Why Good Teachers Aren’t Thinking About the Global Economy
An article that needs more reads; by Alfie Kohn
It begins:
Here are some phrases that might reassure us if they were used to defend a particular education policy: “excitement about learning” . . . “deeper thinking about questions that matter” . . . “promoting social and moral development” . . . “democratic society.”
And here’s a phrase that ought to make us wince and back away slowly: “competitiveness in a 21st-century global economy.” read more
Some Quotes:
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Does anyone seriously believe, for example, that the main reason U.S. companies are shipping jobs by the millions to Mexico and Asia is because they believe those countries’ schools are better? Alfie Kohn
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“…good teachers “refuse to see their pupils as . . . pint-sized deficits or assets for America’s economy into whom they are expected to pump ‘added value.’” Jonathan Kozol, as quoted by Kohn
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A more reasonable and humane perspective is always hard to come by when we’re told that we’re in a race. The prospects for critical thought are particularly bleak if the race never ends. Alfie Kohn
Posted on April 16, 2008 at 8:36 am by admin · Permalink
In: Cooperation/Competition · Tagged with: competition, Globalization, Kohn
In: Cooperation/Competition · Tagged with: competition, Globalization, Kohn
on April 17, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Permalink
I love the article by Kohn. Bill, thanks for sharing.