… let’s remind ourselves that the glories of big-class public schools, distance-ed for-profit schools, and computers instead of teachers, are reserved for children of the common people.
Of course, no member of the ruling class, … including [Bill] Gates, [Joel] Klein and [Michael] Bloomberg, would enroll their own children in a school that deprived them of smaller classes, because they want to ensure that their own children have the best chance at success. Indeed, all of them sent their own children to private schools with small classes. Chester Finn enrolled his children at Sidwell Friends (where Obama’s children attend) and Exeter; both schools feature small classes, with Exeter boasting of class sizes of 8-12.
Yet it seems for these same people, it is fine for them to recommend that other people’s children should be relegated to classes of thirty or more, and hooked up to computers for “differentiated” instruction.
Leonie Haimson takes a look at the track record of online learning. It ain’t pretty. But … you know… good enough for the little people.