Chapter 7 Rethinking Education

This chapter covers the costs and benefits of a revolution in the current education system.  At first glance, I thought it was interesting that the "What May Be Lost" section was considerably longer than the "What May Be Gained."  But, after reading the chapter, I found that for much of the costs the book counters by saying the negatives are not that important to a current society.  For example, one cost of changing the current system is a loss of cultural assimilation.  This was a major component of pubilc education because the waves of immigrants moving the US at the time our current education system was designed all needed to be "Americanized."  However, this is not such a common concern now that Americans are connected through Internet, media, and other advanced technologies.  This downplays the importance of the cost.  And now as future educators, oppositely, we are taught to avoid assimilation and instead accomodate for differnt cultures and teach are studnets to be respectful of differences. 
One majory cost I do see in the education revolution is losing access to an equal quality experience.  Low income areas and families will not have the same opportunity to educationally support their children.  They will have less supplemental material like hired tutors or learning software because they will not have the means to obtain them.  Also, having access to technology, or even a warm lunch and adult supervision during the work week may not be as readily accessable to poorer areas. 
In the "What May Be Gained" section, the text brings up an interesting problem: students' attitudes towards learning.  "The goal becomes to get grades that are good enough... with a minimum of effort" (pg110.)  This is interesting be this implies the real revolution must come from the students, not the structure of teaching or method of instruction.  As teachers we are each responsible for motivating and inspiring our students to WANT to learn and discover new material.