[kictanet] Vizualisations on Student Teacher Ratio

[Phares Kariuki]

The US education system is hardly any better (when contrasted with peers
with an equal HDI ranking). Over protection of teachers by unions, skewed
incentive structures. I would recommend, for those who have the time,
watching the documentary 'Waiting for Superman'. Though there are some
controversies, a lot of the info is largely accurate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_superman

At the end of the day, the problem with KNUT is that they defend incompetent
teachers. TSC also is too inefficient to handle many of the complaints that
come in.

One personal issue I have had with the education system over the last few
years. When in high school, I had a teacher. The role of the teacher is not
to dictate notes, it's to teach. With a little innovation, any school can
offer handouts with all the notes and text references for students, and
spend the classes going through the material, engaging the students and
ensuring proper learning of the content. However, our teachers have no
qualms recycling notes for years on end. In Kenyatta University, one of the
lecturers in the business school has not bothered changing his notes from
1990 (when a friend was in KU) to 2006 thereabouts (when I was in KU). The
notes were a replica of the 1990 notes. An example of disruptive technology
that is given in said notes was a 'radio'. 1925. Meanwhile, the PC, iPod,
iPhone, Facebook, Google, iPad etc etc have been disruptive. No wonder we
complain that our business people can't catch up. Or journalists. The
training (even for IT graduates) is flawed. The education system needs to be
revamped. Reworked. And perhaps, people should have a look at the fine work
being done by the Aga Khan University (in their new Arusha Campus) to
understand exactly how a curriculum should be built around technology and
innovation...

-- 
With Regards,

Phares Kariuki

| T: +254 720 406 093 | E: pkariuki at gmail.com | Twitter: kaboro | Skype:
kariukiphares | B: http://www.kaboro.com/ |
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20110929/07776a72/attachment.htm>