> At 11:03 02-12-98 -0800, Louise Yarnall wrote:
> >I would appreciate some specific citations on "School to Work."
>
> Well, for a start:
>
> http://www.fessler.com
>
> In Australia, we had "Working Nation" as a similar starting point almost
> ten years ago and, unfortunately, it's one area that Australia is in
> advance of the US ... I'll include a list of references for you at the
> bottom of this mail for some light reading so's you can assure yourself
> that there's at least one other side to the trend you identify.
>
> >I have researched plenty of people and companies interested in providing
> options
> >to public schooling, and I have yet to find anyone who touts "efficiency,
> >productivity and profit" as their primary motivation.
>
> What questions did you ask these "plenty of people and companies" you have
> you researched?
I asked them what they were doing and why. They gave me their answers and
showed me their projects. I talked with a
young man who hated teaching in
schools and wanted to find a way to provide personal tutoring, so he
created an on-line tutoring program from his home. I talked with a
former teacher who was frustrated with teaching in a typical school, so
she has transformed her living room at home into a digital center for
teaching children around the world. I have extensively reviewed the
articles and history on the Edison Project, which is an effort much
critiqued by educators, and found that the parents and teachers and
districts who sign up for it feel a stronger sense of camaraderie than
they ever did in their typical schools -- even if their test scores
are only a smidgen higher. I've talked to real people to get my
insights. And I've read extensively in both the popular and academic
literature. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. But, believe me,
I've talked to dozens of people from many different perspectives on the
educational reform issue -- from hucksters to parents to adminstrators.
And none of them thinks they're setting out to commit evil and reproduce
corporate oppression. And, based on their projects, one would be
hard-pressed to argue that they are causing these problems unconsciously
-- as you seem to suggest.
>
> You have an interesting job title. Are you associated with Telis who are
> nearby?
Actually, I'm a grad student just like you. And my current corporate
affiliation is my university, just like yours.
Who says that your characterisation of the problems of education is
> correct?
I never suggested I had all the answers. I took exception to your
one-sidedly negative view of people from the private sector who attempt
to reform education. You seem to paint them as one type -- a corporate
villain of cartoon proportions. I couldn't let that kind of
characterization pass without speaking my mind because it's not the truth.
Frankly, I'm surprised so many others on this listserv have let it pass
without speaking up...
The paragraph above is entirely devoid of human agency in key
> areas: "there is widespread popular dissatisfaction with school as usual
> ..." Who, in particular, is dissatisfied? What, in particular, is "school
> as usual"? How do you characterise this, Louise?
>
If you failed to find human agency in my writing, I think that
interpretational problem is yours, not mine. But since you asked:
Parents are dissatisfied. Legislators are dissatisfied. Students are
dissatisfied. Teachers are dissatisfied. Administrators are
dissatisfied. Grandparents are dissatisfied. And, yes, even the
employers are dissatisfied. It's dissatisfying to realize that your new
recruit can't write a grammatically correct sentence. It's dissatisfying
when your latest employee doesn't know how to calculate percentages. It's
dissatisfying to
find out that your newest member of the corporate team doesn't have a
clue about what your business does, why, or how it fits into the larger
picture of a working society and civilization. Very dissatisfying indeed.
Louise