South Korea Going All-Digital in the Classroom

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
75,399
Call it a green movement, call it progressive or call it a good use of technology…..whatever you call it, South Korea is going all-digital in the classroom. By 2015, the South Korean government will have converted all paper-based classroom materials to digital format at a cost of over $2 Billion dollars.
 
Yea, a digital pen! I think real pen input is critical for the use tablets for educational purposes.
 
this is something that needs to come to the us period... we need to beef up our educations system to again be the best in the world
 
maxius said:
this is something that needs to come to the us period... we need to beef up our educations system to again be the best in the world
Click to expand...

i don't think the US was ever considered the best education system in the world
 
maxius said:
this is something that needs to come to the us period... we need to beef up our educations system to again be the best in the world
Click to expand...

considering the size difference of the two countries this will be WAY more then 2 billion for the US. Also going digital doesnt mean anything for bettering the education, its just a greener way of doing things.
 
All digital here? If it were to happen here, the devices would have to be useless outside of the classroom cause of the potential of theft and therefore worthless beyond school, plus they'd have to be almost vandalism proof, so until that happens, good luck. Until then old fashioned paper books are better as their cheaper to replace and they use no electricity, only human hands are needed to use them.
 
They did this to meet the requirements that all kids have to be introduced to Starcraft before the age of 10. Also it helps parents meet the requirements that their kids have to have some involvement in developing an MMO before turning 21.
 
tazzmissionx said:
They did this to meet the requirements that all kids have to be introduced to Starcraft before the age of 10. Also it helps parents meet the requirements that their kids have to have some involvement in developing an MMO before turning 21.
Click to expand...
Wasted sperm found...
 
We can't afford it, because we spend twice as much on teacher's salaries as the South Koreans do.
 
All digital here? If it were to happen here, the devices would have to be useless outside of the classroom cause of the potential of theft and therefore worthless beyond school, plus they'd have to be almost vandalism proof, so until that happens, good luck. Until then old fashioned paper books are better as their cheaper to replace and they use no electricity, only human hands are needed to use them.
Click to expand...

Well, when 2 college textbooks are the same price as a tablet...
 
JokerCPoC said:
All digital here? If it were to happen here, the devices would have to be useless outside of the classroom cause of the potential of theft and therefore worthless beyond school, plus they'd have to be almost vandalism proof, so until that happens, good luck. Until then old fashioned paper books are better as their cheaper to replace and they use no electricity, only human hands are needed to use them.
Click to expand...

Alternatively, we could try teaching kids that stealing is wrong.....

Naw, that would be too much work.
 
BladeVenom said:
We can't afford it, because we spend twice as much on teacher's salaries as the South Koreans do.
Click to expand...

I agree. Our greedy ass teachers don't even deserve half of the 30-40k a year they make. Even minimum wage would be too much. It's not like they have an important, difficult, or stressful job or anything.

The differences between the USA and South Korea's cost of living, GDP per capita, and cultural lifestyle expectations are meaningless in this equation. Cutting our teachers pay to 50% or less than what they make now would certainly solve our educational and economic problems.
 
ThisIsTheNewSound said:
I agree. Our greedy ass teachers don't even deserve half of the 30-40k a year they make. Even minimum wage would be too much. It's not like they have an important, difficult, or stressful job or anything.

The differences between the USA and South Korea's cost of living, GDP per capita, and cultural lifestyle expectations are meaningless in this equation. Cutting our teachers pay to 50% or less than what they make now would certainly solve our educational and economic problems.
Click to expand...

Wow, $40k and they only work half a year? Sign me up!
 
maxius said:
this is something that needs to come to the us period... we need to beef up our educations system to again be the best in the world
Click to expand...

You are not going to do it with the collapsed education system you have today in the US. It's a travesty what has happened to public education nationwide.
 
blade52x said:
Well, when 2 college textbooks are the same price as a tablet...
Click to expand...

Man... I just found this out this past week. One of the textbooks that I needed costs $300. All of the required textbooks for that one class combined (three books) runs close to $600. And with my luck, they'll be <$200 total (if that) after this semester due to the new editions with their brand-spanking new edited forewords coming out. Somehow, as quickly as electronics devalue, a tablet would probably retain its monetary value longer than a textbook, especially if it has a fruit on it. :mad:
 
You will still have to pay a lot of money to download a text book to a tablet, its the content you are paying for not the material. Just because its digital doesn't make those text book numbers go away.
 
wizdum said:
Wow, $40k and they only work half a year? Sign me up!
Click to expand...

i think its funny that this offhanded comment seems to always be made by people that couldnt get through the curriculum (lets alone the cost) of a degree in education and a teaching certification requires.

honestly when most school districts start around 30k minimum, i dunno why the hell anyone would want to work for that little considering if they had to take out student loans (and most do) theres no way in hell they could even afford to pay rent, car, gas, food etc.. as well as a student loan payment after getting out of college.

arguments like you make, out of selfish greed, will completely be the end of our education system.
 
christianw said:
i think its funny that this offhanded comment seems to always be made by people that couldnt get through the curriculum (lets alone the cost) of a degree in education and a teaching certification requires.

honestly when most school districts start around 30k minimum, i dunno why the hell anyone would want to work for that little considering if they had to take out student loans (and most do) theres no way in hell they could even afford to pay rent, car, gas, food etc.. as well as a student loan payment after getting out of college.

arguments like you make, out of selfish greed, will completely be the end of our education system.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't really call sarcasm an "argument". I spent six years working with the teachers at my local school system as a student technician. I supported them through the two strikes they had (the average pay was less than $20k, with no health insurance or other benefits, they had to walk out when the cost of fuel to drive to work was more than they were making). I know that public school teachers are one of the most under-paid and over-worked jobs you can have. At least as a construction laborer, I get paid well for busting my ass, and I don't have to deal with people.

However, they are not all like this. The French teacher at my local high school kept threatening to leave because she knew it took the school a long time to find her, and that there were no other qualified French teachers in the area. She received a $10k pay raise three years in a row. When I stopped working there, her pay was in the $80k range (for a public school teacher).
 
danyune said:
i don't think the US was ever considered the best education system in the world
Click to expand...
Few would argue that some of the best Universities in the world are in the United States, and many foreigners specifically travel to the US to take advantage of our excellent privatized school system.

Our private grade schools are also typically exemplary, and produce scores far greater than the national average.

However, our public grade school system is an absolute joke, and it has been for some time. The liberals are too concerned with pushing their ideology than actually educating the children in useful life skills, and the conservatives only seem to be concerned with ensuring their kids don't know about sex and have Creationism taught over science. Mathematics, language skills, geography, and such skills are something few parents actually get passionate towards emphasizing. Heck, if anything when it comes to language you have liberals trying to insist that children shouldn't even be required to learn to read and write English.
 
Oh, yeah, and yes I fully support netbooks for the classroom. They don't have to be tablets, and they don't have to be expensive.

Just try not to install spy-software so teachers can take pictures of kids at home again without their knowledge. Yes, that really happened.
 
Ducman69 said:
Oh, yeah, and yes I fully support netbooks for the classroom. They don't have to be tablets, and they don't have to be expensive.

Just try not to install spy-software so teachers can take pictures of kids at home again without their knowledge. Yes, that really happened.
Click to expand...

My school uses eeePCs, with NXClient on them so they can log into their thin client accounts if they need something from there.
 
maxius said:
this is something that needs to come to the us period... we need to beef up our educations system to again be the best in the world
Click to expand...

I don't think our education system is lacking because we use paper/books. The problems are much deeper than that. We actually have some amazing private universities, but that doesn't help the vast majority of people who can't afford them. Sadly I can't see our public education improving any time soon, with the democrats and republicans too busy protecting their particular corporate/special interests, instead of actually doing what is good for the nation.

Digital is a good idea, but our education system would still be mediocre whether we use paper/books or laptops. I had so many classes that were basically just memorization exercises. We need to encourage more actual thinking and problem solving, instead of just memorizing facts. I guess that could be dangerous though, what if people started thinking about our corrupt political system?
 
They're teaching kids early how to speed up their macro so when they get older, they will dominate in SC... oh wait they already do >.<
 
And in 20 years everyone 28 year old South Korean will have carpal tunnel problems.
 
How many dictators do we currently pay? How much total went to these guys so far?
 
CMD said:
How many dictators do we currently pay? How much total went to these guys so far?
Click to expand...

I can't tell if you're serious or just stupid.

Anyway, as an English teacher in SK, I don't see this happening any time soon. Doing this by 2015 would be one hell of an accomplishment; especially in the rural/country areas.

Parents here are doing their best to keep kids off of computers. These kids are very good at cheating the system with regard to computer based learning. There is no replacement for good ol' fashion paper and pen.
 
The current sorry state of the US public education system is, in my opinion, the only logical end to a system originally conceived of in Prussia during the Industrial Revolution, a system expressly designed not to teach or to educate, as Socrates or Plato might have used those terms, but rather, to police "unruly youth" and produce a pliable, non-thinking workforce capable only of taking orders and responding to deadlines, no more than soft plastic to be fed to the industrial machine.

Read up on John Taylor Gatto to understand why public education in the US is the way it is.

As far as this article goes, if you've ever been to South Korea (or Japan, or Taiwan, or Singapore, or any of the modern SE Asian nations), you know that their education systems revolve around rote memorization and pro forma work, even more so than the sad curricula we have over here. The Korean K-12 is designed to grind students into a sticky paste. After "regular" school is over, students then get to go to "cram" school in the evenings. The ones that survive go onto college (assuming you can actually get into the prestigious University of Seoul, otherwise, sorry, it's the University of Pusan or technical/vocational school for you, but thanks for playing), which is four years of drunken partying, then employment into the Korean corporate world. That drunken partying, by the way, is actually a useful skill to have, since in Korea, the proper way to conduct "business" with clients is to take them to a bar/restaurant and drink until the wee hours of the morning. So whether the Korean students are doing their studying out of a paper book, or on a Samsung Galaxy II, is immaterial, in my opinion. And frankly, I bet if you trace the source of how this digital classroom revolution is taking place, it's just crony capitalism between the Korean government and Samsung/Hyundai/LG/whichever Korean chaebol has the contract to furnish the schools with the equipment in question.

I love iron triangles and government-industrial complexes because they don't discriminate between nations :).
 
Trimlock said:
You will still have to pay a lot of money to download a text book to a tablet, its the content you are paying for not the material. Just because its digital doesn't make those text book numbers go away.
Click to expand...

Is there a comparison on the price of the same book on digital and physical?
 
JokerCPoC said:
All digital here? If it were to happen here, the devices would have to be useless outside of the classroom cause of the potential of theft and therefore worthless beyond school, plus they'd have to be almost vandalism proof, so until that happens, good luck. Until then old fashioned paper books are better as their cheaper to replace and they use no electricity, only human hands are needed to use them.
Click to expand...

In Los Angels they don't even go after the students who damage or don't return the books at the end of the year because they say it's too much trouble. And they wonder why education costs are so high?

Beside, what good would this do if they spend most the day teaching the same old PC garbage instead of math, science, etc.
 
Ducman69 said:
Few would argue that some of the best Universities in the world are in the United States, and many foreigners specifically travel to the US to take advantage of our excellent privatized school system.

Our private grade schools are also typically exemplary, and produce scores far greater than the national average.

However, our public grade school system is an absolute joke, and it has been for some time. The liberals are too concerned with pushing their ideology than actually educating the children in useful life skills, and the conservatives only seem to be concerned with ensuring their kids don't know about sex and have Creationism taught over science. Mathematics, language skills, geography, and such skills are something few parents actually get passionate towards emphasizing. Heck, if anything when it comes to language you have liberals trying to insist that children shouldn't even be required to learn to read and write English.
Click to expand...

Actually the conservatives would rather give everyone vouchers or tax credits and let the parents decide what school to send thier kids to. This would be a huge improvement in education, since private schools tend to provide a much better education over-all. The left will never allow this since they wouldn't be able to push thier ideology, and it would hurt thier union supporters.

I completely disagree with your statement about sex and have Creationism.

The problem conservatives have with liberal sex education is more one of timing and teaching responable behavior. 1st graderes don't need to know about "Heather has two Mommies" and what the mommies do.
Out here in California, the Democrats are pushing through a bill to change the History books so that they include specific coverage of Gays, etc. A history book is no place for a persons life-style choices.

As for science, kids in most christain private schools recieve a much better science education than kids in most public schools.
 
I really don't see this adding anything useful to the education system. What we really need are more and better teachers with smaller classes and parents that give a damn. Kids already have constant access to computers and the internet. The only place computers are really necessary is in computer based classes. It just looks lie a way to add significant cost with very little real benefit.
 
Sly said:
Is there a comparison on the price of the same book on digital and physical?
Click to expand...

Lots of factors are involved in the cost of a book. A quick look on amazon I can find half a dozen Kindle ebooks that cost the same as their hardcopy version. With school books it'd work a little differently, simply because often they have many glossy pictures/pages in multiple colors so that a cost that can be recouped with a digital copy. However those are often limited in numbers simply because it's not like the entire country uses the same exact algebra book, occasionally there are books that do manage to get penetration into most schools, but those tend to be far and few between. Finally there's some sort of DRM that could be the true boon for book publishers, if they can prevent said copies from being transferred, they really destroy the used book market, which isn't as relevant for school age kids if one class uses the same digital book readers, but it'd be huge for post-high school education.

Could it be cheaper? Absolutely

Will it be much cheaper? Ehhh... greed is hard to fight. I mean hell if they can get away with selling eBook versions at tiny discount to make it seem like you're getting something, they'd make a much larger percentage of profit on each sale.
 
maxius said:
this is something that needs to come to the us period... we need to beef up our educations system to again be the best in the world
Click to expand...

Classrooms are getting more and more digital, and our kids are getting dumber.

blade52x said:
Well, when 2 college textbooks are the same price as a tablet...
Click to expand...

Now you have a good point... if they didn't monopolize digital textbook prices, then tablets are better for price.


All I know, is if the kids can surf the interwebz at will then the quality of education will go down.
 
Parmenides said:
Classrooms are getting more and more digital, and our kids are getting dumber.
Click to expand...

The new teaching method doesn't work. The only time our teacher can get us to stop chatting and pay attention is to hit her stick on the table once in a while.

Fear is a more effective teaching tool, and from what i've been seeing today, they should go back to it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top