A virtual colleague recommended that I read a chapter by Peter Senge, "Education for an Interdependent World: Developing Systems Citizens."  It is one of 10 chapters by notable systems thinkers in the book: Tracing Connections: Voices of Systems Thinkers. 

I read it this weekend, and experienced feelings of both optimism (about the urgent need for the fundamental changes proposed) and pessimism (about the inertia built into the education system).

Most so-called "reforms" in education ignore a fundamental issue - public expectations of schooling have changed while the system has not.  The system was designed to grade and sort students, not to assure that all students succeed. Because of this blind spot, the remedies do not work and are often counter-productive. Thus schools (along with teachers and their unions) are caught in self-reinforcing cycle of disappointment and "reform."

Comparisons of iPad to iPhone and laptops are inevitable (because that's what we know), but miss the point. The iPad anticipates a different way of relating to each other.