Realism about 21st Century Schools

Chris Lehmann, the principal of the innovative Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, critiques this glossy video proclaiming the importance of technology in education in his blog Practical Theory.

He worries that the message is too glib:

I’m disturbed by the fascination with connection for connection’s sake that I see in the first few minutes of the video. I remain very, very concerned with the notion that all we have to do is let the kids connect with the world—just like they do on Facebook or MySpace—and the kids will learn...We have to stop just thinking that the introduction of these tools without an incredible amount of planning and forethought will change anything for the better.

He also worries that we risk throwing away the baby with the bathwater:

The technology can be transformative, but only when coupled with a sense of where you are going and why. Let’s not forget the last 100 years of progressive school reform as we look to change schools today. We have to learn from the lessons of the past—we must learn why the progressive school movement lost to the factory model as the dominant educational model in America, if we expect to be successful in whatever the next wave of school reform turns out to be.

Lehmann worries that the video, produced by Pearson, is really just a marketing ploy for its new web-based school products. And he’s probably right.

The video is a symptom, not a cause, of the problems Lehmann is worried about. The video won’t keep anyone from asking the tough questions, but it just might be another indicator that not enough people are asking them yet.

Scott McLeod takes a similar perspective in his blog Dangerously Irrelevant,

Quit offering us wishes. Quit offering us dreams. Quit preaching to us about what is morally right and educationally appropriate. Help us realize, in terms we can understand, what this new thing might actually look like AT SCALE and how we might reasonably get here. Even if we agree with you that this is important, without a vision AND a plan we’re just as stuck as you are.

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