Joshua Katz -Our Toxic Education System

Wow!! I just stumbled upon Joshua's talk about our toxic education system, I think he explains why we have the problems previously mentioned in these blogs-

Problems with External Standardized Tests

Another problem with our focus on external testing is that our leaders focus on management rather than leadership.

Noted academic John Ralston Saul has written negatively about this effect in his book 
“Voltaire's Bastards”. Saul contrasts leadership with management - Leadership is about inspiring people, management is about people as objects of input-output processes.

Some have called it “the curse of managerialism.”

It may be why Prof Richard Boyatzis has found 50% of Leaders do not add any value!!

Other researchers, notably University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt, in his book “Freakonomics”, have discovered widespread cheating by teachers on these external tests.

Levitt has found significant evidence that Teachers adjust student answers on external tests to ensure all students in their class get good scores.  

Prof Robert Sapolski gives a funny and short (20 sec) talk on where all this accountability and testing is heading.