American education is undergoing one of those "Woe is us" moments where we throw up our hands, look around, and try to figure out how to fix America's education system. Microsoft is now encouraging the American Idol model. Here is an excerpt from a recent Oregonian article:
Beaumont Middle School is one of 15; national finalists for a chance to win $100,000 from Microsoft search engine Bing, but the potential prize won't come to Oregon unless the Northeast Portland school garners the most votes
If Beaumont wins the $100,000, the money will build and supply a new media center with updated books, furniture and computers, said Fred Fox, the teacher whose eight-grade media literacy class produced the video entry titled http://www.ourschoolneeds.discoverbing.com/Projects/Default.aspx?prj=499#fbid=gMpCLCXDaHJ&wom=false">
And the competition in the final round is tough. A Wisconsin school would like a new theater, a Georgia school needs a new roof, a North Dakota school wants new science lab equipment
"We are the only school in the state of Oregon in the running," Fox said. 'It would be amazing if the whole state got behind us."
Americans are now being encouraged to fund their schools as if education were a reality television show. No other developed (or developing) country would ever dream of educating its children this way. This is so wrong on so many grounds that it would take weeks to explain them all. So, in lieu of an explanation, dear reader, help me cast my vote. After you visit the ourschoolneeds (real marketing thought went into that one,) site, http://bit.ly/toovapid please leave a comment as to which school deserves my vote. Feel free to have your friends participate! I will vote for the school which receives the most compelling argument in favor of receiving my vote. Help your school win $100K from Microsoft!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
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I was thinking... as I watched all the campaign attack ads during prime time the last couple weeks... that if just one of these candidates could take their campaign funds and put them directly into school funds instead of prime time ad space, it might go a decent way toward actually RESOLVING the school funding problems they claim they want to fix.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've heard arguments that "at least they are spending money" - and I agree, that's better than just sitting on the cash, but I think it could be better spent.
And they would still get media attention without buying ad space - if a candidate were to fund some needed school programs, the news media would be all over it as a big feel-good story.
Granted... Scary Announcer Voice Guy would end up taking a pay cut.