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This is probably taking his off-hand remarks too seriously, but I don't think anyone really uses the quadratic equation for anything. Quadratic functions definitely come up, and the derivation of the quadratic formula is definitely useful to learn, but the formula itself seems like a mathematical dead end.

In general I think being forced to learn things with no clear application is part of why the school system fails so many people.

According to the Abel–Ruffini theorem the formula for fourth-degree equations is a dead end :)

Do you mean fifth degree?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartic_function#General_formu...

Here's an application of the quadratic formula: https://twitter.com/beesandbombs/status/863124880614719488

I see your position. We should acknowledge that both sides of this are well-trodden, and the article even touches on it:

"It puts Google, and the tech economy, at the center of one of the great debates that has raged in American education for more than a century: whether the purpose of public schools is to turn out knowledgeable citizens or skilled workers."

I guess over time I've started leaning more toward "knowledgeable citizens," but I don't know why they need to be mutually exclusive.

You can do both if the tools being used are commodified but not if they're propietary. Chromebooks and Google applications are proprietary products so they're at odds with creating knowledgeable citizens that can work and think outside Google sanctioned confines.

I agree on both points. If we limit education on absolute minimum every kid is guaranteed to use, they wont learn all that much and they wont be able to proceed to college nor do non-trivial professional jobs. If you come to college without knowing quadratic equation, you wont be able to keep up with physics classes designed for students who already know elementary school math. If you don't understand for cycle when you are 18, you will have very hard time competing with students who come in already knowing real programming. Duh.

Continuation of that quote is no better. You wont even recognize utility of quadratic equation in more complicated equation (exercise) if you do not understand and remember it - much less google it. You will simply fail at solving it. There is also big difference between people who know history enough to see something suspicious when they see bad history and people who believe everything they read on random discussion forums.

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I think that changing tech school to use because new tech is more convenient to administer is perfectly good reason on itself. I don't know why everyone needs to bs about "transforming education" each time. However, I would much rather have education transformed by people who a.) value learning b.) can explain what quadratic formula is useful for c.) have knowledge of education theory (they dont need to agree with most of it, but they should know what it is they disagree with).

> there is no guarantee that whatever tech you learn will stick around.

Ok, but there are plenty of aspects of using tech that transcend the lifetime of the actually device you are using. Coding, of course, is timeless, but even the basic idea of experimenting/discovery within a UI is something that many older adults lack from not having tech when they were younger.

The other issue is that these devices have a limited lifetime in comparison to what they are replacing, paper textbooks. We may complain that textbooks our kids have are X years old, or don't have Y or Z fact in them that has transpired since the book was printed, the fact remains that the school didn't have to refresh that book every couple years at great expense. Chromebooks, laptops, iPads, etc. all are fragile and have a very limited lifespan in comparison to a textbook. That money would be much better spent on teachers which will have a far greater impact on the student's lives than any book or piece of tech ever will.

Do we really think that 20 years from now students will look back fondly and remember their old Lenovo Chromebook? Or will they remember the teacher that took the time out to make an impact in their lives?

Technology changes, it's impossible to keep up. Human interaction is a constant over all these years and advances.

Teachers need tools to teach. Books are not exactly better. Texas has had huge influence over the type of books used by US schools. In that case, a Chromebook with Wikipedia is probably preferable.

As near as 5 years ago tech-illiterate friend of mine did a 'computing' course in the UK. Most of it was using a word processor, which is fine, but the 'exam' consisted of knowing exactly which menu/shortcut key was used in Word 97 to achieve a goal - bold some text, etc.

Yup I would agree from what I have seen end up happening at schools that are given tech but don't have the long term resources to utilize it right.

Ideally you pay attention to the people who have done some teaching and know something about tech like Sal Khan. He understood what tools kids need only after spending a bunch of time teaching kids.

Tech is not magic just like information access is not magic. Libraries have existed for a longer time than schools have but we don't send our kids to libraries cause a good guide makes more of a diff in where kids end up in life than just access and tools.