I came across the latest craze in education today. One that is being touted as yet another way to help kids learn. And what would this be you ask? Why Surround Sound of course!

Now let me state right from the start... I am NOT talking about children with hearing impairment. I know people who have children with impaired hearing - that's an entirely different problem and one that has them scrambling for solutions at times... No I am here to talk about kids with supposedly normal hearing and the claim that they are unable to hear the teacher speaking in a fairly small room.

The Baltimore County school board has set aside $400,000 in its proposed budget to install and test "sound enhancement" systems - wireless microphones and speakers designed to distribute a teacher's voice evenly around the room. At least seven schools in the Baltimore area are already using it, and others in Maryland and across the country are investing in the equipment.

Proponents say the technology can help children hear lessons over the shuffle of papers and other classroom noises. They say it can also ease the strain on teachers' voices.

I am nearly speechless in the face of this idiotic assertion. And if I lived in the school system spending that kind of money on a sound systems for classrooms - I'd be asking hard questions the next time the schools say they don't have enough money for some other project!

After all - teachers unions have - for the past 30 years or so been screaming about the need for smaller classrooms sizes. I would venture to guess that most (not all) class sizes in this country are between 20-30 students. With some classrooms heading up to 40 in especially impoverished areas (however any school that can't pay teachers... certainly can't afford sound systems! So I'm not speaking of them).

If the teacher has difficulty projecting his/her voice - maybe he/she is in the wrong profession or maybe needing to work individually as a tutor rather than a classroom teacher. Now please tell me... with a class that size, and generally a room just large enough to hold them, why can't they hear the teacher?

Because they aren't paying attention! Their world is full of so much noise constantly - they simply tune out the sound of the teacher's voice. How many kids are in school with the constant hum of background noise... then they go home to a house where there are TV's and stereos on at full volume (sometimes in competition), from the time they get home until they go to bed? For that matter - how many live in homes where there is a television and or stereo on all night long? How many kids don't know the meaning of the word "quiet"? As in - the classroom is quiet.

Instead of trying stupidly expensive high tech ways... how about a $0 low tech way... When you want to talk to the class - and give instructions - kids need to put things down and LOOK at the teacher. What a concept! Stop messing with stuff in your desk, stop jumping up and running across the room to get junk out of your coat pocket. Stop shuffling papers and LOOK at the teacher. You'd be amazed how much most kids can hear when you make them pay attention to you!

In this case, someone has convinced the school administration that they "need" this gadget. It is a particularly neat sales job. They have convinced these people that they must spend money on sound systems to make school better. They must install equipment that is going to break and need maintenance (not to mention batteries). The person who sold this must be in hog heaven - their ship has come in my friend.

Woodholme Elementary School Principal Maralee S. Clark said she used $13,000 from the school's equipment budget to install the systems in 10 kindergarten and first-grade classrooms and the media center.

Clark used it as a selling point when recruiting teachers for the Pikesville school, the county's newest.

"I didn't want my teachers not to have that advantage," Clark said.

Well there you go - it's settled - this is all about the perks. The claim is that the kids learn better - I want a controlled study to show me that this is true. So far I don't see one. I see a claim by a Principal with a vested interest in an investment she made. I see a Principal looking to advertise that she can attract teachers she wants to her school. I don't see anything that shows - without bias - that this sound system helps the kids.

Sorry, but when you're spending my money and have constant claims that I don't "give" enough of my hard earned income to pay the school system... I want more than a slick sales presentation.

Posted by: Teresa in Education at 01:06 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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