If It's Long, It's Wrong

I was reading the "treeware" version of the Orange County Register during lunch today and came across an opinion piece with information about a school bill that's working its way through our wacky state legislature (registration may be required):

Efforts to dumb down California public schools continue unabated. The most recent action is the Assembly passing AB 756, a bill by Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg that would prevent school districts from using any instructional material that exceeds 200 pages. Assemblyman Keith Richman calls it "ridiculous" and "the epitome of micromanagement." Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, surprisingly, has remained silent. Astoundingly, 42 legislators (including Orange County's Tom Umberg) approved AB 756 - a vote so dumb that Gov. Schwarzenegger now looks like Socrates and Solomon rolled into one.

According to Goldberg, today's students have no need to read classic works of American history and literature, the majority of which exceed 200 pages; e.g., "The Federalist Papers," "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "The Grapes of Wrath," "Treasure Island," "Farewell to Arms" or "Moby-Dick." No more classroom dictionaries or encyclopedias could be purchased. Forget books by Lemony Snicket and J. K. Rowling, authors of books children actually want to read.

Instead, students are supposed to use technology and media, purportedly more interesting and up-to- date tools, as the principal means for acquiring new knowledge. It is argued that textbooks are uninteresting - and are laden with too much print. (Sorry, Ms. Goldberg, that's the nature of the medium: Books consist only of print and white space.)

I'll wait for a moment until you stop shaking your heads.

Now that you're back, apparently Ms. Goldberg (or maybe its Mrs. Goldberg according to this interesting post at Laer's site) thinks our students are incapable or maintaining the necessary attention for more than 200 pages. Or, perhaps, she is just an idiot.

I report, you decide.

The column goes on:

More important, neither teachers nor students have acquired the skills needed to determine the validity of information available online. My Googling for "causes of the Vietnam War," for example, identified 4.1 million Web pages. Which of these millions of pages presents accurate and reliable data and text regarding this war? Who teaches students how to determine whether to trust online information?

It is logical to assume that a carefully written textbook would include more reliable information than text selected at random online. To depend so heavily on online material ensures only that student reports and research would result in cheating - students copying and pasting chunks of text from a smattering of Web pages.

(Hey wait a minute, that's what I do! - HolyCoast)

Neither technology nor media have ever revolutionized education anywhere or in any way. Media and technology are only means for delivering information or instruction. There is no difference between reading an article about weather in a book or from a Web site on a computer monitor. There is no difference between listening to streamed audio from a Web site and listening to the same information played on a CD player in the classroom.

If AB 756 becomes law in California, textbook publishers would be forced to summarize important ideas about a topic, present basic problems and core knowledge, and list Web sites for students to search for additional information - without exceeding 200 pages. Of course, publishers could produce oversized books, printing more text per page. More likely, however, they would create a collection of dumbed-down books - "Tom Sawyer for Dummies," "Treasure Island for Infrequent Readers," etc.

The vote of these 42 legislators for AB 756 constitutes prima facie evidence of their unfitness to serve in the California Assembly. Contrary to several legislators' assertions, implementing this bill would not revolutionize education - unless you believe that students learn more and maximize their literacy and academic performance by reading significantly less.

This is what happens when you have a full-time legislature. It's obvious that they have waaaaay too much time on their hands.

Maybe they should read a book.