Gary Stager is a bit of a disturber. I’ve heard him speak a couple of times and enjoy his irreverant manner. After reading Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat, he writes:
For those of you who have not surrendered $27.50 to Mr. Friedman, allow me summarize The World is Flat. The Indians are going to eat your children. If any remain, the Chinese will kill the rest a few years later.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with Will at FETC. He too echoes this perspective. While it may not exactly be scare tactics, many educators have used Friedman’s work to create a sense of panic and fear. I certainly value many of the understandings of the book and like Friedman’s NYTimes writing. (until the NYTimes made me pay for it). Many educators have embraced Friedman so an alternate viewpoint is always appreciated. The balance here seems to between gaining an understanding of our changing world from a business perspective and not completely making direct connections to education.
Like Alfie Kohn, Stager rattles chains. I like that.
Read Stager’s full article here.
I think it is quite telling how little discussion of open source software in education was triggered by TWIF, considering that there is a lengthy explanation of the power of open source software to change the world at the heart of the book. People see what they are already looking for.