Skip to main content

Do we kill what we strive to foster?


We’ve seen it before, it has been everywhere this year.  He is a wonderful speaker and he makes excellent points about schools and their tendency to kill what they allegedly strive to foster.  Why though, did school boards choose to show this as a way to motivate teachers?  Personally, I found it depressing.  How is someone pointing out the gaping flaws in a structure so firmly rooted in society meant to motivate the employees destined to kick off another school year struggling within its confines?


If you haven't seen it, watch it here:


In a society where we cannot even alter the funding of Catholic schools, making dramatic change to the industrial model seems unlikely.

Fireside Adventure  is a summer program for teens.  It has no buildings and tailors programs to meet the needs of its youth.  It offers an education in outdoor stewardship and leadership skills.  I guarantee it is an experience that builds memories and social awareness that government schools do not.  Fireside Adventure, Urban Adventures and Creative Toolbox offer a much better chance of motivating students than this http://www.education.gov.sk.ca/ministryplan/2011-12.  See if you can find anything meaningful in the second one.  I struggled.
 
Again we are left with a quandry - why are government schools not willing to adopt alternative models like this one?  They often claim to want to incorporate 'Leadership' and 'service learning' within their walls.  But, how does one encourage this within the confines of 55 minute blocks?  It is nearly impossible.  When the bell rings, the students are done.
 
So why are we not building systems that do not start and end with bells?

Comments

  1. Richard Schwier21 July 2011 at 10:56

    I just ran across this, not 10 minutes ago, and I think you might find it interesting, Stephen. Evidently, Finland has a dramatically different kind of school system. That didn't surprise me, but its apparent success and reverential treatment of teachers caught my eye. Have a look. I don't know about its accuracy, but I'll be looking into it more deeply.

    http://www.boingboing.net/2011/07/21/finlands-high-qualit.html

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Charter schools and Khan - Don't we need both?

In true hypocrite fashion I am beginning this analysis by looking at a couple of programs in the U.S..  Despite years of ranting about the inability of Canadians to consider models outside of North America, and our insistent comparisons to alternatives south of the border, even when models are clearly inferior to our own or others is infuriating.  I will begin here, but promise to cast a broader net moving forward. I have been curious about Charter schools for a long time, particularly because they offer the promise of diversity.  Charter schools are an opportunity within public education to offer something different from the current replicated model.  They offer hope for variation, experimentation and an opportunity to put into practise some of the theoretical ambitions that are so often constrained by the regulations of traditional structures. A couple of interesting quotations about Charter schools in the U.S. that I feel are worth exploring. "Charter schools offer a way to emb
6 comments
Read more

Nexgen: A Road Trip to Mastery

In Canada there is a long tradition of learning on the road.  For generations young people have developed leadership skills from the hull of a canoe as they explore the country's lakes, rivers and forests.  Education on the move has led to wonderful progressive programs like Class Afloat  and the Expedition Education Institute that just re-opened in the United States.  At the re-launch gathering  many of the alumni present spoke of their transformative experiences spending multiple semesters travelling on converted school buses to every corner of North America learning from the land and people they visited. Increasingly, the advances in digital media are freeing us to allow mobile connectivity at all times. Rather than seeing less of these programs, I would expect to see more.      I recently read an article by Richard Sagor who used skateboarders as an example of an independently motivated group collaboratively seeking mastery through focused repetition and failure. Sagor clai
2 comments
Read more

Harvard for Everyone?

Remember this guy?   His assertions garnered a deluge of responses - many countering his claims that post-secondary schooling was getting in the way of his education. Perhaps Dan Brown should have a look at the University of the People, a tuition-free online University.        Harnessing multiple pedagogical models, UoPeople changes the way        in which education can be accessed. We utilize open source technology      and open educational resources to provide access to educational material      from some of the most prominent institutions. Distance learning allows those      in all corners of the world to access information.( HuffingtonPost ) University of the People believes that online learning is the way to offer access to higher education for millions of people in developing nations. They believe that education can build a road away from poverty and oppression. There is an ‘application fee’ and an ‘exam fee’ each of which cost between $10 and $100 each depending on
5 comments
Read more