Sustainable Education, Microsoft Style

I’ve maintained for some time our education system, while the “best” in the world, isn’t capable of competing long term on the global stage. Most of my qualms have been with post-secondary education though. It’s too expensive and not student-focused. The majority of dollars flow to research and maintaining the system. Universities strong-arm communities and offer very little tangible benefit to their customers – they are businesses after all. Plus, the schools known for teaching aren’t involved in the hype and usually concentrate in the liberal arts. While there’s nothing wrong with that, and a balanced education is vital, writers, philosophers and painters aren’t going to keep the economy of the United States dominant. Science and math drive the economy, the economy keeps food on our table and affords us the time and money to appreciate the finer things in life, like the arts. All that being said, Microsoft has brought this thinking to the high school level. According to the article:

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has famously called high schools “obsolete” and warned about their effect on U.S. competitiveness. Now, his company has a chance to prove that it can help fix the woes of public education.

A bold task if there ever was one. But companies like Microsoft have succeeded doing the things no one else thought possible. Is it that big of a stretch to think that kind of thinking, whether in the software industry or in education, isn’t transferable? 

The project cost $63 million. The Philadelphia school system paid for this but Microsoft chipped in its personnel and management skills. Some features of the school include: every student is equipped with a laptop instead of textbooks, the school day mimics the work day, and teachers use smart boards instead of blackboards.

One great thing about the school is that it wasn’t built in a posh suburban neighborhood. It’s “gleaming white modern facility looking out of place amid rows of ramshackle homes in a working-class West Philadelphia neighborhood”. And, about “170 teens, nearly all black and mainly low-income, were chosen by lottery to make up the freshman class. The school eventually plans to enroll up to 750 students”.

My first concern was that Microsoft was hawking its junk on the students, but there are a couple of mitigating factors to my fear. First, Philadelphia approached Microsoft. Second, the students were most likely familiar with Microsoft’s products to begin with. Third, if Microsoft can pull this off they deserve to have their products predominantly featured at the school.

If the experiment works though, it will hopefully be the first of many. And imagine the operating cost savings for these schools if open source software is incorporated into the system.

Doug Lynch, vice dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. “Two things are quite intriguing — the willingness of the district and Microsoft to try something different,” Lynch said. He cautioned, however, that while trying new methods may be valuable “we have to be careful because you’re messing with kids’ lives.”

He’s got a point. I’m in favor of experimentation though. The present system is being held together with duct tape and trying something new is the only way to more forward.