Will Wikipedia Replace Your Kid's Teacher?, The “Blue Screen Of Death” For Education Options Rating

[Herschelkrustofsky]

Obama has been hanging out with Bill and Melinda Gates , and other persons who really care about education. Their consensus seems to be that all those people who said that a high student-to-teacher ratio was harmful were wrong, and that we can really think about getting rid of a lot of those teachers and replacing them with on-line instruction. With increasing emphasis on drill-and-grill and other regressive educational techniques, does this not put Wikipedia in more significant role as an educational [ahem] resource?

[Jon Awbrey]

A good place to learn about the philosophy of education that formed the main influence on educational practice in the United States for almost a century now would be John Dewey's Democracy and Education. Here are inks to an online copy at Columbia and one of the several entries at Amazon:

• Democracy and Education @ Columbia
• Democracy and Education @ Amazon

The Amazon blurb says it well —

In this landmark work on public education, Dewey discusses methods of providing quality public education in a democratic society. First published close to 90 years ago, it sounded the call for a revolution in education, stressing growth, experience, and activity as factors that promote a democratic character in students.

Jon Awbrey