[DDN] Digital divide and NAS report
Bonnie -- I'm confused as to your reference to the Rising Above the Gathering Storm report. The NY Times article was certainly a disappointment - it was clear they haven't done their research. But I've not seen anything in the Rising Above report that implied that we had a playing field -- in fact that report points out how far behind we are in danger of falling. Thanks for clearing this up. Ken At 08:09 AM 4/3/2006, you wrote: Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11463.html The whole book is online free... But you have to read it. It is not a minutes worth of information. It requires understanding the reason for the report. I believe, since this is the second report that says that we are on a level playing field and that there is no digital divide that it is politically motivated by people who are not doing their research or reading recent reports. It was done by Cosepup Bonnie Bracey Sutton Kenan Patrick Jarboe, Ph.D. Athena Alliance 911 East Capitol Street, SE Washington, DC 20003-3903 (202) 547-7064 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.AthenaAlliance.org http://www.IntangibleEconomy.org ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Digital divide and NAS report
In a message dated 4/3/06 12:42:13 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Bonnie -- I'm confused as to your reference to the Rising Above the Gathering Storm report. The NY Times article was certainly a disappointment - it was clear they haven't done their research. But I've not seen anything in the Rising Above report that implied that we had a playing field -- in fact that report points out how far behind we are in danger of falling. Thanks for clearing this up. In the paragraph mentioning the gathering storm I was talking about Katrina. My reference to the Rising Above the Gathering Storm,would have been to point out the parts of the report that show the new technologies that we have that all do not have or know how to teach with. I have been to an NSF meeting on Broadening the Base in Science, Math,Engineering and Technology, and they pointed out that there are less than one percent Native Americans in SMET, 2 percent black, and three percent of Latinos engaged in SMET. There is in that Rising Above the Gathering Storm, the report, the warning that we are falling further and further behind and they give indicators. We are 17th in the world in the use of information technologies. We used to have a fall back , because we could attract the best and brightest from many countries who would come here and enter the workforce. Nothing wrong with that, but the digital divide in SMET is horrendous. The expert on this work is Dr. Richard Tapia at Rice University. We have neglected sorely minorities who have participated in American Schooling, and practically excluded them from the learning of meaningful science and math. ( I have the PISA report to share) There are whole countries that are on broadband, and there are projects that surpass many of our projects. We may still hold a base on innovation, but I have to point out that many of our computer scientists and analysts are people who came as immigrants, or student to study here and who stayed. 9/11 had certain curtailed that a bit. Countries are beginning to develop their own resources and create their own content and projects. I have participated in some of this work with the country of Greece. I was priviledged to work abroad on many initiatives. The higher end of technology , as NCSA defines it , is being developed globally in Parallel Computing. I guess I have to stop writing in the morning when I am upset. The gathering storm I was talking about was the real Katrina, the hurricane. Having worked with NASA as a teacher, I heard predictions long ago that there might be difficulty in New Orleans. I was referring to the weather, the storm, and the lack of coherent communications about what to do. I have students who live in that area, or former students who wrote about the mis-directions given to citizens. I have an intriguing video clip, but it is very sad. The gathering storm report is different This is the report , but it has a bigger title. If I was referring to it, I would give that title Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future The whole book is on line and can be downloaded in a pdf. It is free. http://darwin.nap.edu/cart/deliver.cgi?record_id=11463 Final Forthcoming/Prepubs Are Available This is a forthcoming title. Prices are subject to change without notice. Please contact customer service for updates regarding current pricing and projected date of release. You may purchase the prepublication version of this book for immediate shipment or preorder the final book to ship to you when it is published. Before I finalized my work with the government, I was involved in a group that created three reports that outlined all of this information. But most of the references to this work are gone and the policy group seems to have disappeared. Probably from a lack of funding. I have the hard copies and the information is very much the same. There was probably a lack of interest, funding, and support from the current government until this report. I call attention to this part of the executive summary. http://darwin.nap.edu/books/0309100399/html/3.html Everyone should read pages 3, and 4. This is a time when teachers are not valued, when science is being chucked out the window because of the schedules of testing for NCLB and when hands on science and meaningful trips and project based learning are being ignored for memorization. Furthermore, the way we teach math has not changed. Thank you for helping me clarify. There was another report that was done by NCATE -1997 that was the philosophy on which PT3, Preparing Teachers for the 21st Century, but it has been taken down and is not even available on Wayback. We all know that PT3 , Preparing Teachers for the Use of Technology was cut to the bone and then some. So it is crazy in a way to see that this is one of the recommendations. Perhaps the right hand does not know what
[DDN] Digital divide and NAS report( sorry about the imprecise language)
In a message dated 4/3/06 12:28:04 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Thanks for clearing this up. Ken thank you for your sharp eyes At 08:09 AM 4/3/2006, you wrote: Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11463.html The whole book is online free... But you have to read it. It is not a minutes worth of information. It requires understanding the reason for the report. I believe, since this is the second report that says that we are on a level playing field and that there is no digital divide that it is politically motivated by people who are not doing their research or reading recent reports. It was done by Cosepup What I MEANT is that the New York TImes has sent a second volley down the credibility lane. FIRST they wrote a report saying that there was no shortage of or difficulty as this report testifies to. Secondly, the story that was the one that Andy 's name was mentioned in was the second story from the New York Times that seems to say that we don't have a problem. There is this research Harvard Study Finds that More Than 70% of Southern Black and Latino Students Attend Segregated Minority Schools New Book Discusses Consequences of School Resegregation in the South September 7 - With more than 70% of Black and Latino students in the South attending predominately minority schools, and with severe segregation and inequality reflected in the extraordinary dropout rates in segregated high schools, new data signal a trend backwards to the 1960s before widespread busing began for desegregation. Even states like Florida, North Carolina and Delaware where stable metropolitan desegregation plans existed for three decades are now rapidly resegregating, according to a new study released by The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University (CRP). The study documents the southern and border states where segregation is most severe, demonstrating the multi-racial nature of segregation in the South. It evaluates the change in segregation levels in the south since the legal burden for many districts was relaxed. A new book, School Resegregation: Must the South Turn Back?, being released today by the University of North Carolina Press presents groundbreaking original research from scholars around the country on the causes, consequences and potential solutions to this trend in various areas in the South. The significance of these trends cannot be ignored, according to Jack Boger, co-editor of School Resegregation and deputy director of The UNC School of L aw's Center for Civil Rights. Unless the federal courts uphold the constitutionality of voluntary diversity plans in K-12 public schooling, and unless Southern leaders act decisively to assure that their schools remain diverse, many of the positive economic, social and political gains experienced in the past thirty years will be jeopardized by the new segregation of southern schools. The South, more than any other region, should reflect on its tragic history of segregation and the terrible risk of losing the gains of the Civil Rights revolution. In this test-obsessed era, the fact that all of the negative results related to segregation are being swept under the rug is distressing, stated Gary Orfield, co-editor of School Resegregation and director of The Civil Rights Project. At this critical moment when advocates, teachers, government officials, lawyers and others are deciding the best course of action for tackling the rapid resegregation trend, School Resegregation: Must the South Turn Back? offers a much needed analysis of the situation, the legal landscape and consequences if we as a nation choose to do nothing about these trends. This important book provides both good news and bad news...Given that our society is increasingly diverse, students who attend racially isolated schools will be increasingly disadvantaged - regardless of the color of their skin, stated Willis Hawley, professor emeritus, University of Maryland. A press briefing on School Resegregation: Must the South Turn Back? and the new Harvard study will be held at The Southern Education Foundation in Atlanta, GA on Tuesday, September 7 from 9:30-11:00 am. For more details, please visit http://www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu/registration/reseg05.php. There is a lot more. Like this but have we all been asleep? or afraid to speak about it. Simultaneously, pressure is increasing to fix America's slipshod performance in science education . A recent National Academy of Sciences commission concludes that Without high-quality, knowledge-intensive jobs and the innovative enterprises that lead to discovery and new technology, our economy will suffer and our people will face a lower standard of living. (See here for more.) In his best-selling book, The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman
