Cathy Davidson's Project Classroom Makeover

In a new era where digital technology is popularized by the new generation, education model is also affected by technology. Today’s education model is composed by diversity, that is, “one-size-fits-in model” is not suitable for all students. More and more people begin to focus on how to improve the old, standardized education since it becomes clear that students’ interests are limited by the “assembly-line model”. Cathy Davidson in “Project Classroom Makeover” discusses that our education is remained unchanged for a long time while the development of technology goes fast. The mismatch of these two creates gaps between students and teachers. Students find themselves limited by the education because any possible talents may be expunged and only …show more content…
Not simply because the mainstream is going to school, so people followed. The reason why people would like to spend time and money in higher education is because they want to prepare them for the future. The skills and knowledge cannot be taking away by anyone else, and this is based on that everyone should be unique. Davidson admired a middle school girl, who is diagnosed as learning disability, while has talent in painting. “This girl’s talents don’t count on those tests, and yet she has a special and valued ability that cannot be replaced by a computer program” (63). This little girl finds her interests and that differs her from other students. The appearance of computer shocks people that humans can never memorize as much as a computer. If the computer can do the same job as a human, then people really need to think about their meaning of existence. However, the fact is that computer cannot think and it only follows with code, but people make code. The purpose of education should not only be teaching, but also training student to be creative. Thinking about what traditional education teaches us, we will find ourselves too struggling with the answer and thus limited by these answers. Davidson states that there is no need to take test that serious, “It is not about answering test questions. It is about knowing that, when tested by the most grueling challenges ahead, you have the capacity …show more content…
With the development of technology, people know how narrowly their horizons are. In the past, people accept education because they need to earn a living and what they learnt in the school provide them a better life. Now, people accept education because they want to be better themselves and realize their ambitions. Davidson demonstrates how they are criticized by the iPod experiment by saying that, “Many treated it as if it were an extravagance, superfluous to real learning and real education” (60). Duke University, serves as a top institution, are not satisfied with the old education. Davidson knows that the appearance of iPod is a chance for them to make this educational revolution. For them, their ambition is to realize an inquiry-based model. By contrast, traditional education was aimed at prepare students to their workplace, and ambition is rarely involved in this training. “Public education was seen as the most efficient way to train potential workers for labor in the newly urbanized factories” (57). Davidson describes a world without dreams. Without digital technology, people are controlled by their horizons. The longer they stay at school, the more in commons between them and machines. The rise of technology reshaped people’s value and therefore people’s ambitions’ will not limited by their horizons. People may see many possible lives they can

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