Yes indeed. Choice is an important factor... For everyone.


> From: Vincent Rossano <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: School Information Technology Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 20:51:26 -0500
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Productivity.  (was: throw another distraction log on the IT pyre)
> 
>>>> On 2/2/2008 at 4:10 PM, Ray Ballou <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> b/c a Horse and Buggy lifestyle is not going to get us through the next
>> century. And even if it would, China and India care about productivity, so
>> we  should too.
> 
> Ray,
> 
> Who's talking about a "Horse and Buggy lifestyle"?   Do you believe that
> reduced productivity necessarily equals 19th century living conditions?  I'm
> not sure about that.  But it may well mean making do with a less than we have
> now.  (Just don't take away my broadband connection! :-) )
> 
> Now, if you wanna talk "China and India", you'd better take a look at their
> education systems.  They are beating the pants off us in science and math, yet
> I'd guess they don't have one-tenth of the computers in the classrooms that we
> do.  In fact, in China, they even have *computer* classes without computers.
> And I doubt that many of their schools have anyone called a "technology
> integrationist".  Maybe this entire listserv is irrelevant in terms of
> productivity in education.
> 
> No, it's not.  We do education differently in the U.S.  And, personally, I
> like the way we do it better.  But, if we define "better" in terms of
> increased productivity, we need to make some changes fast.  More "drill and
> kill" and less personal fulfillment.  Forget about a research paper on your
> favorite baseball team. Forget about a research paper on anything.  Get your
> butt into calculus class.  And if you can't hack calculus, get your butt out
> into the workplace and be "productive".
> 
> Neither you nor I want to be part of such a hard-nosed education system, but
> if we're using productivity as our standard, maybe we need to do that.
> 
> When I was in 6th grade, the Russians launched Sputnik and the United States
> freaked out.  The Soviets were "beating" us!  There were all sorts of dire
> predictions about the end of civilization as we knew it if we didn't put a
> science lab in every school - as soon as we cleared the halls from the "duck
> and cover" drills.  Changes were frantically made in curriculum - which
> probably was called for- and perhaps the renewed focus on science really was
> important. But we never ever got as rigorous about it as the Soviets.  Then,
> several decades later, the Soviet Union self-destructed.  (This is not to say
> the former Soviet Union isn't, today, a major player in geopolitics - and a
> big worry.)
> 
> I just can't get worked up into a sweat about China and India "beating" us.
> Anyway, there may not be much we can do about it - increased productivity or
> not.  China already holds far more of our national debt than any other foreign
> country.  All they need to do is call in that debt and we're screwed.  (Of
> course, they'd be screwed too, but that's another story.)  It just may be that
> the 20th century will prove to be the first and last where the United States
> is THE world-dominant power.  And, as far as I'm concerned, that isn't
> necessarily a bad thing.
> 
> On a personal note: in 1969, I was working for a wine importing company in New
> York City.  I had just gotten a nice promotion when I announced I was moving
> to Vermont.  People were astounded. ("Vermont?  Where is that?  Someplace
> upstate?")  My boss tried to get me to change my mind by warning me about the
> difficulty of returning to a "horse and buggy lifestyle". (Really, he did say
> something like that.)  He clearly didn't know much about Vermont, but he
> warned me that there'd be low salaries and no shopping malls. My family, also
> horrified, said pretty much the same thing.
> 
> I moved to Vermont and, sure enough, there were low salaries and no shopping
> malls.  Now we've got shopping malls (damn!), but we still have low salaries.
> Among my cousins (who all stayed in New York or moved to other major urban
> centers), I'm the only one not earning over $150k a year. (I - like you - am
> not earning half of that.)  And I don't regret it for a minute.
> 
> Must be something besides productivity that makes life worth living. :-)
> 
> -Vince