All the new digital and Internet tools should make this the Golden Age of Educating Everyone.

That's what it should be and what I want it to be. I'm a democrat with a small d and really do believe in universal education. How about you? If only our Education Establishment did.

The slower the kid is, the more I want to say: yeah but if you did it right, you can reach that kid.

And now, like never before in history, it's easy to do it right. There is every imaginable kind of assistance: books, magazines, websites, TV channels, Hollywood movies, it just goes on and on.

Think of something you might want to teach to children. Then go to Google Images and you'll probably find 500 pictures of that thing. So you spend an hour letting children discuss these pictures. A lot of education will take place without any work at all.

 I've been thinking a lot about The Patriot, a movie about the American Revolution. Imagine you let the kids look at 15 minutes at the start of each class. You make them focus on clothes, weapons, transportation, houses, the terrain, everything. Think how easy it would be to teach the American Revolution with that movie as your primary teaching aid.

 Problem is, schools actually seem to be defeating all this opportunity.  So I wrote an article called "Dumb Education versus Smart Technology" about the paradox of intellectual malnutrition in a land of intellectual milk and honey.

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BTW: There are two obstacles to our Golden Age. It's easy to make the case that our Education Establishment really prefers mediocrity. Don't the stats suggest that?

There is also the matter that future teachers are allowed to major in things they won't be teaching, like psychology; then they waste two years at ed school. Long story short, they might end up not too well educated in their subjects. But to take advantage of all these new tools, teachers need to be educated.

However, don't teachers know whether they're sufficiently educated? Teachers can finish the job themselves. Read a book in your subject each week or two. A popular, fun book. That's easy enough. And then you will be able to exploit all the new teaching aids, and welcome in the Golden Age of Educating Everyone.

[See my latest articles here: @educatt]