{"id":644,"date":"2009-09-07T21:33:25","date_gmt":"2009-09-08T02:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=644"},"modified":"2009-09-08T02:47:16","modified_gmt":"2009-09-08T07:47:16","slug":"are-you-smarter-than-a-deputy-prime-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=644","title":{"rendered":"Are You Smarter than a Deputy Prime Minister?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greetings from Australia!<\/p>\n

Karl Fisch’s latest blog, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?<\/a>, and a horrific current event inspired me to mine the Stager Archives for another old article (originally published in 2007).<\/p>\n

I witnessed a horrific spectacle last night. Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Julia Gillard, was a contestant on the Aussie version of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader<\/em>? Yup, that’s right – an accomplished attorney and Deputy Prime Minister was a shameless combatant in this nationally televised trivia porn.<\/p>\n

<\/object>
\nYou MUST watch this 10-second clip!<\/em><\/p>\n

I know what you’re thinking, my fellow Americans. Does Arne Duncan<\/a> have what it takes to demonstrate his intellect on pressing questions like, “Which wood is cricket bats made of?” (That was in the 5th PLANTS<\/em> category)<\/p>\n

Is Plants<\/em> an actual subject area and if so, is it important to know how cricket bats are made?<\/p>\n

Deputy Prime Minister Gillard is another in a long-string of accomplished thoughtful professionals whose intelligence drops in half when it comes to matters of education. Ten months ago I wrote about her crush on American public education saboteur in the Australian publication, Crikey<\/a>. Educators can learn nothing from Chancellor Klein\u2019s visit<\/a> <\/em>Gillard is pushing a national curriculum, standardized testing, data-driven decision-making, school ranking and other equally despicable fantasies across her nation in the name of educational quality. She embraces the worst of American trends in public education with two fists.<\/p>\n

I will be enormously sad if the Australian teacher unions capitulate on such matters of importance as have their American brethren.<\/p>\n

Gillard is also advancing a plan called The Digital Education Revolution<\/a> under which Aussie schoolchildren may or may not gain access to a personal computer. The most objectionable aspect of this plan is the fact that I am less than an hour’s drive from one of the first schools in the world where every student got a personal laptop computer nearly 20 years ago. In fact, I led professional development at that school 19 years ago! It was the stated policy of the state government in 1990 that by 1991, every child would have a personal laptop computer.<\/p>\n

It’s depressing that every 20 years we need to have a revolution to do what we promised to do 20 years ago. Such bureaucratic amnesia proves Stager’s Second Law of School Reform:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Educators will continue to invent what already exists, each time with diminished expectations.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In any event, here is the February 27, 2007 article I wrote for The Pulse.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Is Your State Commissioner of Education Smarter Than a 5th Grader?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tonight, the Fox Television Network will perform a great public service. TV will demonstrate to millions of households what some of us have known for years. Much of what school teaches is utterly useless nonsense.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Kozol, Herbert Kohl, Susan Ohanian<\/a> and Alfie Kohn<\/a> have long proposed that politicians and business leaders imposing educational standards and high-stakes tests on children should be forced to have their (current) scores on the same tests published in the newspaper. Quick!<\/em> Name an official with the courage to do so!<\/p>\n

While the Miss Crabtree<\/a> generation laughed at a pie in the face. Fox hopes that the MCAS\/FCAT\/STAR\/TAKS generation will yuck it up to Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader<\/a>; <\/em>a light-hearted confection celebrating the humiliating prospect of an adult being \u201coutsmarted\u201d by a kid. If the show is successful, it will be expose the dirty-little secret of American education – school curricula is focused on trivia.<\/p>\n

Trivia is the fuel that propels game shows. Some game shows are based on chance or physical prowess, yet some of the most enduring ones are based on \u201cknowledge.\u201d Wheel of Fortune <\/em>and Jeopardy<\/em> \u201ctest\u201d the knowledge of contestants, but what sorts of knowledge are being assessed? Successful contestants combine rapid twitch reaction with spelling, vocabulary and memorization of esoteric factoids. Understanding, experience, talent or effort is not required and therefore unmeasured. That stuff may not be quick, relevant or prone to multiple-choice questions.<\/p>\n

The appeal of Game Shows is that the viewer thinks, \u201cI\u2019m smarter than that <\/em>guy!\u201d Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader<\/em> ingeniously plays on our fear of appearing stupid and the schadenfreude we enjoy when someone else looks like a buffoon.<\/p>\n

I can hardly wait for \u201cState Department of Education Week\u201d or \u201cBusiness Roundtable Showdown\u201d on Are You Smarter that a 5th Grader<\/em>!<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nsample question from the program web site<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Do we agree on what it means to be \u201csmart?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is an unfortunate paradox in play here. What many of us see as the dumbing-down of American education is now being sold to the television audience as intelligence. Where American Idol<\/em> (the lead-in to \u20265th Grader<\/em>) celebrates perseverance, talent, individuality and personal expression, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader<\/em> rewards being a smart-aleck and implies that education is a zero-sum game.<\/p>\n

The incessant quest for one hundred percent of students to be above the norm reduces schooling to a contest with lots of losers and no exciting cash and prizes. Teachers who camp out in-front of conference booths selling multiple-choice clicker systems hoping to use such technological goodies in their classroom should think about the consequences of their lust. Classrooms are not game show sets and teachers should <\/em>be more than game show hosts.<\/p>\n

However, it should be noted that Jeff Foxworth, host of \u20265th Grader<\/em>, is an accomplished artist who has spent more than twenty years perfecting his craft and entertaining millions. Regardles of whether you enjoy his brand of humor, he has a unique style and a strong sense of self. No memo will cause him to change his style or tell a joke he doesn\u2019t think is funny.<\/p>\n

By the way… Have you heard the latest Jeff Foxworthy joke? You might be a redneck<\/a> if you let some anonymous bureaucrat bully you into what and how you teach.*<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, I love <\/em>that joke!<\/p>\n

Game shows are one way we escape from thinking. Is the same true for 5th grade?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

*That’s not really a Jeff Foxworthy joke and should not be construed as a slur against rednecks. I made it up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greetings from Australia! 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