On-Line Programs = The Next False Idol For Inner-City Ed?

[johnkarls]

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Editorial Comment =

This posting is an SOS distress call.

Because Yours Truly does not have the time before our meeting next Wednesday evening to investigate the two issues set forth in the first-following e-mail.

For additional information, earlier e-mails in the string are also included in the standard reverse order for e-mails.

If anyone does have time to Chase These Rabbits, please post your findings as Replies to this Posting.

Thank you.


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: [Fwd: Re: Sal Khan and Khan Academy]
From: john@johnkarls.com
Date: Thu, November 5, 2015 4:13 am - MST
To: [Redacted]
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Dear [Redacted],

Thank you again for providing the name of Sal Khan and his academy.

I had a few spare moments yesterday, so I Googled the attached Wikipedia article on Khan Academy and Googled Diane Ravitch's blog for comments on Khan Academy.

The Wikipedia Article confirms that Khan Academy has been bankrolled by Bill and Melinda Gates and their foundation.

Diane Ravitch's blog contains comments about the poor quality of the on-line math-instruction programs of the Khan Academy.

Neither provided answers to the Q's I'm interested in =

(1) Why anyone would think that on-line instruction would be effective for any adolescent unless s/he is supervised by a parent, rather than being policed solely by the equivalent of a customer-service chat-line; and

(2) Why anyone would think that inner-city children who live in a single-adult household headed by a druggie who turns over all receipts to the pusher so that the kids have to steal in order to eat -- would receive adequate supervision so that they actually turn on their computers and pay attention to Khan Academy programs (much less cope with them successfully with only the equivalent of a customer-service chat-line).

*****
I really don't have any spare time to Chase These Rabbits during the next week, but if you have any information on these two points, I would be interested in receiving them.

Your friend,

John K.


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Re: Sal Khan and Khan Academy
From: john@johnkarls.com
Date: Wed, November 4, 2015 10:35 am - MST
To: [Redacted]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear [Redacted],

Thank you very much for providing the name of Sal Khan and his academy.

I am assuming that you are not looking for additional comments from me at this point since I have already provided my views regarding on-line learning and why it would not be suitable for addressing the needs of our inner-city children.

However, if you would like to discuss further why you think that on-line learning could do so (I am assuming that my views have not dissuaded you), I would be interested in your comments.

Your friend,

John K.


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Sal Khan and Khan Academy
From: [Redacted]
Date: Tue, November 3, 2015 2:33 pm - MST
To: john@johnkarls.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear John,

I finally remembered the name -- Sal Khan is the moving force behind Khan
Academy.

Regards.

[Redacted]


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: On-Line Learning
From: john@johnkarls.com
Date: Tue, November 3, 2015 3:56 am - MST
To: [Redacted]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear [Redacted],

Yesterday was our second weekly Skype session in a row that you raised the subject of on-line learning with respect to the current Reading Liberally book.

Yesterday you also raised for the first time your belief that there is an Asian-Indian whose name you couldn’t remember, who is generally credited with being the moving force behind this approach.

I hope you won’t be offended by several observations =

(1) You asserted a week ago yesterday that you would not read the book unless it addressed the issue of on-line learning (and, presumably, unless the book praised it).

(2) On-line learning appears to have replaced your insistence that mainstreaming America’s Permanent Under-Caste be achieved with charter schools, which you have now abandoned because of the national study in 2009 conducted by Stanford University and FINANCED BY THE PRO-CHARTER WALTON FAMILY FOUNDATION AND THE MICHAEL AND SUSAN DELL FOUNDATION of 2,403 charter schools (about half of all charter schools and 70% of all charter-school students) -- which found that 37% of the charter schools had learning gains that were SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW those of local public schools, 46% had gains that were no different, and ONLY 17 PER CENT had growth that was significantly better (this despite “cherry picking” the best applicants and expelling poor-performing students!!!).

(3) On-line learning SHOULD BE A DISASTER for inner-city children because on-line learning requires either the motivation with which mature suburban adults would approach unsupervised on-line learning, or it requires supervision by someone qualified to provide it.

(4) Such supervision in the case of suburban children could possibly be provided by a stay-at-home Mom PROVIDED she has a B.S. in Education, but for inner-city children who live predominantly in single-adult households headed by a druggie, this is unrealistic.

(5) My recollection is that on-line learning for inner-city children may have been addressed in Reign Of Error: The Hoax Of The School Privatization Movement by Diane Ravitch, which was the focus for our 6/17/2015 Reading Liberally meeting, or in her The Death And Life Of The Great American School System which was the focus of our 9/12/2012 meeting.

(6) If so, my recollection is that she noted that this was the next line of defense for conservatives who do not want to do anything effective about the education of inner-city children, pointing out that the proponents of this approach are substituting for a qualified in-classroom teacher supervising only 2-3 dozen students in person, an unqualified person who can be paid a pittance trying to supervise from a remote location a considerably-larger number of inner-city children who, despite their disdain for education in a traditional classroom, are suddenly going to be transformed into angels who actually sit at their computers and actually try on their own to accomplish something with what amounts to nothing more than an on-line customer-support chat line. [If not, then the foregoing is the impression I have formed on my own and/or from other sources.]

(7) It strikes me that this approach is the kind of thing Bill and Melinda Gates and their foundation would propose as the third False Idol that America should worship in Wandering In The Wilderness for yet another decade now that (1) they have admitted that the decade they condemned America to worshipping the False Idol of breaking up inner-city schools into smaller units was an abysmal failure, and (2) the 2009 Stanford U study financed by the pro-charter Walton Family & Dell Foundations has demonstrated that school choice/charter schools was another False Idol condemning America to Wander In The Wilderness for another 10 years.

(8) The tragedy, of course, is that it has been obvious for 25 years that this is a SOCIOLOGY problem rather than an EDUCATION problem and the insistence of Bill and Melinda Gates and their foundation in concocting a series of False Idols makes no more sense that firing all of the police officers in whose inner-city precinct a crime is committed and hiring amateurs in their place.

(9) It is indeed a shame that 25 years ago, Bill and Melinda Gates did NOT focus on inner-city policing rather than inner-city education and convince America for 10 years to worship the False Idol of breaking up inner-city police precincts into smaller precincts, followed by 10 years of worshipping the False Idol of firing all inner-city police officers and hiring amateurs in their place, to be followed now by providing inner-city policing in the form of a call-center that offers advice for inner-city residents on what to do to cope by themselves when criminals are breaking down their front door.

(10) Unfortunately, it appears that America is likely to be forced to Wander In The Wilderness for another 10 years Worshipping The False Idol of on-line education for inner-city children, until a new Stanford U study demonstrates 10 years from now that it has been an abysmal failure for reasons that are obvious now at the outset.

(11) I was unable to tell you whether The Teacher Wars (our current focus book) addresses on-line education because I read the book more than 8 days ago when you first began raising this topic. Since for some time, I no longer consider the topic interesting or important (the two categories for which I have a photographic memory), I did not read The Teacher Wars with on-line education in mind to see whether it would be addressed and, if so, how. I can now see that on-line education will probably become the Third False Idol America will worship while Wandering In The Wilderness for another 10 years and that, accordingly, it is important and I should pay specific attention.

**********
It strikes me that you are intent on always seizing the next excuse for doing nothing in the way of Loving Our Inner-City Neighbors.

Nevertheless, I am open minded and would be very interested in receiving any information you may have about --

(1) Why anyone would think that on-line instruction would be effective for any adolescent unless s/he is supervised by a parent, rather than being policed solely by the equivalent of a customer-service chat-line; and

(2) Why anyone would think that inner-city children who live in a single-adult household headed by a druggie who turns over all receipts to the pusher so that the kids have to steal in order to eat -- would receive adequate supervision so that they actually turn on their computers and pay attention to Khan Academy programs (much less cope with them successfully with only the equivalent of a customer-service chat-line).

Your friend,

John K.