[PLUG-TALK] Driving Around Google in the Dalles

Richard C. Steffens rsteff at comcast.net
Mon Aug 11 15:39:06 UTC 2008


Rich Shepard wrote:
>    Perhaps Google has not been able to find the skills and experience they
> need in the local population. In my opinion, this widespread situation
> reflects the failures of the education industry and a shift in societal
> values. It's too bad, but that's the way it is.
>   
There was an interesting op-ed piece in yesterday's Oregonian (headline:
Only teachers accountable? Do the math) related to this issue. It was
written by a teacher who pointed out that they (teachers) have a very
small amount of time to have any impact on students, compared to the
rest of the students' waking hours. Assuming a student is awake for 16
hours/day, a secondary school teacher has contact with the student for
between 0.10 and 0.15 percent of that time.

Our teachers were expected to teach us their subject. They may have been
expected to teach us various moral values, but more in support of the
moral values we were learning from our parents. The TV shows we saw were
from the early days of that medium, when moral values were supported and
reinforced. Comic books were pretty obvious about good vs. evil, and
which was which. Today there are many mixed messages in the programs
kids see. Are there conversations going on to help the kids discern
which of those messages are good examples to be emulated and which are
bad examples -- ones that should be used to help recognize good from bad
in the actions of people they encounter?

So, I would put more weight on the "shift in societal values" part of
your observation than on the "failures of the education industry." There
may well be much room for improvement in how education is currently
delivered, but it seems a difficult requirement to ask that system to
overcome the effects of the shift in societal values in addition to
teaching their subjects.

-- 
Regards,

Dick Steffens
 




More information about the PLUG-talk mailing list