Lean Production: Inside the war on public education

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10. Every industry has been effected by technology in the past 40 years.

If you've ever seen the movie 'Falling Down'; you are aware of how the 'draftsmen' were cut loose because they possessed a skill that is no longer useful.

When I see the TED video about the 'Kahn Academy' and hear people on here complain about how Bill Gates is trying to eliminate teachers; I'm afraid I view the education industry as one that has managed to avoid advancing with the changes to technology.

In my own personal experience the professional educators that I have been in contact with are not very technologically savvy.

I'm all for treating our educators with the respect that is due, but as a professional engineer and surveyor; people fall by the wayside because they can't keep up with the technology in my industry. Why should educators be exempt from what is a normal evolution of the workplace? We can get away with larger class sizes; just as engineers can get by without a lot of CAD technicians. It's what happens when technology replaces people; when a person on an assembly line is replaced by a machine we experience some sadness at the passing of an era, but we can't realistically fight for getting rid of the technology.

Teachers should be able to handle more students with database tracking in the manner that is performed at the Kahn Academy. Teachers needn't stand and deliver lectures that are available on video and in fact, for consistency sake, should show the same videos. This also allows for self-paced learning.

There is also too much administration in our school systems. The entire system needs to be evaluated and brought up to speed. I see educators trying to bring back a bygone era and that typically does not end well.