Another Bandwagon?

The feds have done it again. They have come up with a new way to revolutionize education. This time, we are not worried about leaving any children behind, this time the feds are offering up a Digital Promise to help educate our youth to be competitive in the 21st century. The new task force of sorts actually originated from a law signed by NCLB's George W. Bush, but was taken up by the Obama Administration.

This new 501(c)(3) made up of some government but mostly private sector members pledges the following three key factors as adapted from its Fact Sheet:

1. Identify breakthrough technologies.
2. Learn faster what's working and what's not.
3. Transform the market for learning technologies.

Originating from a presidential call to action, this Digital Promise initiative will be looking at things like robots that can help students with vocabulary, video games that can be used in classrooms, and online tutors that can help assess learning strategies.

Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York said today that “the creation of the Digital Promise Initiative heralds a new and much needed era that will ensure the rewards of the digital age will be available to everyone, those with wealth and those without, those who live in rural areas and those who live in urban areas, those who are young and those who are elderly. Just as the Northwest Ordinance, the Morrill Land-Grant College Act and the GI Bill stand as seminal achievements in earlier centuries, we look forward to seeing the Digital Promise Initiative shine in this century as an equally bright beacon."

Pretty hefty hopes, I'd have to say. I can only hope that this new "promise" is not just another swing of the educational pendulum, not just another bandwagon to jump on. I can only hope that before we jump at whatever Kool-Aid is being offered up next, we take the time to make sure that Jim Jones hasn't filled the cups.

I'm just-a-sayin'.