Obe: The Restructuring Of American Society.
...regarding the
quality of public education. Students are graduating from highschool without
adequate knowledge of the three R's. Universities are recruiting a multitude of
incompetent pseudo-scholars. Employers don't understand why the new generation
of workers do not possess the basic skills to perform the job. It would appear
that American students are not learning as much as their parents did. And yet,
teachers are still teaching, taxes are still being paid, and more funds than
ever are being appropriated for public education. What's going on in America's
classrooms?
Up until the 1980's most schools used a standards based curriculum. In
the traditional classroom setting, educators focused on the input side of
education, teaching a specific body of knowledge. Students were graded against
predefined standards and passed or failed based on their ability to meet those
standards. This method of teaching produced a graduate with a well rounded
education, and prepared him for further development of career skills. With the
exception of those who did not apply themselves, the system worked.
Today America's educators take a new approach in the classroom. The
focus of education has moved to measuring what students can do, rather than what
they understand. This is the core principle of Outcomes Based Education (OBE).
An outcome, by definition, is something that follows as a result or consequence.
So OBE then, is an approach to education where the end result is the most
important factor. This is very important in understanding what OBE is, and what
it intends to do. In the OBE classroom, every aspect of the curriculum is geared
toward achieving a small group of specific goals. To gain an insight into OBE,
it is necessary to learn something about its origins and those promoting it.
B. F. Skinner, a psychologist and learning theorist, developed the
techniques of...
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