The Education Problem: Raj Reddy (Part 10)

Sunday, March 18, 2007 | 6 comments

In this next portion of the interview, Raj explains in more detail how he ensures and verifies students learn the material they are expected to know.

SM: This is the methodology that you are putting together in your school? RR: Exactly, but not just for algebra. If you are trying to do an SAT exam, and you make a mistake, the same applies. For every question we present you, we know what the basic, fundamental knowledge you must have in order for you to correctly answer that question. When you make a mistake, that means you do not understand some of the foundational material. So let me show you a just in time lesson. For English, if a student uses “she” when he should use “he”, he would get a lesson on gender.

Then, to prove he understands what mistakes are made, he must review three sentences and correct the errors.

SM: So the same methodology is applied to science, engineering, languages and everything? RR: Yes. So if the student says “nobody ever taught me how to deal with gender”, which is a common mistake made by all foreign speakers, instead of receiving a one-minute refresher lesson, they will receive a one-hour lesson which is more detailed. The system gives the students some more examples to correct, and the student corrects them, on and on, until they cover the whole lesson of gender in English and hopefully it sinks in. At the end of the hour, the student should be able to pass all of the questions.

Creating all of this takes time and money, and that is what we are doing already for a narrow group of people for a very narrow set of subjects. We are saying that these students should be able to take the entrance exams for IIT, and they all test verbal, quantitative, and we will make absolutely sure that they know the material.

SM: You are preparing them to take the entrance exams?! RR: I am not necessarily preparing them to actually take the exams, I don’t actually care if they take the exams. I want them to have the knowledge it would take. They still have to demonstrate to me that they have the knowledge, and they understand the same material. If their high school education is completely lacking they have to learn a lot to be able to demonstrate they are ready.

This segment is part 10 in a 15 part series Segment 11 →
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