200,000+ years of humanity where people, especially young men hunted/gathered/survived. Last 120 years forced those young men in a chair for 7+ hours a day, conditioned to work on an assembly line and then sit in a chair staring at a glowing box for 8+ hours a day. Shocked pikachu face when those kids can't sit still and banished as the "bad kid".
The whole education system top to bottom needs to be overhauled and brough into the 21st century.
Amen! Curiosity and the love of life-long learning are character strengths that should be recognized and nurtured. They're what fuel self-awareness, and that means we can unlock our joy and potential for success.
From "The Adventure of the Red Circle":
“Why should you go further in it? What have you to gain from it?”
“What, indeed? It is art for art’s sake, Watson. I suppose when you doctored you found yourself studying cases without thought of a fee?”
“For my education, Holmes.”
“Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons with the greatest for the last.”
I wonder what we are missing out by not doing a better job instilling this in our youth. It's not a great signal people have to accomplish this later, we're missing years of compounding. From email replies to this I am def not alone in this path
I believe that the problem with education is the philosophy of addition that is practiced. There are problems every year, and with each new year, the response is to add something to fix it. Adding administrative roles. Adding a new policy or initiative. New technology in the classroom. New subject/elective offerings. Ultimately, every year is an exercise in excessive reactivity. The wheel is reinvented over and over.
We'd be much better off trying to determine what is essential, and then adding by subtracting. If we don't, things will continue to have an overwhelming feeling of "chaos". Structural chaos.
I think the solution is to relentlessly and elegantly simplify education. The aim of education should be to cultivate good thinkers and allow them to develop the core competencies that build a strong foundation for both individuation and teamwork. Mathematics, History, English, Science, Foreign Language, Health, and the various traditional electives like Art, Drama, Band, etc.
Then, college is for specialization. Or trade school.
Schools trying to solve everything under the sun is part of the problem. The idea of making schools more "creative" sounds very good in theory, but it is a rare teacher that can bring that out of students. Which is lovely, but that will occur even less if we continue to develop a system of chaos that creates burnout. Every new addition or initiative to schools is like adding new flowers to a garden full of weeds. If there is any magic to occur at all in a school, it needs space. In my opinion.
Get to the essential things and solve those. For teens especially, they probably don't need to sit in school for 7 hours a day (this would require changing govt requirements tho). A shorter day coupled with more straightforward (and potentially higher) standards creates space. More space for those who feel stifled in the classroom to explore life outside the classroom and cultivate interests in things they enjoy. More time for physical activities like sports, that are community building activities.
Once schools stop trying to solve every problem, we might be onto something. Less is more and right now, we are addicted to more.
I feel your pain, but education has come a long way. The common core used today is much different from the rote memorization that we had to endure. Teaching has advanced and the experience my kids have is much better than anything I remember. They don't even have grades in our elementary school because of the harm that's been shown to do to young kids.
My wife just completed her Masters in Education and I am inspired by where education has come and where it's going. It'll never be perfect for everyone, but it's also not a stagnant, broken system. It's a dynamic system of passionate educators that are constantly improving.
I think about how to educate my two sons, 3 and 0.8, a lot.
Yes, encourage them to follow their curiosity and interests. But aren’t there some times you’ve been forced to learn something that you didn’t want to, but are glad for in retrospect?
For me, French immersion (all my classes in French starting 6th grade) comes to mind. It opened tons of doors for me later in life.
Makes me wonder, “What am I not interested learning that I’ll be glad I learned?” And how do I help my kids identify the same?
200,000+ years of humanity where people, especially young men hunted/gathered/survived. Last 120 years forced those young men in a chair for 7+ hours a day, conditioned to work on an assembly line and then sit in a chair staring at a glowing box for 8+ hours a day. Shocked pikachu face when those kids can't sit still and banished as the "bad kid".
The whole education system top to bottom needs to be overhauled and brough into the 21st century.
exactly, none of it makes any sense
My wife is a science high school teacher so I get to see how some of the sausage is made. None of it makes sense.
Amen! Curiosity and the love of life-long learning are character strengths that should be recognized and nurtured. They're what fuel self-awareness, and that means we can unlock our joy and potential for success.
From "The Adventure of the Red Circle":
“Why should you go further in it? What have you to gain from it?”
“What, indeed? It is art for art’s sake, Watson. I suppose when you doctored you found yourself studying cases without thought of a fee?”
“For my education, Holmes.”
“Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons with the greatest for the last.”
I wonder what we are missing out by not doing a better job instilling this in our youth. It's not a great signal people have to accomplish this later, we're missing years of compounding. From email replies to this I am def not alone in this path
Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk is probably worth another watch.
https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity?language=en
This is a great talk
I believe that the problem with education is the philosophy of addition that is practiced. There are problems every year, and with each new year, the response is to add something to fix it. Adding administrative roles. Adding a new policy or initiative. New technology in the classroom. New subject/elective offerings. Ultimately, every year is an exercise in excessive reactivity. The wheel is reinvented over and over.
We'd be much better off trying to determine what is essential, and then adding by subtracting. If we don't, things will continue to have an overwhelming feeling of "chaos". Structural chaos.
I think the solution is to relentlessly and elegantly simplify education. The aim of education should be to cultivate good thinkers and allow them to develop the core competencies that build a strong foundation for both individuation and teamwork. Mathematics, History, English, Science, Foreign Language, Health, and the various traditional electives like Art, Drama, Band, etc.
Then, college is for specialization. Or trade school.
Schools trying to solve everything under the sun is part of the problem. The idea of making schools more "creative" sounds very good in theory, but it is a rare teacher that can bring that out of students. Which is lovely, but that will occur even less if we continue to develop a system of chaos that creates burnout. Every new addition or initiative to schools is like adding new flowers to a garden full of weeds. If there is any magic to occur at all in a school, it needs space. In my opinion.
Get to the essential things and solve those. For teens especially, they probably don't need to sit in school for 7 hours a day (this would require changing govt requirements tho). A shorter day coupled with more straightforward (and potentially higher) standards creates space. More space for those who feel stifled in the classroom to explore life outside the classroom and cultivate interests in things they enjoy. More time for physical activities like sports, that are community building activities.
Once schools stop trying to solve every problem, we might be onto something. Less is more and right now, we are addicted to more.
I feel your pain, but education has come a long way. The common core used today is much different from the rote memorization that we had to endure. Teaching has advanced and the experience my kids have is much better than anything I remember. They don't even have grades in our elementary school because of the harm that's been shown to do to young kids.
My wife just completed her Masters in Education and I am inspired by where education has come and where it's going. It'll never be perfect for everyone, but it's also not a stagnant, broken system. It's a dynamic system of passionate educators that are constantly improving.
One hopes it is getting better! Decided to share my experience just in case helpful for anyone
I think about how to educate my two sons, 3 and 0.8, a lot.
Yes, encourage them to follow their curiosity and interests. But aren’t there some times you’ve been forced to learn something that you didn’t want to, but are glad for in retrospect?
For me, French immersion (all my classes in French starting 6th grade) comes to mind. It opened tons of doors for me later in life.
Makes me wonder, “What am I not interested learning that I’ll be glad I learned?” And how do I help my kids identify the same?
Nothing comes to mind in structured education settings for me, sadly