Rupert Murdoch on Education and Technology

I think Rupert Murdoch makes some good points about technology and education in his Wall Street Journal opinion column this weekend.

Regarding integrating technology into education (emphasis added):

If you read the front pages of the New York Times, they will tell you that technology’s promise has not yet been realized in terms of student performance. My answer is, of course not. If we simply attached computers to leeches, medicine wouldn’t be any better today than it was in the 19th century either.

You don’t get change by plugging in computers to schools designed for the industrial age. You get it by deploying technology that rewrites the rules of the game.

Our children are growing up in Steve Jobs’s world. They are eager to learn and quick to embrace new technology. Outside the classroom they take technology for granted—in what they read, in how they listen to music, in how they shop.

The minute they step back into their classrooms, it’s like going back in time. The top-down, one-size-fits-all approach frustrates the ones who could do more advanced work. And it leaves further and further behind those who need extra help to keep up.

I think Murdoch’s solution imagery is vivid:

These days everyone is for education reform. The question is which approach is best. I favor the Steve Jobs model.

In 1984 Steve introduced the Mac with a Super Bowl ad. It ran only once. It ran for only one minute. And it shows a female athlete being chased by the helmeted police of some totalitarian regime.

At the climax, the woman rushes up to a large screen where Big Brother is giving a speech. Just as he announces, “We shall prevail,” she hurls her hammer through the screen.

If you ask me what we need to do in education, I would point you to that ad.

I think that’s a good image to keep in mind.  Whenever you find yourself reading about or debating education reform, think about who plays the role of the helmeted police, the totalitarian brain washer on the screen, the hypnotized minions in the audience and the lady throwing the hammer through the screen.