K-12 And Higher Education Are Considered Separate Systems. What If They Converged?
By Jeffrey R. Young Sep 8, 2017
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-09-08-k-12-and-higher-education-are-considered-separate-systems-what-if-they-converged
In “The Convergence of K-12 and Higher Education: Policies and Programs in a Changing Era,” two education professors point out potential benefits of taking a more holistic view to American education
interview with Christopher Loss, one of the editors.
What role does technology play in some of the convergences that occur or are happening?
There’s a great essay in the collection by June Ahn, which deals with the idea of technology as a key mediating source and mechanism for the creation of various kinds of convergences between and among different sectors (my note: K12 and higher ed).
Cyberlearning Community Report: The State of Cyberlearning and the Future of Learning With Technology http://circlcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CyberlearningCommunityReport2017.pdf (Oct, 2017)
Americans like to see themselves as among the best in the world in education. But lately, the education leaders have been looking abroad for ideas, I think. What can we learn from countries that do have closer links between K-12 and higher ed?
We Need More Men in the Humanities
Around the turn of the millennium, American society realized a looming crisis: the lack of female representation in STEM fields. But today we are witnessing a crisis of male leadership in a variety of workplaces. From the president to CEOs of major companies to actors and power players in Hollywood, the past several months have exposed the toxic work environments they preside over or worsen in scandal after scandal. Though different in nature, this crisis is of equal importance as the STEM shortage. Yet, to date, no prominent solutions or interventions have been seriously proposed. In contrast, a quick Google search brings up dozens of programs for girls in STEM, but not one national program appears for boys in the arts and humanities.
latest indicators of the
demographics and
earnings of public school humanities teachers — most of whom are women and many of whom aren’t paid well — underscore that we need more men in the arts and humanities.
The Humanities Indicators report that, “As of 2015, women earned 61 percent of all master’s and professional-practice degrees in the humanities and 54 percent of the doctoral degrees in the field.” And the
latest report on public school teachers found that “76 percent of humanities teachers were women, the largest share among subject specialists.” When male K-12 role models barely exist in these disciplines, what message does that send to our young boys and men?
But our society suffers when boys and men are actively discouraged from pursuing their interests in the arts and humanities. The cycle of toxic masculinity starts early. Boys are often told not to cry or show emotion. They are socially trained to repress it, and they take pride in this false resilience.
the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. In an annual event called “
Cops and Docs,” accomplished medical professionals and highly trained police officers take a group trip to the museum. Over the course of the evening, mixed groups of cops and docs look at paintings, sculptures and other works of art, and t
hey then share their answers to a pretty basic question: What do you see?
Another program, “
The Art of Perception,” takes police detectives, FBI agents and high-ranking Secret Service and CIA executives to well-known museums and galleries like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Frick Collection to observe works by Picasso, Caravaggio, Edward Hopper and other masters. Program creator Amy E. Herman says the exercise
is “not about looking at art. It’s about talking about what you see.”
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more on male students in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2014/09/19/less-boys-more-girls-in-college/
Pew survey highlights need for K-12, university partnerships in STEM promotion
https://www.educationdive.com/news/pew-survey-highlights-need-for-k-12-university-partnerships-in-stem-promot/515191/
Shalina Chatlani Jan. 21, 2018
a Pew Research Center survey:
a 2017 survey of 11,500 girls across 12 European countries commissioned by Microsoft found 60% of respondents said they would feel more confident pursuing a STEM career if they thought men and women were being treated equally in those fields.
To increase access to the field and broaden the pipeline, institutions can ratchet up their STEM game by teaming up with K-12 and industry partners,