John Connell gets credit for introducing me to these two Bill Gates quotes on education, orginally found in a Time Magazine article.
“It’s important to be humble when we talk about education, because TV was going to change education and videotape was going to change it and computer-aided instruction was going to change it. But until the Internet exploded 10 years ago, technology really hadn’t made a dent in education at all. Learning is mostly about creating a context for motivation. It’s about why should you learn things. Technology plays a role, but it’s not a panacea.”
I agree with Connell and with Bill Gates. Humility. People/kids ultimately want to learn from others they know who care about them and have their best interests in mind...not from someone who wants to sell them a better idea for learning.
When a man who could buy a country speaks with humility about humility, he earns points in my books.
“Technology can help, but it always has to be technology that understands the difficult conditions. Are computers in developing countries going to change their education system? In a lot of countries it’s more: Are there classrooms, are there teachers, is there electricity? Taking new technology and trying to impose it on developing countries–that’s crazy.”
There is no one size fits all situations. Gates makes an excellent point.
I taught English for nearly 20 years in Japan. If I had dollar for every time I was asked the best way to learn English, I'd be blogging about how rich I am now....and competing with Gates to buy a country.
If there was ONE BEST WAY to do anything, learn a language, teach a village, build a house... you name it, then why isn't EVERYONE doing it that way.
There is no one best way to educate the world.
What do you think?
Comment Preview