What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.

- Henry David Thoreau

Schools have not necessarily much to do with education. - Winston Churchill

The only time my education was interrupted was when I was in school. - George Bernard

Shaw

My grandmother wanted me to have an education, so she kept me out of school. -

Margaret Mead

In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. - Mark Twain

What Knowledge is most Worth?

Yong Zhao, Ph. DUniversity Distinguished Professor

Director, US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence

College of EducationExecutive Director, Confucius Institute

Michigan State Universityzhaoyo@msu.edu

ReformingEducation

China targets childhood obesity with compulsory dancingJonathan Watts in BeijingTuesday June 5, 2007Guardian Unlimited

Compulsory waltzing will be added to the Chinese national curriculum in September under a new campaign to reduce childhood obesity.From the start of the new school year, teachers across the country will be expected to put hundreds of millions of pupils through their paces every day, the state-run China Daily said today.

The Ministry of Education said the dances were designed to "suit the physical and psychological characteristics of students at different ages". New steps and melodies will be introduced every two years.

[USA 2002]

In January 2002, the United States of America enacted the No Child Left Behind Act, which dramatically increases the importance of testing in education. The law requires each state to administer statewide assessments to all students in core academic areas. Rewards are given to schools and teachers whose students perform well, while schools whose students perform poorly are publicly identified and required to take corrective actions.

[China 2002]

In December 2002, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued a policy designed to reform assessment and evaluation in elementary and secondary schools. This document, entitled Ministry of Education’s Notice Regarding Furthering the Reform of Evaluation and Assessment Systems in Elementary and Secondary Schools, calls for alternative assessments that go beyond simply testing academic knowledge. It specifically forbids ranking school districts, schools, or individual students based on test results or making test results public.

[More USA]

[W]e need to encourage children to take more math and science, and to make sure those courses are rigorous enough to compete with other nations. We've made a good start in the early grades with the No Child Left Behind Act, which is raising standards and lifting test scores across our country. Tonight I propose to train 70,000 high school teachers to lead advanced-placement courses in math and science, bring 30,000 math and science professionals to teach in classrooms, and give early help to students who struggle with math, so they have a better chance at good, high-wage jobs. If we ensure that America's children succeed in life, they will ensure that America succeeds in the world.

-- George W. Bush, 2006

Japan

• Since 2001, Japan has been working to implement its Education Plan for the 21st Century, which has three major objectives:

• The first is “enhancing emotional education,” that is, cultivating students as emotionally well-rounded human beings.

• The second objective is “realizing a school system that helps children develop their individuality and gives them diverse choices” by moving towards a diverse, flexible educational system that encourages individuality and cultivates creativity.

• The third is “promoting a system in which the school’s autonomy is respected” through decentralizing educational administration, enhancing local autonomy, and enabling independent self-management at the school level. (Iwao, 2000)

Singapore

Since 1997, Singapore another frequent high flyer in international comparative studies, has engaged in a major curriculum reform initiative. Entitled Thinking Schools, Learning Nation, this initiative aims to develop all students into active learners with critical thinking skills and to develop a creative and critical thinking culture within schools. Its key strategies include:

• The explicit teaching of critical and creative thinking skills; • The reduction of subject content;• The revision of assessment modes; and; • A greater emphasis on processes instead of on outcomes when

appraising schools.• In 2005, the Ministry of Education in Singapore released another

major policy document Nurturing Every Child: Flexibility and Diversity in Singapore Schools, which called for a more varied curriculum, a focus on learning rather than teaching, and more autonomy for schools and teachers (Ministry of Education, 2005).

[England 2006]

Teachers propose scrapping of national curriculum

Teachers will today back radical new proposals to abolish the national curriculum and end all national testing for the under-16s.Delegates attending the annual conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers' annual conference in Gateshead will debate controversial plans to rip up the hundreds of ring binders that contain detailed subject-by-subject specifications - originally introduced by the Conservatives in 1988 - and replace them with a "shortlist" of skills.

The Guardian April 11, 2006

[Korea 2000]

Revised 7th National Curriculum

The ultimate goal is to cultivate creative, autonomous, and self-driven human resources who will lead the era's developments in information, knowledge and globalisation. •Promote fundamental and basic education that fosters sound human beings and nurtures creativity •Help students build self-leading capacity so that they well meet the challenges of today's globalisation and information development • Implement learner-oriented education that suits the students' capability, aptitude and career development needs • Ensure expanded autonomy for the local community and schools in curriculum planning and operation.

[China 2005]

High school curriculum reform

Among the problems targeted by the reforms: •Overemphasis on knowledge transmission•Too many required and uniform courses, which limited students’ individual development •Too much overlapping content, resulting in excessive coursework burden on students•Overemphasis on the value of individual discipline, resulting in too little interdisciplinary and social integration Remedies:•Credit system•More electives, fewer required courses•Local subjects/school based curriculum•Integrated studies•New subjects (art, environment, technology, etc)

[Michigan, USA 2006]

High school curriculum reform:

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm signed legislation establishing a rigorous high school curriculum in Michigan, calling it an essential step in building a diverse economy that will help keep young people in the state. The legislation signed by the Governor requires: •  four credits of math and English language arts;•  three credits of science and social studies;•  two credits of foreign language;•  one credit of physical education and health;•  one credit of visual, performing, or applied arts;•  one online learning experience.

… and …

NCTM in ChinaSingaporean math in NJ

30% content reduction in KoreaMore math courses in the US

Centralize standards and testing in the USMore autonomy in students, teachers, and schools in Singapore, Korea, Japan, China.

Emphasis on traditional subjects in the USEmerging abilities and subjects elsewhere

Japanese lesson studies

Mile-wide inch-deep vs. structured, coherent curriculum

Risk-taking and Back to the Basics: Driving Forces of Education ReformWhy?

Nations with Average Scores Significantly Higher than the US

Nation AverageSingapore 643Korea 607Japan 605Hong Kong 588Belgium (Fl) 565Czech Republic 564Slovak Republic 547Switzerland 545(Netherlands) 541(Slovenia) 541(Bulgaria) 540(Austria) 539France 538Hungary 537Russian Fed. 535(Australia) 530Ireland 527Canada 527(Belgium (Fr)) 526Sweden 519

Nations with Average Scores Significantly Lower than the US

Nation AverageLithuania 477Cyprus 474Portugal 454Iran, Islamic Republic 428(Kuwait) 392(Columbia) 385South Africa 354

Nations with Average Scores Not Significantly Different than the US

Nation AverageThailand 522Israel 522(Germany) 509New Zealand 508England 506Norway 503(Denmark) 502United States 500(Scotland) 498Latvia (LSS) 493Spain 487Iceland 487(Greece) 484(Romania) 482

1995 TIMSS Grade 8 Mathematics Performance

Why Cannot Asians think?Strengths and Weaknesses of East Asian Education

Knowledge-centeredCentralizedDiscipline-basedOutcome-oriented

Why Cannot Johnny Add?Strengths and Weaknesses of

American Education

Child-centeredDecentralized Activity-based

Process-oriented

Hawaii = Edutopia ?The Fallacy of Learning from Each Other

now a quiz…

1. Teri Hatcher2. Demi Moore3. Donald Trump4. Heather Locklear5. David Letterman6. George W. Bush7. Ray Liotta8. Sandra Bullock9. Bill Clinton10. Clint Eastwood

1. Jessica Alba2. Eva Longoria3. Anna Kournikova4. Ben Affleck5. Ashton Kutcher6. Marcia Cross7. Halle Berry8. Jessica Simpson9. Nicole Kidman10. Angelina Jolie

HD TV

Swanni's Annual 'Best & Worst' HDTV List

1. Teri Hatcher2. Demi Moore3. Donald Trump4. Heather Locklear5. David Letterman6. George W. Bush7. Ray Liotta8. Sandra Bullock9. Bill Clinton10. Clint Eastwood

1. Jessica Alba2. Eva Longoria3. Anna Kournikova4. Ben Affleck5. Ashton Kutcher6. Marcia Cross7. Halle Berry8. Jessica Simpson9. Nicole Kidman10. Angelina Jolie

http://www.tvpredictions.com/fall2005hd092605.html

technology redefines talents

"Say bud, can you tell me where the illiterate club is?"

Industrial Revolution

Science!

Latin

Greek

Grammar

Theology

LatinGreek

Grammar

ReligionChemistry

Physics

Physics

Chemistry

Biology

Technology

Biology

What’s taught in schools

What knowledge is of most worth?--Herbert Spencer, 1859

Almost 150 years later…

As electrically contracted, the globe is no more than a village.

Marshall McLuhan, 1964

“Honey,” I confided, “I think the world is flat.”

Thomas Friedman, 2005

GlobalIntegration

Goods

People

Money

GlobalFree Flow

McDonaldization and Starbucks in the Forbidden City: Global Consumerism

Our students are affected by global forces, cultural clashes, and different value systems.

It’s a Big Job to Make the Mini: Global Supply Chain

Tutoring companies figure: If low-paid workers in China and India can sew your clothes, process your medical bills and answer your computer questions, why can't they teach your children, too?

Washington Post, 2006

Therefore we need to move into niche areas where they will not be able to completely replace us for quite some time.

---Lee Kuan Yew, 2007

Yao Ming and Herbert Hoover: Global Trade of Talents

In the global economy, our students career are global. Where can they find employment depends on their niche talents.

Climate Change and the Bird Flu: Global Elephant in the Local Bedroom

The predicted effects of climate change over the coming decades include extreme weather events, drought, flooding, sea level rise, retreating glaciers, habitat shifts, and the increased spread of life-threatening diseases. These conditions have the potential to disrupt our way of life and to force changes in the way we keep ourselves safe and secure. . . Projected climate change will seriously exacerbate already marginal living standards in many Asian, African, and Middle Eastern nations, causing widespread political instability and the likelihood of failed states.... The chaos that results can be an incubator of civil strife, genocide, and the growth of terrorism. The CNA Corporation, 2007

and…

Virtual marriage & 2nd Life: Socializing virtually

Anshe Chung has become the first online personality to achieve a net worth exceeding one million US dollars from profits entirely earned inside a virtual world.

--Business Week, May, 2006

Gold-farming and digital produce: Digital farmers market

YouTube and podcasting: Running your own show

With the 100 millionth account being created on August 9, 2006[4] and a news story claiming 106 million accounts on September 8, 2006,[5] the site reportedly attracts new registrations at a rate of 230,000 per day.

Currently staffed by 67 employees,[1] the company was named TIME magazine's "Invention of the Year" for 2006.[2] In October 2006, Google Inc. announced that it had reached a deal to acquire the company for US$1.65 billion in Google's stock. The deal closed on 13 November 2006.[3]

Podcast Users Expected To Reach 60 Million In Five Years The number of podcast users in the United States is expected to increase nearly 15 fold over the next five years, a research group says. –Information Week, May 15, 2005

What can an 18 year old do?

Hackers and Thieves: Morality and Crimes in CyberSpace

In the UK, Sasser forced staff at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to return to manual map reading because computer systems were made unusable by the worm.

Check-in for some British Airways flights was also delayed thanks to Sasser.

Around the world, the Australian Railcorp trains stopped running because computer problems caused by Sasser made it impossible for drivers to talk to signalmen.

In Taiwan, more than 400 branches of the post office were forced to use pen and paper because Sasser crashed desktop PCs.

Anti-virus firm Sophos estimates that 70% of all the virus infections in the first half of 2004 could be blamed on Mr Jaschan's creations.

Statistics gathered by Sophos show that in the first six months of 2005 there were four variants of Netsky in the top 10 viruses and they accounted for 25.5% of all infections. Unlike many other viruses, Sasser made its way from

what knowledge is of most worth in the global and virtual worlds?

Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age

Daniel H. Pink (2005).A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age

A Whole New Mind

Information Age: L-Directed Thinking

– Sequential– Literal– Functional– Textual– Analytic Conceptual Age:

R-Directed Thinking– Simultaneous– Metaphorical– Aesthetic– Contextual– Synthetic

AsiaAutomationAbundance

Essential Aptitudes in the Conceptual Age

• Design• Story• Symphony• Empathy• Play• Meaning.

According to Howard Gardner, pre-collegiate education need to encompass the following skills, abilities and understandings:

• Understanding the global system• The ability to think analytically and creatively

within disciplines• The ability to tackle problems and issues that do

not respect disciplinary boundaries• Knowledge of other cultures and traditions, which

should be an end in itself and a means to interact with others civilly and productively

• Knowledge of and respect for one’s own cultural traditions

• Fostering of hybrid or blended identities• Fostering of tolerance and appreciation across

racial, linguistic, national, and cultural boundaries

Global Citizenship

The completely untraveled person will view all foreigners as the savage regards a member of another herd. But the man who has traveled, or who has studied international politics, will have discovered that, if his herd is to prosper, it must, to some degree, become amalgamated with other herds.

--Bertrand Russell, 1950

Digital Citizenship

• Living in the digital world– Consumers– Citizens– Community leaders

• Making a living in the digital world– Digital workers– Global workers

• (Re)Creating the digital world– Innovators– Entrepreneurs

Valuable Talents

• Creativity• EQ vs IQ• Niche talents and multiple

intelligences

Linguistic Logic

MusicalKinaesthetic

Child A

Child B

Child C

Child D

The Strengths and Weaknesses of American Education

“Public education does not serve a public. It creates a public”

-- Neil Postman.

The flattened world and the virtual world require a new public, a public with clear understandings of other cultures, other people, other languages, and other tools. Our schools need to act to provide an education that will prepare them

for these new worlds.

Leadership

Problem solvers

Opportunity seekers