I made the original statement in question. I actually felt it was important to not attribute this to any particular teacher. Criticize me all you like for this, but teachers have enough on their plates without worrying about being attacked for trying to figure out how to help kids have the best experience possible in whatever system they'll be using for the next few years.
From the teacher's perspective of trying to help a student not have a year of miserable experience, this is a legitimate concern. That's the core of the problem.
This quote is not about a teacher trying to hold a kid back. So it really doesn't matter who it came from.
It's about a teacher who, even though he/she is passionate and fearless enough to put significant effort into working with a system as new and scary as the Khan Academy, is still constrained by the momentum of an entire educational system that directly contradicts many of the self-paced goals of Khan Academy.
That's an important challenge to acknowledge. And unless they're in some crazy special circumstance, even the most fearless teachers in the world can't yet escape it.
From the teacher's perspective of trying to help a student not have a year of miserable experience, this is a legitimate concern. That's the core of the problem.
This quote is not about a teacher trying to hold a kid back. So it really doesn't matter who it came from.
It's about a teacher who, even though he/she is passionate and fearless enough to put significant effort into working with a system as new and scary as the Khan Academy, is still constrained by the momentum of an entire educational system that directly contradicts many of the self-paced goals of Khan Academy.
That's an important challenge to acknowledge. And unless they're in some crazy special circumstance, even the most fearless teachers in the world can't yet escape it.