My first impression of the book, The Flat World, was very eye opening. I always knew that there were a lot of inequalities in America, especially in education. However, the amount of data and statistics from Linda Darling-Hammond showing the tremendous amount of inequalities was jaw-dropping. Her data is not to scare the reader that America is doomed but to acknowledge the fact that America is on its way of losing the title of the #1 country in the world if it doesn't change its pedagogy in education to match the rest of the world. In her book she states, "Education reform must be student-focused...to develop the potential and personalities of students." The old school way of education where students were asked to memorize and regurgitate information is not the way of the future. We need to ask and teach students to think outside the box and use more Socratic methods in order to prepare them for an ever changing world infused with technology.
In the first chapter of her book, she really sells the idea that America is in a downward spiral in keeping up with the demands of globalization and technology compared to other countries who've made education a top priority. "While the highest-achieving nations are making steep, strategically smart investments in education, the United States is squandering much of its human capital." Linda goes on within the first chapter on how technology is changing the world while America will not have the people to change with it due to the lack of equal education and resources. In her second chapter, she starts to describe the history of this inequality of education in America and why we are falling behind in key core subjects, like Math and Science. She reinforces the concepts I try to teach to my Government and Economics classes that due to the discrepancies in resources and opportunities at different school sites, major inequalities in education and in student outcomes occurs. "These lower investments in early education and health care negatively affect later school success and adult outcomes." This can easily be related to what is happening in our current politics. Our government leaders seemingly are looking for the quick and popular answer instead of finding and working on long term solutions. I am hooked on this book and can't wait to see what new information I can learn from it. I feel like my daughter with how she reads the Harry Potter series and can't put the book down because she wants to know what will happen next.
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EDUC 701: The Dynamics of the Equitable ClassroomArchives |