Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Dr. Zhao
Dr. Zhao struck me as being a prognosticator, foreseeing what is needed for the future of education. One thing he stated was that there is not enough competition in the US. It does seem like it is getting to be politically incorrect to have competition. When there are teams and someone wins, then everyone has to win so self-confidence isn't hurt. I think his point was that some competition is healthy because it gets students to think creatively and to do a little bit extra, to go beyond. If everyone has the same reward, wins the same medal, for example, then some will not try anything new. The Olympics are a great example. Participants in gymnastics added new things to their routines so that they could score higher to get that gold medal. They became more creative and pushed themselves, and new routines were shown, routines that may inspire others to also be more creative. If everyone did the exact same routine and got the same reward, creativity probably wouldn't exist.
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2 comments:
I agree with you to a certain extent about competition, but I also worry about the concept of schools competing as he mentioned happens in China. You and I have both witnessed what happens (I'm thinking of scoring the ELA) when schools feel they are in competition for higher scores. Unfortunately, the pressure on teachers often leads to dishonesty. We also "teach to the test" instead of being more creative. I think we'd have to see a complete revamping of the way things are measured and approached in order for competition between schools to be truly effective.
I agree with the original post but also see the point that saram makes. I do think that we are getting carried away with the whole "everybody wins so no one's self-esteem gets hurt" way of thinking. On the other hand, however, high pressure and competition can create unfortunate situations such as teaching to the test and losing sight of what teaching and learning is all about. I do think that we need to overhaul our current methods and rethink the way we measure success in academics in order to improve our educational system. The difficult part is actually getting that to happen.
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