“Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.” (Kofi Annan; Ghanaian diplomat, seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, winner of 2001 Peace Prize; 1938–.)

The early part of my teaching career focused on teaching math and uses of computers to help solve math problems. I built on this background as I first began teaching teachers in summer institute programs funded by the National Science Foundation. At that time, the goals of education seemed clear and simple to me. They were:

1. To help students learn some facts.
2. To help students learn to think, solve challenging problems, and accomplish challenging tasks using the facts.  

The teachers I taught soon taught me how naïve I was. As I moved more and more into being a math educator, computer educator, and teacher of teachers, I gradually came to understand the complexity of education and the wide range of goals that help to define our educational system.

 In the United States, the most widely implemented secondary school math programs require students to take Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2. Thus, most students who graduate from high school and go on to college have passed these courses.

In college, students typically are required to take a math placement exam. The purpose of the exam is to determine what beginning college math course(s) the student is qualified to take.

My recent Google search of college math placement test yielded about 2.5 million hits. Many of the hits are free study materials one can use to help prepare for the math placement test for  a particular community college or four-year college. In addition, a number of the sites sell a variety of services designed to help a student to perform better on placement tests.

The National Academies Press publishes reports produced by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Many of these reports are available as free books on the Web. I recently downloaded a 300-page book, Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21^st Century (Pellegrino and Hilton, 2012).

Quoting from the book:

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters.

In each country, students learn some parts of the history of their nation. What do we want students to learn? Here is a profound and often-quoted statement by George Santayana:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (George Santayana; lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States, wrote in English, and is generally considered an American man of letters; 1863–1952.)

In the U.S., we are coming up on the date 9/11/2012. Many people in the U.S. and in other countries are reminded of the date 9/11/2001 when four passenger airplanes were highjacked. Three were crashed into their chosen targets in New York and Washington D.C., while a fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field. Nearly 3,000 people died.

This IAE Blog entry is about national standards and funding for public K-12 schools in the United States.

Most of the U.S. public school funding comes from state and local government agencies. The U.S. Federal Government provides about 1/8 of the funding and a modest amount comes from school fund-raising efforts and grants.

As you know, we are in the midst of strong efforts to set national standards in K-12 Reading, Mathematics, and Science education. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in Reading and Mathematics have been widely adopted, and the CCSS in Science are nearing completion. See http://www.corestandards.org/.

I have long been interested in how long and how well students retain the knowledge and skills they gain through schooling. Recently, my friend Dexter Fletcher sent me a report on this topic (Wisher, et al. , July, 1999).

This report is a 1999 summary of the research on military training. Remember, there is a difference between training and education. In the case of the U.S. military, training focuses on preparing military personnel to deal effectively with a reasonably well-defined set of problems and tasks. Trainees can be assessed via hands-on tests. Field strip this rifle. Repair this instrument. Service this jet engine. Fly this helicopter. Of course, such activities are done in a context of goal-oriented, thinking-based knowledge and understanding. So, they include education components.

Most of the people reading this IAE Blog entry are education oriented. As you read the training oriented ideas that follow, think about how they might pertain to general schooling.

Here is a very important new report about the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (Darling-Hammond, August 29, 2011). This 63-page document represents the work of a number of highly qualified math individuals. It begins with the statement:

This version of the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium's (SBAC) work on Content Specifications and Content Mapping is presented as a set of several materials, all with a release date of August 29, 2011. This version, the first of two public releases available for review and feedback, invites commentary from all interested stakeholders in the Consortium‘s work. Instructions on how to submit comments and feedback can be found in the Resources section of the Consortium‘s Web site: www.smarterbalanced.org.

Stanford University is going to make its regular Introduction to AI course available free on the Web this fall (2011). The course regularly enrolls nearly 200 students. Students taking the free online version of the course can turn in lessons that will be graded and can take the tests. They can receive a certificate indicating their level of performance in the course relative to the regularly enrolled students.

For details, see http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/stanford-u-offers-free-online-course-in-artificial-intelligence/32622?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en. Here are a couple of quotes from that website:

I was born and raised in Oregon. I think it is a great place to live and a great state. However, I found the following news item very disappointing.

The Ticker (6/22/2011). Oregon Lawmakers Set Ambitious College-Completion Goals. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 6/22/2011 from http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/oregon-lawmakers-set-ambitious-college-completion-goals/34137?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en.

I often think about what roles students should play in determining their own education.

Infants learn from whatever environment they are immersed in. They depend completely on their caregivers for the education they are receiving. An environment that encourages and facilitates learning—that challenges children physically and mentally—lays a foundation for a lifetime of success.

As young children reach preschool age and then elementary school age, they begin to encounter an educational environment that is structured by professionals in childhood education. At this age, children still have very little say in their education.