Quote:
Originally Posted by nlknauss
As an educator, I really appreciated the information supporting the needs of our nation's students. It's nice to see that no matter where they come from, our youth really want to do big things. i hope they have those opportunities after they leave our schools.
Thanks to CNN, FIRST, and the participating teams for putting this together!
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Sorry to play the devil's advocate -
I would have to amend your observation to read:
It's nice to see that no matter where they come from,
you can find some youth
who really want to do big things.
That is what the CNN production team has done. They found three examples of youths with objectives. They showed us selected aspects of those kids' objectives and current environments which support CNN's basic premise that something is lacking in the current education method. During the exposition, the narrator offered us statements about the topic. FIRST was shown to be a part of the process by which these youths were attempting to reach their objectives.
The viewing public is quite familiar with the "sky is falling" style of advocacy for a multitude of societal and global aliments. A parade of talking heads may not be an effective way to present information about those ailments these days. One way to increase acceptance and make the exposition more interesting is dispersing those testimonials amidst a story or stories related to the situation. Those of us who agree that the current education system lacks sufficient ability to provide our youth with adequate resources, can hope that this program has illustrated the situation to others capable of helping.
I see the problem as having at least two aspects. First, the absence of opportunity for students to get formal training in STEM skills. Second, the absence of desire among those same students to have any training at all in STEM skills. I also see FIRST as being a significant factor in dealing with the second case. It is my hope that solutions to the second case produce enough demand among the student population that the first case is also solved.
I expect to use this CNN documentary as a way to show some students that making a comfortable life will require significant and worthwhile effort. I congratulate the three examples that CNN found for their efforts so far. I thank CNN for presenting their stories in such an interesting manner, how ever incomplete and imprecise as they may be.