Social discussion of CS in K-12

[Charles Schultz <sacrophyte AT gmail.com>]

Lisa,

Yes, you are right to correct me that in a sense, "government" is more like a puppet show than acting of its own accord. I imagine that those who drafted the original Constitution would roll over in their graves at the mess we have made today.

What I find encouraging is that so many little pockets of smart, well-rounded and sound-thinking people realize the charades for what they are and are actively engaged, in their own small ways, to make the world a better place regardless. I love that about the people around us.

Personally, I don't think the world, as a system (or even as an entity), will correct itself. I believe it will take some serious intervention. That nature of man is to think about self; another nature exerts a pressure against that natural tendency, one that thinks about others. You speak of slowing the inevitable; I do not know what the inevitable is, but I do know that to not fight is the same as giving up, and to me, that is not acceptable.

All of life is a series of teaching (and teachable) moments. It is easy to think of "school" as a building we send our children to for 6 hours a weekday, but we all know that there is much education that happens outside that time, not to mention before and after we are "school-aged". This education, the Game of Life, will both reinforce and work against our natural selfishness - we are constantly called to decide how that will turn out. I prefer and hope we raise up children who not only persist in that struggle, but choose wisely. And this is what I ask of my community, to help me as I raise my own children with these standards. I cannot do it alone because I myself am flawed.

Bringing this somewhat "off the deep end" tangent back to the main idea, it is helpful for me to have these discussions because it helps me to see where the fight is, it helps me to know where the path is. It is helpful for me to understand the limitations and precepts of our current system so I have some idea of how to work to make it better for our children and our society. I do not believe there is any perfect system any of us could possibly come up with, and thus it is necessary that we question everything, always cooking the dross out of the silver. So in our public schools, Unit 4 in particular, I want to encourage the awesome things are already in progress (preK - 3rd grade initiatives, social justice, computational thinking, more teacher autonomy) while at the same time raising a voice against those things that are harmful (high-stakes testing, unfunded mandates, one-size-fits-all, factory mindset).

sorry for rambling, I'll shut up now...

On Wed, Jan 28, 2015 at 9:27 PM, Bievenue, Lisa Anne <bievenue AT illinois.edu> wrote:

Charles, I agree with nearly everything you say, but I don’t think it’s about the government controlling (or at least trying to control) education for its own needs (“As children, we are sculpted and molded into little worker ants that best suits the needs of the government.”)  The government does not benefit from worker ants.  The needs being met are those of the 1% (or fewer) who control business, government, and everything else.  And those people know how to use the government to do their bidding.  And yes, we let them do that.  But maybe, like the Gaia theory, the world will right itself when that 1%  fall victim to the system they have created.  And maybe we, the objectioning minority, are just slowing that inevitable process. But, alas, we must persevere on, lest there be no one to re-boot when that happens.  J

 

Lisa

 

Charles Schultz