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Commerce and Knowledge
At a time of crisis and transition in the American economy, do we have the right ideas for training the 21st century workforce? Brian moderates a panel at the Aspen Ideas Festival on the ideas of commerce and knowledge with Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, Wendy Kopp, founder and CEO of Teach for America, and philanthropist Eli Broad.
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Putting Gutierrez on is an insult to your audience. Will return when you have a better show. Click!
He is saying the US dropped to 21st in graduation rates, globally, without saying what happened to the other countries--there are other variables. Also he doesn't say if the 21 countries are grouped very closely at the top or spread across a broad range.
Next, he says 92% of parents are satisfied with their children's education and SOMEHOW that reflects on graduation rates. But those are 92% of kids STILL ATTENDING school. And if the parents like the school, what does that have to do with Johnny still attending school? He may drop out for a variety of reasons, we need to find out what those reasons are and to address them.
Robert, if you had a better education you would understand why it's important to hear the people you think are wrong.
I've known quite a few TFA teachers who quit, or left, or decided they knew better than all the other teachers in the school. We need teachers, not people who think they always know better and believe they can fix everything because they're smarter than the rest of us. *I'm* smarter than most people, and I know that it's a complex system than no Ivy-child can walk in and solve. We need well-trained teachers, we need (as your other guest said) more learning time, and we need more adaptable curriculum for kids of different abilities and learning abilities. I also know people who've trained TFA people, and they've all been depressed and disheartened by their experiences.
I teach. I'm good. I'm well-trained. Yes, PAY ME MORE.
If Teach for America is putting the "least experienced" grads into the "most challenging" educational settings, this program is perpetuating a long standing injustice of putting substandard resources into schools with the most serious needs! Does anyone else agree that this is a little messed up??
Mr. Gutierrez compared the unemployment rate over time. It would be important to learn whether the definition of unemployment was constant over that period of time. Are we comparing apples and apples??
What are our exports? Are armaments included in that mix?
Mr. Broad needs to read the US Constitution -- education is constitutionally the responsibility of the states. While that doesn't eliminate the possibility of national tests, we cannot emulate other countries' education systems. Unless we want to change the constitution.
I have a problem with the idea of everybody should go to college...
Not everybody is meant for it.
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