Mike Falick's Blog

Senator Barack Obama Must Read Thomas Friedman: Calls for Creating "Innovation Districts"

U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) must be an avid reader of Thomas Friedman. In a Speech (.pdf) given to the Center for American Progress, Senator Obama calls for significant changes to education in order to prepare students for the 21st century economy.  Sen. Obama, like Friedman, talks initially about the changing nature of the world economy -- Friedman's "flattening" -- and states:

We now live in a world where the most valuable skill you can sell is knowledge. Revolutions in technology and communication have created an entire economy of high-tech, high-wage jobs that can be located anywhere there’s an internet connection. And today, a child in Chicago is not only competing for jobs with one in Boston, but thousands more in Bangalore and Beijing who are being educated longer and better than ever before.

America is in danger of losing this competition. We now have one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialized country. By 12^th grade, our children score lower on their math and science tests than most other kids in the world. And today, countries like China are graduating eight times as many engineers as we do.

Sen. Obama acknowledges, as Spring Branch has in our visioning process, that "we're sending [our children] out into a 21^st economy by sending them through the doors of 20^th century schools."  Sen. Obama then cites the single most important factor in determining student success.  He says it's not the color of their skin or where they come from and it's not who their parents are or how much money they have -- it's the effectiveness of the teacher.

Sen. Obama's solution is the creation of what he calls "Innovation Districts."  His idea is to invite school districts from around the country to apply and those districts chosen would receive substantial resources to support teachers in return for instituting systemic new reforms and delivering measurable improvement through quantifiable results.  For the details of Sen. Obama's plan, go here(.pdf).  You can also watch Sen. Obama's speech to the Center for American Progress by clicking here.

Even though i am a Republican, I feel that Sen. Obama's call to arms is timely.  As with Friedman's work, Sen. Obama's "Innovation Districts" concept is consistent with the ideas that have developed during the District's visioning process.  Finally, I think the Senator sums up my sense of immediacy on the need to address the education issues facing our country today when he concluded his speech by saying:

In the months and years to come, it’s time for this nation to rededicate itself to the ideal of a world class education for every American child. It’s time to let our kids hope for something else. It’s time to instill the belief in every child that they can succeed – and then make sure we make good on the promise to never let them down.

Rising Above the Gathering Storm: The Chinese Space Program and the National Academy of Sciences Call for Focus on Science

A panel of experts at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has warned that without an immediate wide-ranging effort, the United States "could soon loose its privileged position" as the world's science leader.  In its report titled Rising Above the Gathering Storm (pdf), the panel cites examples of how our leadership is slipping, including:

• Last year China graduated 600,000 engineers, India 350,000, U.S. 70,000
• American 12th graders performed below the international average in math and science
• For the cost of one engineer in the U.S., a company can hire 11 in India
• Of 120 large chemical plants under construction globally, one is in the United States and 50 are in China

I found this report timely, especially with China's successful launch of Shenzhou-6, which blasted off Wednesday with two men aboard.  China has indicated that this launch will lay the ground for missions including a space laboratory and a moon landing. 

Those of you who regularly read this blog have read my previous posts citing the good work of author Thomas Friedman on the tremendous risks posed to the United States by our failure to take note of just how flat the world is becoming.

The NAS panel members estimate that the cost of implementing all of their recommendations is $10 billion a year.  In 2004 our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was $11.7 trillion.  Isn't it worth .08% of GDP to secure our future?  That's right, the panel recommended cost is the equivalent of 8 one hundredths of a percent of GDP.  $10 billion is .59% of the FY 2006 federal government budget of $1.7 trillion

I submit that the cost of not doing so will be the continuing rapid diminishment of our world leadership.  If nothing changes, I think we will see China, India, and perhaps others passing us within the next 25 years. 

How Intelligent Searching Will Change the World

The current edition of eSchool News has a great article that describes "intelligent searching" through new technology for searching and navigating the internet.  I found this article interesting because I have been bookmarking the websites referred to in the article as well as several others that I find very useful.  As more and more information becomes accessible to anyone with a computer and an internet connection, Thomas Friedman's flattening of the planet will only accelerate.  (See my prior posts on Thomas Friedman here and here.)

Here are some of the websites I think are part of the rapid dissemination of information that are world-changers:

Google Suggest: As you type into the search box, Google Suggest guesses what you're typing and offers suggestions in real time. This is similar to Google's "Did you mean?" feature that offers alternative spellings for your query after you search, except that it works in real time. For example, if you type "bass," Google Suggest might offer a list of refinements that include "bass fishing" or "bass guitar." Similarly, if you type in only part of a word, like "progr," Google Suggest might offer you refinements like "programming," "programming languages," "progesterone," or "progressive." You can choose one by scrolling up or down the list with the arrow keys or mouse.

Google Scholar: Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.

Thomas Friedman: An Innovative Approach to Math

Thomas Friedman, in his recent book, The World is Flat, persuasively argues that the United States education system has fallen behind many other countries, and that the consequence of not addressing this decline is dire for our the future of our country.

Mr. Friedman's editorial in today's Houston Chronicle discusses a math education web based program called HeyMath, created in India and now adopted in India and Singapore.  HeyMath's mission is "to be the math Google -- to establish a web-based platform that enables every student and teacher to learn from the best teacher in the world."  HeyMath provides another example of how other countries "are not racing us to the bottom" but rather "are racing us to the top." 

More Evidence that Thomas Friedman is Right -- The World is Getting Flatter

Tom Friedman, in his recent book The World is Flat, persuasively argues that the next phase of globalization is advancing, and the United States is being left behind.

Today's New York Times has a fascinating article that describes American students being tutored over the internet by tutors in India.