Atari's Founder Hopes to Hack Three Years Off High School

Formica Archonis

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Nov 13, 2009
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Brian Albert said:
Bushnell added that young students will inevitably - in their curious nature - tinker with and inadvertently damage classroom computers. Cloud technology, he insists, will disconnect the system's administration from the physical machines, allowing an off-site location to handle any technical issues.
Buzzword bingo ahoy! How does cloud computing differ at all in this context from thin clients with a server in a locked closet somewhere in-school, something we've been able to do for literal decades? Cloud-based thin clients will still require some technical administration (they ain't pulling info from the ether, they still need a LAN to hook to the Internet with) and someone to fix the ones kids have broken, it just moves one hardware component and the content outside the building. Everything else is still where kids can break it.

Also: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/technology/technology-in-schools-faces-questions-on-value.html?_r=4
 

r_Chance

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Dec 13, 2008
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BobDobolina said:
"and to have school be as chaotic as possible"

Gotta love well-meaning berks with harebrained schemes to "fix education."

The only thing wrong with the American education system is that it's under constant assault by crazies who want to systematically underfund it, dismantle it in favor of ideologically-driven "voucher" programs, destroy teachers' unions and teaching as a profession, and rewrite its textbooks to give "equal time" to Creationism and the movement conservative fantasy version of history. Get rid of those forces -- the forces who want to create an underclass and elite because they think they'll be welcomed in the latter -- and you fix the problem.

I highly doubt you fix the problem with gee-whiz technology, video game style achievement systems, and especially not by "making school chaotic." There are metric tons of research to indicate that kids (surprise, surprise) do not benefit from chaos as a learning environment, and that includes most of the geeky kids who fondly and mistakenly imagine they would. Nolan Bushnell's claim to already have accelerated the high-school learning curve by ten times sounds extremely dubious, and I doubt it will stand up to examination.
Thank you for saying it all before I had to. I appreciate it :)
 

The Random One

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May 29, 2008
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Brian Albert said:
Do you think hitting the fast-forward button on education is a smart move?
No, but leaving education as it is, still based on 19th century concepts when children are the ones more capable of understanding how the modern world works (and thus more able to see the gap between how well it runs and how poor education does) is an even dumber move.

We're going to need to try a lot of harebrained schemes before we find one that works.

As someone who put minimal effort in my education because I could still get good grades with that minimal effort (and who nowadays has problems with putting effort on anything) I love the idea of giving additional rewards instead of just setting a ceiling. Smart children are able to play traditional education systems, but this is something that will entice them.
 

SangRahl

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Feb 11, 2009
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Brian Albert said:
Do you think hitting the fast-forward button on education is a smart move?
Hell, yes.

My kids are just reaching the age of entering "the system", and it terrifies me.

The thought of them being stuck in understaffed, undersupplied, and overcrouded classrooms... all while being as bored to tears as their parents were, makes me wish that something like this could be implemented.
 

robert01

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Jul 22, 2011
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I dont agree with this.
Dont get me wrong streamlining learning is better, but you can't teach the maturity growth that would be lost in those three years with cloud computing.

I would rather see them teach MORE in high school that would make a lot of the college/university courses no longer needed, because it seems that colleges are left to pick up and teach things that high school should have, but never had the time.
 

neonsword13-ops

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Mar 28, 2011
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<- This highschooler is all for it.

It's certainly better than reading books all day long.
 

honestdiscussioner

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Jul 17, 2010
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I think it's a great idea, but slightly off target. Kids shouldn't be going to college when they are sixteen. Instead of getting kids the same level of education sooner, why not take the usual amount of time, but give them more education during high school. Have them know at 16 what they should know by their 18, and then spend the next two years taeching them even more. Education is an investment and we should be teaching our kids as much and as well as humanly possible.
 

Moosejaw

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Oct 11, 2010
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High School itself as it's currently known should be completely eliminated anyhow. The education system was designed for a different time and as any bloated monstrosity tends to be, will be very difficult to change to adapt to the times.

For instance, high school preps people to go into college. A lot of people just aren't suited for it and don't need it. I think a lot of teenagers would be far better off being sent to trade schools instead, or even better sent out into the field for apprenticeships.

That's the only way we're getting any semblance of our manufacturing base back and sinking kids tens of thousands of dollars in loan debt is going in the opposite direction.
 

Baneat

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Jul 18, 2008
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Jamash said:
Hypothetically, if this cut 3 years off High School and people were leaving at 13, what would they do then?

Not everyone who finishes High School chooses further education, some go straight into work or start apprenticeships, would 13-year-olds be allowed to start full time jobs with equal hours and equal pay?

Would these 13-year-olds be exempt from tax or would they be treated the same as any other working adult?

For every potential 13-year-old who finishes school but doesn't go to college, those 3 years have to be accounted for, especially if they can't work in that time. There would have to be a lot of reforms made to accommodate this possibility, not just in the Education System but also Workplace reforms, Labour Laws and Tax reforms.

High School is a great "babysitter" and I can't see other areas of Society leaping at the chance to reform their practices or entire structures so they take responsibility of 13-16-year-olds.
Point may be a little moot since in Scotland you can leave high school fairly early and go get an apprenticeship no problem?
 

Blind Sight

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May 16, 2010
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Guys, read Bushnell's actual statements. Brian Albert said join the workforce early, not him. Bushnell's not arguing for just a year of high school, instead he's arguing that he can provide resources that allow children to be educated faster and more efficiently. He's not saying that there would just be one year of high school, just that the current curriculum could fit into that time space. Although he doesn't say it directly, his opinion on public education probably indicates that he wants to still maintain a three or four year system, but offer far more in terms of actual education. What would be the point in just fitting a lackluster education in a year for him when he's aiming for improved education? He shows no indication that he wants to put 15 and 16 year olds in the workplace or college, just that his system can apparently fit a full high school career into one year. Completely different things.

Honestly, I can't believe I had to explain that. I blame public schools haha.

I'm going to hold off until I see some actual results from this (his claims seem unrealistic and too-good-to-be-true), but it's a very interesting idea.
 

penthesilea180

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Jul 25, 2010
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This sounds a little too close to for-profit education for me. Condensing a four year degree into a year and doing all the work at your own pace sounds great. However, the quality of the education you get is never the same as actually taking the time to do the four year degree. Like others have said, there is a maturing time when you work towards a goal like a high school or college degree. There are things like study habits, problem solving and interpersonal skills that are not covered in the "basics" of a degree. I fully agree that technology should be integrated better into the public school system, but I see that as much more of a funding and personnel issue than a degree timing issue.
 

Sniper Team 4

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I don't know...aren't we making kids grow up too fast as it is? Throwing them into college (or out into the real world) at such a young age, I'm not sure all of them would survive. Your brain and body need time to grow, and you can't really speed that up.
 

orangeapples

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Perhaps not cut out 3 years, but I like the idea of changing the education system in America. Some things I think can be changed into a format that students will enjoy.

Now if they made testing like it is in Baka and Test, then we'd be golden.
 

JackyG

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Jun 26, 2011
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I feel like an update is in order, the change would be slow of course and it would require a LOT of development time and money. But it may genuinely help humanity in the long run! That's not something you usually say about gaming!

I don't like the idea of a computer replacing teacher-student interaction though. School needs to be a community as much as it needs to teach.

just hope it has a chance to percolate in people's minds before Fox and those like them try to burn it without so much as reading an article on it...
 

Harlief

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Jul 8, 2009
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ShenCS said:
Someone's been watching Extra Credits.
That being said, there's a serious problem in "hacking" off years of education. Instead of putting hormone-stricken teenagers with still absolutely no life experience out into the real world where they will inevitably balls everything up for themselves and our future, why not use the extra three years to educate them -more-.
Well said sir! Maybe the extra time could be used to educate kids in unwritten social rules, basic intro into how society works and teaching them some gosh-darned manners!
 

The Lugz

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Apr 23, 2011
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personally i had to go back and fix everything my school taught me, so i think this is an excellent idea
 

Mechanical Cat Fish

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It's a nice idea but I think taking time is still the better route; regular reinforcement of ideas and techniques is how we learn them, besides which some people may simply not be mature enough for a job so early. Our education system is often just as much social as it is academic, so this plan's a little too far in a good direction.