Border Education Project
Donation protected
The Border Education Project
www.facebook.com/BorderEducationProject
Goals and Objectives
Mission
To provide a 21st century education to K-12 students on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican Border.
Description
The Border Education Project sees 21st century education as a 3 legged stool. This can be better understood by referring to the attached 3-way Venn diagram. The 3 legs being the 3 subjects of engineering, language, and music/arts. Engineering will be divided into 4 areas-Electronics, computers, woodworking and metalworking. The necessary amounts of science and mathematics will be taught to achieve competence in these four areas. Languages taught will be English and Spanish concurrently, using the Dual Immersion Method, focusing on the thousands of English/Spanish cognates and the Common Underlying Proficiency approach between 2 similar languages.
Music and the arts is the third leg of the stool since it serves to supplement and reinforce the 2 other legs. Music has proven benefits in the learning of language, it helps to improve memory and the development of self-expression and creativity. The hand-eye coordination developed in music performance is critical in the 21st century workplace since the operation of many types of high tech machinery requires the same high level of coordination between hands and eyes. The type of teamwork required in music performance is also important in the modern workplace.
We will begin the process of establishing a charter school This is at least a 2 year process, so while we are moving forward on that, we are also considering other options.
After school programs are one. A lot of the things that are offered after school should be offered DURING school but since they are not, we are envisioning converting a bus or RV into a mobile Exploring Technology Lab with a combination machine shop, wood shop, electronics shop and computer lab with HANDS-ON activities that are both educational and entertaining.
We will consult with school districts on how to properly implement technology education. I worked for 9 years in electronics manufacturing and spent 2 years teaching an Industrial Technology class at the middle school level. Technology Education is popular now but virtually none of the products currently on the market are teaching the right knowledge and skills needed for the modern hi-tech workplace. We plan to develop and license lesson plans and curriculum in the Technology Education field since there are no good ones out there right now.
We are also exploring the possibility of bypassing the, not 20th century but 19TH CENTURY public education model and opening a chain of schools on the Sylvan or Kumon after school supplemental education model. We will call it 'Lil Engineers and have activities for students from Elementary to High School level. Once the curriculum is developed, it could be franchised and go nationwide.
Another huge underserved market in our educational system is the education of future machinists. Machinists require good math skills and skill with their hands and can make very good money with no college education required. Ever since schools got rid of metal shops several decades ago, America has had a severe shortage of machinists and had to import them from mainly eastern European countries. A properly updated and modernized machine shop program could have nationwide appeal. A full understanding of the technology and the educational process is critical to this and we have this at the Border Education Project.
A word about Manufacturing is in order here. In the U.S. there has developed a stereotype of manufacturing as something we no longer do in this country and that it is dirty, polluting and mind-deadening work that is better left to poor people in sweatshops in Third world countries. It's important to remember that we have over 12 million Americans working in manufacturing and the big trend now is not outsourcing-the sending of jobs to other countries, but insourcing-the movement of jobs and industries from other countries to the U.S.! Rapidly rising wages in China are one reason for this, making China a less attractive place for manufacturing. We must capitalize on this trend now and start preparing our workforce for the new manufacturing environment. These are not just for the top 25% of the student population that will train to be engineers and scientists but for the bottom 50% with specific skills in metalworking and electronics that the Border Education Project will provide.
Our activities in Mexico will be similar to those in the U.S. Like the U.S., the Mexican educational system is based on a 19th century model. You can open something similar to a charter school in Mexico but you have to teach a rigidly proscribed curriculum up to 12:30 PM. After that you can pursue your own curriculum. Mexico has a system of schools called CONALEP that has a curriculum similar to what we are developing at the Border Education Project. An option would be to lend our expertise and resources to CONALEP since we seem to have similar objectives.
Our activities in Mexico will focus on training manufacturing technicians and machinists. The goal is to raise the productivity of factory workers in Mexico who make products that are exported to the U.S.
This will provide 2 benefits.
1) Lower priced and higher quality products in the U.S.
2) Higher wages and standards of living in Mexico that will help to eliminate the root causes of illegal immigration to the U.S.
We hope to partner with the maquiladoras (factories) in Tijuana to raise their workers productivity. The maquiladoras have a very bad reputation but they are not going away so the objective of the Border Education Project is to do what we can to make them a more humane and productive place to work. This will ultimately benefit the factories and the corporations that run them, the employees and workers, and Mexico and the U.S.
One service we could provide is a daycare center where we could provide a curriculum similar to the Montessori model except it would provide an early foundation for the later development of technical skills for the modern workplace.
Another thing we will provide in Mexico is the other two parts of the Border Education Project 3-way Venn diagram. We will provide dual immersion language education in both Spanish and English, and a music program using guitars and keyboards. The overlapping skills developed in language and music will help foster development in the engineering and technical education field. (see Venn diagram)
www.facebook.com/BorderEducationProject
Goals and Objectives
Mission
To provide a 21st century education to K-12 students on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican Border.
Description
The Border Education Project sees 21st century education as a 3 legged stool. This can be better understood by referring to the attached 3-way Venn diagram. The 3 legs being the 3 subjects of engineering, language, and music/arts. Engineering will be divided into 4 areas-Electronics, computers, woodworking and metalworking. The necessary amounts of science and mathematics will be taught to achieve competence in these four areas. Languages taught will be English and Spanish concurrently, using the Dual Immersion Method, focusing on the thousands of English/Spanish cognates and the Common Underlying Proficiency approach between 2 similar languages.
Music and the arts is the third leg of the stool since it serves to supplement and reinforce the 2 other legs. Music has proven benefits in the learning of language, it helps to improve memory and the development of self-expression and creativity. The hand-eye coordination developed in music performance is critical in the 21st century workplace since the operation of many types of high tech machinery requires the same high level of coordination between hands and eyes. The type of teamwork required in music performance is also important in the modern workplace.
We will begin the process of establishing a charter school This is at least a 2 year process, so while we are moving forward on that, we are also considering other options.
After school programs are one. A lot of the things that are offered after school should be offered DURING school but since they are not, we are envisioning converting a bus or RV into a mobile Exploring Technology Lab with a combination machine shop, wood shop, electronics shop and computer lab with HANDS-ON activities that are both educational and entertaining.
We will consult with school districts on how to properly implement technology education. I worked for 9 years in electronics manufacturing and spent 2 years teaching an Industrial Technology class at the middle school level. Technology Education is popular now but virtually none of the products currently on the market are teaching the right knowledge and skills needed for the modern hi-tech workplace. We plan to develop and license lesson plans and curriculum in the Technology Education field since there are no good ones out there right now.
We are also exploring the possibility of bypassing the, not 20th century but 19TH CENTURY public education model and opening a chain of schools on the Sylvan or Kumon after school supplemental education model. We will call it 'Lil Engineers and have activities for students from Elementary to High School level. Once the curriculum is developed, it could be franchised and go nationwide.
Another huge underserved market in our educational system is the education of future machinists. Machinists require good math skills and skill with their hands and can make very good money with no college education required. Ever since schools got rid of metal shops several decades ago, America has had a severe shortage of machinists and had to import them from mainly eastern European countries. A properly updated and modernized machine shop program could have nationwide appeal. A full understanding of the technology and the educational process is critical to this and we have this at the Border Education Project.
A word about Manufacturing is in order here. In the U.S. there has developed a stereotype of manufacturing as something we no longer do in this country and that it is dirty, polluting and mind-deadening work that is better left to poor people in sweatshops in Third world countries. It's important to remember that we have over 12 million Americans working in manufacturing and the big trend now is not outsourcing-the sending of jobs to other countries, but insourcing-the movement of jobs and industries from other countries to the U.S.! Rapidly rising wages in China are one reason for this, making China a less attractive place for manufacturing. We must capitalize on this trend now and start preparing our workforce for the new manufacturing environment. These are not just for the top 25% of the student population that will train to be engineers and scientists but for the bottom 50% with specific skills in metalworking and electronics that the Border Education Project will provide.
Our activities in Mexico will be similar to those in the U.S. Like the U.S., the Mexican educational system is based on a 19th century model. You can open something similar to a charter school in Mexico but you have to teach a rigidly proscribed curriculum up to 12:30 PM. After that you can pursue your own curriculum. Mexico has a system of schools called CONALEP that has a curriculum similar to what we are developing at the Border Education Project. An option would be to lend our expertise and resources to CONALEP since we seem to have similar objectives.
Our activities in Mexico will focus on training manufacturing technicians and machinists. The goal is to raise the productivity of factory workers in Mexico who make products that are exported to the U.S.
This will provide 2 benefits.
1) Lower priced and higher quality products in the U.S.
2) Higher wages and standards of living in Mexico that will help to eliminate the root causes of illegal immigration to the U.S.
We hope to partner with the maquiladoras (factories) in Tijuana to raise their workers productivity. The maquiladoras have a very bad reputation but they are not going away so the objective of the Border Education Project is to do what we can to make them a more humane and productive place to work. This will ultimately benefit the factories and the corporations that run them, the employees and workers, and Mexico and the U.S.
One service we could provide is a daycare center where we could provide a curriculum similar to the Montessori model except it would provide an early foundation for the later development of technical skills for the modern workplace.
Another thing we will provide in Mexico is the other two parts of the Border Education Project 3-way Venn diagram. We will provide dual immersion language education in both Spanish and English, and a music program using guitars and keyboards. The overlapping skills developed in language and music will help foster development in the engineering and technical education field. (see Venn diagram)
Organizer
Peter Honan
Organizer
