is a
merit in restoring more balance toward this goal.

How do we tie this blog in with translation ? A good translator pursues excellence, and never stops learning. This shows in their work.

Visit us at: www.cistranslations.com

Regards,
Shel