Dr. sasha sidorkin - education in america
Alan Gallaway introduced our speaker, Dr. Sasha Sidorkin who is the Dean of Education at Sacramento State.
He said that Dr. Sidorkin was born in Russia in the region of west Siberia and studied education in Moscow and earned his PhD at the University of Washington. He has taught in 5 states, but moved here to Sacramento in February.
Sasha upon taking to the lectern, kidded that he had had three meetings with Trump, but did not talk about collusion.
He asked “Why is education important”. It was found in the 1970s that human capital is perhaps the most valuable thing to have in any endeavor. The more education you have, the more valuable you are – and this is true in all countries. It is not obvious as to why this is, maybe more education makes you more cognitive, but it is true and stops at some level. In terms of literacy in the developed world, Americans are just average. Some say that American Schools are bad, it is not true when you look at the demographics. For instance Massachusetts school are excellent and comparable to Finland. Other areas are not so good. It has been estimated that 75-80 percent of one’s human capital comes not from school, but depends on how rich is your family, how educated, how connected – etc. Schools started in the 1830s
but it has been elusive to make education a level playing field.
Dr. Sidorkin said that three things are involved in the level of education: Choice, Accountability, and Technology. There is no complete answer.
It seems that the ability to think creatively can’t be measured. Perhaps one important aspect is collaboration. If the teacher is creative etc, students do better. Almost everything has been tried to enhance the education of our youth, but results have been disappointing. Perhaps we need to go back to grass roots with small every day innovation.
Dr. Sidorkin said they are continuing to do research to find answers.
People talk about a shortage of teachers, but there is no shortage of teachers. In California, the turnover is high. If you pay more, teachers will come, and they will stay.
This was a most interesting lecture on an important topic.
President Bauer said that in honor of this lecture, a book will be dedicated to the Carmichael library.
How appropriate and germane to this topic!
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| Ms. Lisa Woodward-Mink (guest), President Dick Bauer and Dr. Sasha Sidorkin (speaker) |