(First of all, in my previous post, I mentioned that my son loves to use Nintendo DSi's Flipnotes. You can find out more about Flipnotes by visiting Flipnote Studio.)
Now, my topic for this post is Educational Revolution.
As I read other blogs and articles about needed changes in education, I am beginning to see that something drastic needs to happen. The poster above alludes to the point that the fallout in education will be dramatic, just like the changes sweeping the news industry. But, it also says "wait until you see what happens." Well, I have a feeling we will be waiting for decades, if not centuries, if we don't overthrow the Public School Dynasty.
In the post Why Not? from the Cathy O's Reflections blog, she asks the question, "Why not change the school day/week?" in order to give teachers more time to work on professional development and the myriads of other projects they need to complete and problems they need to solve. While I think a change in the typical school day/week would be a positive way to ripple education, it is not the hurricane of change I think we really need.
After reading Education at the Crossroads, a posting from Seth Godin's Blog, and finding the above poster on flickr.com, I started internalizing the depth of change that our public schools need. Godin's point is that there is not one crossroad, but three (though I think we could all add more). He talks about the crossroads of scarce or abundant education, free or expensive, and schooling or learning. And/or any combination of the three. We could have free, abundant, learning or expensive, scarce, schooling. I know I would prefer the first. Godin is addressing higher education here, but I think we need to consider these possibilities for all levels of education.
An article, The Education Revolution, by Forbes columnist Reihan Salam introduced me to the Sweden education concept. In Sweden, they allow anyone, any group, to establish their own schools. Top schools are being almost franchised, like fast-food restaurants. The money that would have gone to public schools per pupil, now goes to these innovative schools. So, it is profitable.
If you were to design your own free school, what would you emphasize? How would you consider your school to be successful? Test scores, college placement, job placement . . . In the Education Revolution article, it talks about teaching and practicing "soft skills"--those skills needed for personal service jobs--which are jobs that are less likely to be "offshored." Also, less standardization and more spontaneity. I would agree.
We need everyone, not just teachers and lawmakers, to help make the change. We need new "Learning Centers" that are free, abundant, and promote learning rather than test scores.
To change the subject just a little, the BP Oil Spill is a horrific tragedy. But, I believe this disaster will strengthen the push for and realization of the need for alternate energy sources. I predict the spill will start the fall of the Oil Dynasty. So, just like the oil dynasty, I believe (not necessarily happily) that the Public School Dynasty needs to fall. It will be traumatic, like the oil spill, but, I think we will come out sunnier after the storm.
photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dkuropatwa/3838583501/
photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dkuropatwa/3838583501/
Agreed, unfortunately, public education is a big political machine, and change occurs very slowly.. at a snail's pace....I can only hope that the students I have now, will demand a more engaging education as they go through the system...maybe that is where the push will come from-the students?
ReplyDeleteSara--your discussion is so very insightful, but it frightens me to death. If the public, free institution would fall, I'm afraid the poor will suffer immensely and this country will now be have and have nots with simple literacy. Public education has its flaws, but I am a child who succeeded ONLY because of a free education and the opportunity for financial aid for college. To me, the collapse of the public schools is Armageddon.
ReplyDeleteCathy--I agree that we definitely don't want haves and have nots. That wasn't what I was thinking. I was thinking that the states would still have the allotment per student like they do now. Each student could decide which school they would like to attend, and the state money would follow them. (I think I could educate 6 students for under $30,000 for example). Still "public" for the students, but private for the buildings. There would still be Iowa Core standards and benchmarks or National outcomes, but the new schools could figure out ways for those to be met. Maybe go back to a one-room school house concept for smaller schools (like for local schools--as in a school like a local restaurant) and different concepts for larger schools (corporate sponsored--like a McDonald's school). If businesses can disrupt lines of products, maybe business people could disrupt learning. Business people (and others!) understand the skills that people need these days. Maybe they should write some curriculum along with educators. I wish we could freeze time for a year or two to get things straightened out . . . then start fresh.
ReplyDeleteNot a McDonald's school! Otherwise, I love it. I hope that this Deep Horizon mess is a catalyst for changing a lot of things.
ReplyDeleteYou make some interesting and scary predictions. You did a good job of synthesizing these blog postings. I didn't see any connections with the books that we are reading in class. How do you feel that your ideas integrate into the disruptive classroom idea?
ReplyDeleteZ
Ways that my ideas link with Disrupting Class:
ReplyDelete*It is an idea from a business perspective, and businesses have had more success and experience with disruptive products
*It would provide "increased access, higher quality, and lower prices"--as mentioned in the book--because the businesses could perhaps better allocate expenditures (perhaps by not having superintendents or principals for every building . . . making sports and other activities after-school clubs . . . not part of the school system). If we had, say, IBM schools, that company could produce software and hardware for the schools, teach the skills that certain business thinks are important.
I guess there is a lot of thinking to do, but it's kind of fun for me to imagine.