Caroline Dupont
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No matter what path Caroline took in life, all roads led back to Education and Technology. She has always considered herself a lifelong learner. Over the span of the last forty years, she has been a student, an intern for Joseph Biden (then Senator), a journalist, an entrepreneur in video production, a farmer, a freelance writer, a technical manual writer, a Project Manager for a digital rights management company, a School Board member, mother of and sibling to children with learning differences, a graduate level teacher, a legal consultant in intellectual property law, a community activist and organizer, and an independent consultant. In every instance, Education and Technology were both a passion and a necessity while also being somewhat of an obsession for Caroline. She grew up in the age of burgeoning electronics such as Atari, 8 tracks and vinyl records, the first electronic typewriters and the first word processor, early film and video cameras through to the developments of the floppy disk, personal computer, Handy cams and digital cameras, the Internet, PS3's, Xbox's, Wii, DS and more. She can not only clean your clock at Pong and Pac-Man but Call of Duty and Resident Evil as well! Don't tell her Boomers are technophobes or digital neophytes or you're likely to find your computer files mysteriously rearranged!
Caroline is married to an artist and they have one child. Her family includes educators, technology innovators, and parents who dedicated their lives to a children's services agency they founded to serve dependent, neglected and abused children and their families. Her husband's family comes from a long line of educators, secular and religious, and including School Superintendents.
Over the decades, Caroline has grown increasingly interested in Education in general as a political issue (and particularly Special Education, NCLB & IDEA) but also in the use of technology in education and the apparent disparity between private and public educational institutions at all levels when it comes to incorporating technology. During the recent 2008 election, she paid close attention to the candidates' stance on these issues with the intent of addressing these issues on the professional level with the new Administration. President Obama ran on a platform that included improving our nation's educational systems and technology infrastructure and she intends to hold him to that promise.
Caroline aspires to continue to be a lifelong learner and a champion for Education & Technology. She believes in the capacity of all children to learn given the proper environment and teaching styles and for all to have equal access and opportunities. She also supports the implementation of more technology in the country's educational institutions to make the US more competitive in the global and information economy.
Below are links to articles written by Caroline Dupont.
Posted by Caroline Dupont on March 16, 2009 - 9:15 AM CDT
ABC’s 20/20 recently aired a segment discussing the new movement for universal Pre-K. Sounds like a great idea on the surface, right? Every American child should be entitled to free and appropriate pre-kindergarten. But there were just as many arguments against the proposal as for it.
One owner of a pre-kindergarten pointed out that many parents already send their children to Pre-K but because it’s offered by private businesses, they pay for it. Those who can’t afford it use Head Start. Because these Pre-K’s are catering to a clientele, they are forced to show results; otherwise parents will just take their children to another Pre-K. It’s educational capitalism at work. Public schools are not providing quality education and yet they keep operating, wasting taxpayer dollars and sending generations of children out into the world unprepared for college or the workplace. If the government were to mandate universal Pre-K, this kindergarten owner would have more business but she is against the idea, saying that it suggested that parents were not adequate at choosing an appropriate environment for their toddler whether that is home or a private Pre-K and because our government is already failing at K-12 public education.
Universal Pre-K was one of President Obama’s campaign promises. Sixty seven percent of Americans thought it was a good idea that the government pay for all children to attend pre-kindergarten. The “government” of course means taxpayers, We the People. I tend to agree with the owner of the Pre-K in the 20/20 piece in believing that if we can’t get Head Start right, and our K-12 system is so inadequate that it warranted emergency stimulus funding to fix the broken system, what makes people think the government will do any better with pre-kindergarten? And just wait until the teacher Unions get a hold of your toddlers and start warehousing them, doing the minimum required by law and holding schools hostage to contract negotiations.
The Obama Administration uses as its argument in favor of universal Pre-K a very small, flawed experiment which followed only 58 children who received specialized services like home visits that could not be done on a large, national scale. They also point to gains in Head Start but do not also reveal that the gains made by Head Start students disappear by the third grade. Other studies have shown that too much pre-school also creates children who are more aggressive and disruptive once they reach elementary school. Proponents of universal preschool also point to government programs in Oklahoma and Georgia which have been existence for the last 10 years. Oklahoma’s performance has dropped relative to other states but the proponents say they aren’t focused on IQ scores. Rather they are concerned for children’s social and emotional well-being. Excuse me for saying this but that sounds like the “politically correct, feel good, self-esteem, it’s all about me” police are running these preschools and we’ve all seen the results of that educational experiment! We now have students who feel entitled to college and a top job and so justify cheating as a means to that end.
On average, our public schools are two years behind their private school and European counterparts and in post secondary education we rank even worse compared to other countries. In many states, we have teachers that teach to the state assessment tests. Classes like history are marginalized because it’s not covered on those tests. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor recently commented that only 1 in 5 people interviewed could name the three branches of government for the United States (but they all knew who the American Idol judges were). Science is not really science as states teach pseudo-science while the debate over the teaching of evolution or Creationism rages on. Art, Music, PE, and other subjects that aren’t part of state assessments are the first to fall under state budgetary cutbacks. Critical thinking skills and problem solving that are crucial to the information and technology based jobs of the future as endorsed by the Obama Presidency are not even in the curriculum. Why should we trust that government will do any better with preschool than they have done with k-12 and at a cost in the billions to taxpayers at a time when our economy is in shambles? Better to use the Education stimulus money to bring our existing schools up to the educational and technological standards required to put us on a level playing field with the rest of the developed world.
Posted by Caroline Dupont on February 10, 2009 - 6:02 PM CST
Just a Bill on Capital Hill
Whew! What a rollercoaster ride the House and Senate versions of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 have been in recent weeks. “There’s too much pork and not enough tax cuts!” we hear from GOP members. And from the left come reprisals of “You’re hardly in a position to point fingers when it comes to overspending” and “Haven’t the last eight years demonstrated well enough that tax cuts don’t work?” Both sides claim to be pushing for jobs creation and yet have different opinions on what constitutes “jobs.”
Proponents of Education have watched the sparring with wringing hands and petitions flying as spending on Education got whacked, and then replaced, then whacked again and now half remains on the cutting room floor waiting for the two houses of government to meld their tentatively approved plans together into something the President can sign.
So where did the Education chunk wind up, you ask? Well that depends entirely on whether you’re a Programs person or a dollars person and whether you favor the House or Senate version. The House version provides $141.6 billion for Education while the Senate version cut that figure by more than $60 billion, specifically in Head Start/Early Start and completely eliminates the amount for school construction and renovation. Senate cuts are as follows:
- $98 million for school nutrition
- $3.5 billion for school construction
- “At least half the funds to subsidize state education spending were eliminated”
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- Funding for computerize health records “is all but gone”
- Funds for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Make Work Pay payroll-tax holiday is dramatically reduced
- The child tax credit for the working poor was “also trimmed”.
Those in Ed Tech watched the Senate deliberations over what to cut with trepidation because the House version would have provided funds through a variety of avenues to improve student achievement with technology. Specifically, they could have used Title II D of NCLB, the School Facilities, Modernization, Renovation & Repair, the Broadband provisions, and portions of the funds allocated for K-12 to advance technology and technology infrastructure in schools. Included in the Senate version for Broadband provisions was $9 billion for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program which would have been a benefit to school districts in rural areas by providing access to broadband and wireless services. The allowable use language in the House version provided for “upgrading or installing educational technology infrastructure to ensure that students have access to up-to-date educational technology, technology activities that are carried out in connection with school repair and renovation, including wiring, acquiring hardware and software, acquiring connectivity linkages and resources, and acquiring microwave, fiber optics, cable, and satellite transmission equipment.” The House version also included $250 million for statewide data systems that would have pertained to Education that is not included in the Senate version.
So now we wait to see just what emerges from the pow-wow between the House and Senate to try to produce a final package to be sent to President Obama for signature. Will it be enough?
