Category Archives: Michael A. Clemens

DQ #3: The Long Walk to School

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1.) Research has shown that factors within the classroom are not the only cause of gender imbalances in international education. Household income, family size, parents’ education, cultural and traditional beliefs all effect the low rates of female enrollment in education systems. However, it is a fact that girls worldwide have been closing the gender gap. How are families’ socio-economic factors being measured to reveal what influences changed their attitudes? To what extent is the behavioral changes and patterns of family being measured?

2.) With the repetitive cycle of development goals successes and failures, what types of measures and systems should be in place to assist in breaking these cycles? Developing countries often lack the finance and developed countries lack commitment, so how should policy makers be measuring attitudes and values demonstrated. How do policymakers begin to alter these actions from the start?

Discussion Questions: The Long Walk to School

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Regions around the world pose distinct needs. One area may necessitate a larger skilled/physical workforce over another in order to thrive. Should global organizations like the World Bank set uniform educational standards meant to be met by systems across the board?

Harvard’s Howard Gardner argues that eight categories define intelligence: logical-mathematical, spatial, linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, inter and intra-personal, naturalistic, and existential. Do US colleges and universities value the logical-mathematical category most when evaluating candidates for admission? Are these categories equally meaningful, and do different cultures value some over others when assessing a student? LCM

Discussion Questions: Long Walk to School

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If education policies or “political will” and funding are not the main determinants of secondary school enrollment in the undeveloped world, what are the determinants? Even besides those in the reading, what else could affect whether a child goes to school or not?

Do you think post-secondary school enrollment (BA’s or graduate degrees) in the U.S. is determined by the same factors as enrollment in secondary school in the undeveloped world (funding, parents, etc.)?

Discussion Questions 9/13

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Do you agree with the statement “Many developing countries whose educational attainment might be judged unfavorably by the litany of development goals should be judged favorably by history”? Why? Do you know of evidence outside of the reading that supports this?

Are there benefits to setting overly ambitious development goals, if so, what are they?

Long Walk to School…

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There are certain communities that require the “demonstration effect” before choosing to invest in initial low-return years. What exactly is the “demonstration effect”, and how can this become problematic? Any suggestions on how to change this?

Can policymakers actually influence enrollment rates in a meaningful degree and can somehow be measured? How much of the variation in enrollment rates across countries can be attributed to variation, which is beyond policymakers control, and how much to transition speed created by policies?

 

Discussion Questions for The Long Walk to School (Clemens, 2004)

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Question 1: The article provides information about the pattern of global educational goal setting which occurs once every 20 years, and how the projected outcomes are never met, but that new goals are always created.  What are the possible explanations that the author provides that may help explain why goal setting continues, if the goals set are never reached?

Question 2: How is the phrase, “reflects increased recycling within the system,” used in this article, and how does the author view this in terms of exportable best practices?