by Barry Dennis

Created on: August 18, 2009   Last Updated: August 20, 2009

They Can All Be Geniuses
Here's the problem; Joey in New York goes to school under New York standards that make Joey in the top 10% of students nationally. Mike in Mississippi goes to school with locally mandated standards , also modified by "No Child Left Behind", but is in the lowest 10% of students nationally. Both are educated under a national standard for some aspects of their education, but markedly different standards based on local politics, unions and other forces.

Why worry at all? Because the U.S. is being surpassed rapidly by educational achievement of students in other countries, even countries whose education systems were minimal as recently as a generation ago. We import hundreds of thousands of talented engineers, scientists, technicians, researchers, managers and others because the U.S. can't and hasn't developed enough of our own people to fill the demand.

There's a new education model coming, one based on standards that are formulated for achieving American, free-market needs, and a global economy. High, measurable standards in the Sciences, in Reading Comprehension, in Thinking and Reasoning ability, in the Humanities, in Philosophy, and all the other knowledge and thinking processes of a Millennium Learner.

It can and should be universal in application; complete in practice. Teachers and others who fight these necessary standards are on the wrong end of the sword; they will be, must be, replaced with educators who revel in exceeding any standard, who would like nothing more than having their entire class be one hundred percent college graduates; better still achieve Graduate and PhD degrees, or, students who have been helped to feel success with skill sets that prepare them for the rigors of a service economy. Machinists need more and better education outside the mechanical skill set; so do millwrights, so do medical techs, and more and more. And, learning is not just one goal, one process; a High School diploma, a B.A., an M.A., it is a lifelong process of learning, and the technology tools to do that are more available every day.

The pace of change in the world is astounding. Sometimes it feels like "the fasterest I go, the more behindest I get (B'rer Rabbit?)."
Technology-based education, even based on Cloud Computer-based-education-at -home (Cloud just refers to a dedicated set of software applications operating on dedicated servers, either remotely, by an enterprise organized for that purpose, or locally by an education

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>