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Google and Gates-Backed Khan Academy Introduces "Grit"-Based Classroom Funding

Posted by samzenpus on from the effort-counts dept.

theodp writes: Their intentions are no doubt good, but some will be troubled by Google and Khan Academy's recently-concluded LearnStorm initiative, which pitted kids-against-kids, schools-against-schools, and cities-against-cities in a 3-month learning challenge for prizes based not only on students' mastery of math skills on Khan Academy, but also their perceived 'hustle' (aka 'grit'). "Points are earned by mastering math skills and also for taking on challenging new concepts and persevering," explained a Khan Academy FAQ. A blog entry further explained, "They've earned points and prizes not only for mastering math skills but also for showing 'hustle,' a metric we created to measure grit, perseverance, and growth. They competed over 200,000 hours of learning and 13.6 million standards-aligned math problems. In addition, thanks to the generosity of Google.org, DonorsChoose.org, and Comcast's Internet Essentials, 34 underserved schools unlocked new devices for their classrooms and free home internet service for eligible families, increasing student access to online learning tools like Khan Academy." Apparently funded by a $2 million Google grant, the Google, Khan Academy, and DonorsChoose grit-based classroom funding comes on the heels of the same organizations' gender-based classroom funding initiative. Supported by some of the world's wealthiest individuals and corporations, Khan Academy's Board members include a Google Board member (Diane Green), spouse of a Google Board member (Ann Doerr), and the Managing Partner of Bill Gates' bgC3 (Larry Cohen); former Board members include Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt.

11 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "grit" = stockholder profit potential

    1. Re:Translation by west · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Basically. It's all about finding the suckers willing to sweat the most for the masters above them.

      I'm certain you back up your sentiment by living "off the economic grid", but my, it's amazing how many others followed this sentiment with "and I should still be able to get all the neat stuff that everyone else sweats for..."

  2. Why educate? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just hire H1-B visa workers for pennies...

  3. No matter what you do these days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    some whiney blogger will be offended by it!

    1. Re:No matter what you do these days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's because it's bullshit! They are only trying to pacify the call to tax Wall Street. You know, the people who are stealing our pensions and strangling the legitimate economy? Fuck them. They are thieves!

  4. What a terrible way to start your summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Their intentions are no doubt good, but some will be troubled ..." What a terrible way to start your summary.

  5. We 'must' compete by hughbar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If the little people start cooperating, doing stuff, changing the world, that's really, really bad. So we must compete, win prizes given by the big people, follow their agenda. Hence, also, attempts to buy into or hijack open-source, communism and altruism on the hoof, cannot be allowed, everything must be monetised.

    I'm currently doing voluntary work in schools in the UK and the 'push' coming from Google, Microsoft 'partners' etc. is extrordinary. One would be mad to believe that any of this is altruistic, it's just a big, stable, undemanding [I deal with crap computers and software during the volunteering gigs] market.

    Sorry that this sounds so ranty, unusual for me, but I don't trust them, don't trust their motives.

    --
    On y va, qui mal y pense!
    1. Re: We 'must' compete by mattwarden · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The world is about competition. Even non-profit organizations are about competition. It might make you feel better to teach kids what you call "cooperation", but since you think cooperation is the opposite of competition, then you should be kept away from teaching children anything about life. People like you have heavily influenced education for 3 or 4 decades, and as a result we are churning out people who have no idea how the world works, and especially how markets work (to enable efficient cooperation).

    2. Re:We 'must' compete by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So we already stopped singling out winners for scholastic performance (or performance at sports, or whatever), with this "everyone's a winner" crap. And now we can't even give kids points for effort?!

      Competition (meaning a race between two or more people, although this also applies to the economic meaning of the word) is healthy and good, and it is a powerful way to push people to excel. And recognizing effort helps disadvantaged children, they get bonus points for persevering where the advantaged kids "got everything handed to them on a silver platter" without having to try very hard, as one critic in that article puts it.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    3. Re: We 'must' compete by mattwarden · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Right. I forgot about how there is no competition in open source software. What Linux distribution do you run, by the way?

      The world organizes itself by competition. It's not always monetary competition. But it is competition.

  6. So we thought about it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It turns out standardized testing was not the solution to bring everyone's educational standards up to par.

    So, we have decided the only alternative is to turn it into the Hunger Games.

    That is all.