Participants:
1. If you haven’t already, take the survey: Thinking Outside the Pencil Box.
Click here to take survey
2. After you have taken the survey and checked out the results (click here to view results), go to the Ed. Revolution Wiki (On the Left) and help create a new, revolutionary plan for education:the way you think it should be.
3. If you would like to, comment to this blog (by clicking on the red “Comments” link below) to share some of your ideas on revolutionizing education. Your wiki ideas might be edited by others, but what you blog here will stay for sure.
Thanks a ton for helping me out!!!
Those who believe that “school” doesn’t work know that baby steps may not really lead to effective reform. Unfortunately, it is the very foundation of our current educational system that most needs changed. The following are a few structural assumptions in education that may need to be challenged:
Age segmentation: It is surprising to me that this structural staple of education has not been challenged, even after postmodernity has brought diversity to the forefront of the educational field. Even though we all know that learners gain much more from a diverse group than a homogenous one, we stick them in same-age groups (who are also usually similar in race, region, and socioeconomic status) for thirteen years because it is more convenient for educators.
Grades: Grades may have begun as a good idea — it is always good to see how much you have learned. Unfortunately grades have mutated over the years to become a reward/punishement system. Instead of learners comparing scores against themselves to see progress, learners scores are compared against the scores of the “norm”. As a result, learners are praised for an “A” and punished for an “F”. Because of grades, learning is no longer an end in itself.
In loco parentis: Schools have the right to make parental decisions for the child even though parents are forced to send their child to school and usually cannot choose what school their child goes to, what teachers their child will spend their day with, or what policies that school will follow. Isn’t there something fundamentally wrong with this?
Standards-based curriculum: Is it really necessary for all students K-12 to learn exactly the same information? As long as education is standards-based, it can never be learner-centered. Imagine what education could be like if learners were free to pursue their interests and skills, supported by resources and challenging opportunities. Wouldn’t each person learn much more because they were self-directed in researching an area of interest? Collectively, wouldn’t learners significantly surpass the standards? Granted, there are some skills that are neccessary for all trades and even fundamental to life as an American citizen. However, state standards go way past that point into serious learning micromanagement.
Teachers: Students typically learn from people who are not practicing in their field. They do not learn to write from writers; they do not learn science from scientists; they do not learn history from historians. Apprenticeships, where learners could master all the necessary skills for a chosen profession through modeling and practice from a true expert, ended when school became mandatory.
Can we really take baby steps?
Inspiration # 1. My own learning: I learn little from what I am taught, but I learn much from what I pursue. I don’t even want to think about the number of hours I wasted behind a desk in a classroom when I was itching to get out of there and explore things myself.
Inspiration # 2. Teaching: I teach kids who have fallen way behind. The source of the problem can often be traced back to the education that was meant to help them. In my experience, “traditional” methods aren’t particularly effective. If they were effective, these kids probably wouldn’t have fallen behind in the first place.
Inspiration # 3. Two books by John Taylor Gatto entitled “A New Kind of Teacher” and “The Underground History of American Education“. They do an amazing job of challenging the effectiveness of forced schooling and providing some evidence that alternative methods of education can be very effective.
Inspiration #4: My current Masters program through the Educational Psychology Department at the University of Illinois in Curriculum Technology and Education Reform. The courses are providing me with new alternative educational resources and challenging me to make effective use of them.
