To: Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education (https://www.mbae.org)

 

Dear Members of the Alliance,

The report titled ÒMass. business leaders focus on real world skills, good teachersÓ, prepared by TheMassInk Polling Group in September 20, 2016, states, quote,

 

 ÒBusinesses are still struggling to fill positions, and see a disconnect between schools and preparing students for jobs.Ó (https://www.mbae.org/2016-ma-employer-survey-on-education-and-workforce-readiness/)

 

The wrong question

 

 

ÒWhy are businesses struggling to fill positions and see a disconnect?Ó

 

The right question

 

 

ÒWhy are businesses struggling to fill positions and see a disconnect

for so many years?Ó

 1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. During the course of several decades, numerous reports, analytical papers, working papers, public speeches, TV and radio shows, even bills have been focusing on the low quality of a significant part of the American recent graduates transitioning into a workforce (or even the absence of American graduates in certain important professional fields; https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2017/02/nostudents.html).

 

3. Logic forces us to make a conclusion that the problem is not local, not temporary, but systemic and systematic. This conclusion is not a surprise. Education represents a large part of a society. The social, economic, and political situation in the country is very complex and complicated, and no single existing problem has a simple and obvious solution. Old models do not work anymore.

 

4. It makes sense to broaden the discussion, to start the discussion from a square one, to include in the discussion people who can offer non-trivial, unorthodox views on the matter. At the least, this step would help to initiate generating of more ideas.

 

5. This is why I would be happy to make a short presentation to the members of the Alliance on the roots of the problems within education and the pathways to solve them.

 

6. I have been in the ÒtrenchesÓ for many years, teaching math and physics and more to many students, starting from the 5th grade and going up to a college level, a university, and teacher preparation programs. I am good at teaching (for example, you may check what students said in the past at http://www.teachology.xyz/evvv.html).

 

In addition to extensive and successful teaching, I also have been writing on the methodology of teaching in general, on teaching physics, and on teacher preparation (for example, you may check http://www.teachology.xyz/index.htm).

 

Some of my views may be seen as ÒperpendicularÓ (but not opposite) to some of the mainstream approaches. However, the majority of my ideas, principles, and techniques have been successfully used in the everyday teaching practice (you can find the summary of my work in my book: ÒBecoming a STEM Teacher: A Crash Course for People entering ProfessionÓ).

 

I believe that good education represents the core of a successful society.

 

Sincerely,

 

Dr. Valentin Voroshilov

 

valbu@bu.edu

 

www.GoMars.xyz

 

 

List of Publications on Education Available Online

 

Eventually I will issue another book, with the collection of the publications written after my first book. I will call it ÒThe Perpendicular ManÓ, because many (not all) of my views are perpendicular (not opposite!) to the mainstream views on education and in education.

 

1. What Would Businesses Do if No Foreign Students Could Come In the Country Anymore?

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2017/02/nostudents.html

 

2. A note on a connection between immigration and science

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2017/02/note.html

 

3. Is Artificial Intelligence Already Actual Intelligence? 

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2017/03/ai.html

 

4. Thinking about becoming a STEM teacher? Think again!

http://www.teachology.xyz/tbst.htm

 

5. Will Artificial Intelligence Save, Replace or even Affect Education Practices? (a venture capitalistÕs view)

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2017/04/vc.html

 

6. What does an educator need to know about a brain?

http://teachology.xyz/lumosity.htm

 

7. Numbers Say: The High School Physics Teachers Shortage Will Be Fixed In 130 Years.

http://www.gomars.xyz/phn.html

 

8. Why Did Russian Cyber Forces Beat Their U.S. Adversaries in 2016? The Answers Is Rooted In The State Of Education In The U.S.

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2017/04/cyber.html

 

9. Why Do Many EdTech Startups Fail? Really!

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2017/04/EdTech.html

 

10. Will the Yidan Prize Affect the Evolution of Education? Too Soon to Say.

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2017/03/YidanPrize.html

 

11. XQsupesrschool Ð a blessing or a waste of money?

http://www.teachology.xyz/xq.htm

 

12. To Mr. Jeff Bezos in respond to his tweet.

http://gomars.xyz/jb.html

 

13. Why do students drop a class and what to do to prevent it from happening?

http://teachology.xyz/dropingclass.htm

 

14. To test or not to test? This is NOT the right question!

http://teachology.xyz/statya.htm

 

15. Facilitating In-Service Teacher Training for Professional Development

http://www.teachology.xyz/pd.htm

 

16. How I flipped my class without even knowing it.

http://www.teachology.xyz/1988.htm

 

17. Who and why should learn physics?

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2016/12/onphysics.html

 

18. Physics as a Door into STEM Education

http://www.gomars.xyz/1717.html

 

19. ÒPhysics course to Every Student! Physics into Every School!Ó

http://www.teachology.xyz/2020.html

 

20. A General ÒAlgorithmÓ for Creating a Solution to a Physics

http://teachology.xyz/general_algorithm.htm

 

21. What does Òthinking as a physicistÓ mean?

http://teachology.xyz/sp.htm

 

22. Learning aides for students taking physics.

http://teachology.xyz/la.htm

 

23. A Map of Operationally Connected Categories as an instrument for classifying physics problems and a basis for developing a universal standard for measuring learning outcomes of students taking physics courses (a novel tool for measuring learning outcomes in physics).

http://teachology.xyz/mocc.htm

 

24. Math self-test for students planning on taking a physics course.

http://www.teachology.xyz/mst/mst.html

 

25. Some things smart people said about teaching!

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2016/12/some-thing-smart-people-said-about.html

 

26. Why do Science Teachers Leave a School?

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2017/02/teachers.html

 

27. Do we really know if active forms of learning better than a simple lecture?

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2017/01/activelearning.html

 

28. Fundamental Laws of TeachOlogy: a Handbook For a Beginner Teacher

http://www.gomars.xyz/6LT.html

 

29. On the Socratic method

http://teachology.xyz/socrates.html

 

30. Critical Reading of ÒMaking Sense of ConfusionÓ by Jason E. Dowd, Ives Araujo, and Eric Mazur

http://www.teachology.xyz/msm.html

 

31. How much of the NSF funded ÒfundamentalÓ scientific educational research is really fundamental? And why The Traditional Approach Adopted by the NSF 

does Not Advance the Science of Education

http://www.gomars.xyz/nsf.html

 

32. To all business leaders, leaders of charitable organizations, philanthropists, and everyone who is not satisfied with the current state of the educational reform

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2016/12/manifesto.html

 

33. Four Critical Educational Projects

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2016/11/4cp.html

 

34. Treat Education Like Space Exploration

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2016/10/it-is-difficult-to-explain-in-few-words.html

 

35. Education reform needs a new paradigm.

http://www.teachology.xyz/np.htm

 

36. How is The Third Program of the USSR Communist Party related to education reform in the USA?

http://www.teachology.xyz/3pc.htm

 

37. Why have hundreds of millions of dollars been spent on developing the common core math standards if most people had not really wanted them?

http://teachology.xyz/3r.htm

 

38. Searching For Visionaries!

https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2016/10/all-my-updates-are-like-chapters-in.html

 

39. What Infrastructure Do We Need to Build to Promote Education Research to a True Science?

http://www.teachology.xyz/30uS.html

 

40. A concept of a truly new kind of a school as a part of a new kind of a facility designed and designated specifically to study learning and teaching processes.

http://www.teachology.xyz/chs.htm

 

41. Full elementary physics course

http://gomars.xyz/phy.html

 

42. A video message to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education Mss. Betsy DeVos.

http://www.gomars.xyz/BD.html

 

43. ÒA Convenient LieÓ or ÒWhat Research University Faculty Tell Themselves About Their TeachingÓ

http://www.gomars.xyz/cl.html

 

44. My latest book "Becoming a STEM teacher: a crash course for people entering the profession".

http://books.noisetrade.com/teachology

 

45. What do my students say about me?

http://www.teachology.xyz/evvv.html

 

46. My short resume

http://www.teachology.xyz/vv.htm

 

47. My full resume

http://teachology.xyz/mathhealth/rezume.htm

 

48. This list of publications, including not available online (including printed in peer-reviewed sources)

http://teachology.xyz/mathhealth/papers.htm#_SELECTED_CONFERENCES_AND