Pandora Charm Outlet Online

Rethinking what matters in education

/>The University of Oregon's relatively new associate dean for global education Professsor Yong Zhao spoke to a gathering of educational leaders. Kim Melton's Oregonian article "Oregon teacher union hosts first-ever education summit with state  Pandora Jewelry Outlet leaders, teachers, Gov. "There is a global gap. That gap has been there for a long time. Some gaps matter, others do not. If this gap mattered, we, as a country, wouldn't still be here." />

The higher test scores represented in the other countries, he argued, do not correlate to increases in entrepreneurship, democracy, livability, creativity, patents or economic growth.

"While we're moving testing to its highest priority, other countries are shifting their focus to creating more  Pandora Beads well-rounded students, to adding more electives, to supporting more creative thinking skills," Zhao said.

I liked Yong Zhao's emphasis on rethinking what's important: what do twenty-first century students need to learn? That's an argument I make all the time. Foreign languages (for some, not all, students) are more important now because of the global economy and national security concerns.

I also liked his emphasis on diversity as a current strength of our educational system, and one we should keep. I agree. I don't think all students need to learn http://www.pacharms-jewelry.us/ a foreign language, and certainly not the same language. We do need to make sure we have sufficient numbers learning some strategic languages, like Mandarin, but beyond that we can let students follow their interests.