←back to thread

The EdTech Revolution Has Failed

(www.afterbabel.com)
346 points obscurette | 3 comments | 12 Nov 24 14:11 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source
Show context
donatj ◴[12 Nov 24 15:41 UTC] No.42116365[source]▶
I work in EdTech, I have for a very long time now, and the problem I have seen is no one in education is willing to ACTUALLY let kids learn at their own level.

The promise of EdTech was that kids could learn where they are. A kid who's behind can actually continue to learn rather than being left behind. A kid who's ahead can be nurtured.

We had this. It worked well, in my opinion at least, and the number of complaints and straight up threats because kids would learn things "they shouldn't be" was just… insanely frustrating.

Now in order to keep schools paying for our services, every kid is banded into a range based on their grade. They are scored/graded based on their grade level rather than their growth. It's such a crying shame.

replies(44): >>42116420 #>>42116428 #>>42116542 #>>42116573 #>>42116592 #>>42116597 #>>42116628 #>>42116631 #>>42116698 #>>42116704 #>>42116721 #>>42116856 #>>42116913 #>>42116918 #>>42116919 #>>42116925 #>>42116957 #>>42116988 #>>42117074 #>>42117131 #>>42117141 #>>42117190 #>>42117215 #>>42117242 #>>42117269 #>>42117313 #>>42117321 #>>42117478 #>>42117496 #>>42117855 #>>42118044 #>>42118114 #>>42118248 #>>42118527 #>>42118780 #>>42118804 #>>42119422 #>>42119555 #>>42119748 #>>42120204 #>>42120395 #>>42122043 #>>42128759 #>>42128827 #
michaelrpeskin ◴[12 Nov 24 16:01 UTC] No.42116631[source]▶
That's "equity" for you. We can't be unfair and give someone something that makes them better. It's easier to keep the top kids down than it is to lift the bottom kids up.
replies(6): >>42116842 #>>42116885 #>>42116910 #>>42116923 #>>42117169 #>>42117176 #
Afton ◴[12 Nov 24 16:23 UTC] No.42116885[source]▶
To be fair, it is less about "keeping top kids down" and more about "let's use our very scarce resources helping the bottom kids". Put that way it seems less malicious, and more like probably the right thing to do over all, while still being extremely frustrating if you are, or are the parent of, a 'top kid'. I know that in Seattle, I've been very frustrated with all the talk and promise of our school to provide enrichment to kids like mine who are able to learn quickly and are ready for more advanced learning opportunities, only to discover that it is haphazard, often in name only, and there isn't time or interest in providing more.

But it's not because of some drive for 'equity'. I've talked with teachers (as friends, not in a school setting). They're doing what they can with the resources they have.

replies(11): >>42116954 #>>42116990 #>>42117056 #>>42117119 #>>42117180 #>>42117193 #>>42117216 #>>42117370 #>>42117510 #>>42117669 #>>42119087 #
1. dxbydt ◴[12 Nov 24 17:11 UTC] No.42117370[source]▶
> "let's use our very scarce resources helping the bottom kids"

So why does the richest country on the planet have "very scarce resources" only when it comes to educating its kids ? Of course, that very same public school has a stadium that is easily several times larger than facilities provided for Olympic level athletes in a poor country like India. That same school has a music program with a huge ballroom, recording studio, fancy musical instruments...bass sax, harps, bassoons and contrabassoons, double bass, violas...like literally, even a top of the line Bollywood studio doesn't have half of this. USA has chosen to prioritize just about everything other than basic classroom stem education. Then when you ask the math teacher why the kids don't know their logarithms and trig tables, he is like...well we have calculators and chromebooks. I have spent multiple years trying to engage with school board officials in public schools here in the mid-west. The most reasonable, unemotional, takeaway after all this engagement is that Americans are simply not interested in classroom education. They don't have teacher, don't have the time to teach, don't care for books or chalkboards...its simply not their thing. That's fine. I do hope all of this hyper-investment in music and sports produces some world class track and field athlete who can run a mile under three minutes while playing the bassoon.

replies(2): >>42119131 #>>42122779 #
2. com2kid ◴[12 Nov 24 20:06 UTC] No.42119131[source]▶
> That same school has a music program with a huge ballroom, recording studio, fancy musical instruments...bass sax, harps, bassoons and contrabassoons, double bass, violas...

Seattle has cancelled a bunch of their music programs as well.

A couple years ago they also cancelled, a very successful, STEM program in schools that primarily served economically disadvantaged students, because the school district couldn't afford to pay their portion of the program's cost.

There was a court ruling in Washington state a decade or so ago that said the state government has to fund schools and that school districts and cities are forbidden from raising more than a pittance of additional funding for teachers and academic activities.

This was good for the first few years, all schools in the state finally became fully funded, not just the schools in rich areas, but recently the state has been underfunding schools and now every major school district in the state is having financial problems.

3. in_cahoots ◴[13 Nov 24 04:00 UTC] No.42122779[source]▶
Which poor public schools have any of those amenities? Most of the schools I’ve seen are in old buildings, with no air conditioning. The fancy ones may have a space for the band and a theater, while the poorer ones barely even have a playground. I’ve never seen a school with a recording studio, let alone a ballroom.