Particularly, how a revolutionary idea like public education has devolved over time and perhaps become a symptom of what ails our society.
In another video on the same topic, Sir Ken describes the story of Gillian Lynne. Ms. Lynne is a famous choreographer of the musical CATS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillian_Lynne and many other Broadway plays and musicals. Her story is interesting to our topic because she was famously doing poorly in school and in particularly had trouble sitting still. Ms. Lynne was saved by her thoughtful principal, who instructed her parents to take her to dancing school rather than sit in classes. Today it is probably common that Ms. Lynne would have been medicated, told to calm down and worse, missed her calling to become one of the greatest choreographers the world has known.
Change is hard. Not only for an individual but imagine changing and entire school. What would you do if you were in charge? What changes would you implement to make education more meaningful to young people? What about here at St. Saviour?
I would make school specified to benefit you in the future and help find who you want to be. For example explore many different fields to help you decide early on what you want to have as an occupation freshman year and during high school only focus on how you can get there. This way everyone will be reaching for a goal they all want during the course of all four high school years not worried about a test in a subject they plan to have nothing to do with in the future.
ReplyDeleteIf I were in charge of Saint Saviour, I would ask the students what type of classes they would like to take, to fit their own diverging needs and interests. The main, core classes, such as English, Math, etc. would still be in place, but perhaps novel and interesting teaching styles would be implemented in order to make the courses more intriguing to the students. Alongside the core classes would be what the students wish to take. There could be creative outlets such as sewing or design and others involving learning a language (beside the three we already have), or wood shop or any course that the students would be interested in taking. If the students played more of a role in deciding how and what they should learn, I think the education system would be much more successful.
ReplyDeleteIf I were in charge of running a school I would certainly make learning a lot more meaningful. Meaningful in the sense that I would hire teachers who would make learning fun and not just a monotonous series of diagrams and worksheets. Growing up I was always a "hands-on" learner, I was never the student who scanned a book cover to cover in order to study and/or review for class the next day. Majority of my learning came from developing the physical aspect of the task, whether it was physical or not, I made it conform to my liking and made it easier for myself and for my peers, to use in class. Developing a variety of systems for students to use will help bring in hire test scores, higher marks in class, and just an overall boost in their confidence and educational value. That's what I would do if I were in charge of a school.
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas. I love Mylynn's comment about making learning meaningful. Also, Annie brings up a great idea about a sewing class. Why not cooking or dance class? Olga's point about starting having students decide is what the Montessori school system is built on. The curriculum is designed to allow students to naturally gravitate toward what they want to explore and then expand their understandings once they find their gift.
DeleteAnnie is right that there are certain core subjects that are essential to knowledge building and for everyone to know to be a successful person in society. It's also important to have good teachers who challenge students in creative ways.
Good job
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ReplyDeleteJust found this article and thought it would enhance our discussion of creativity.
ReplyDelete"We say we like creativity but we really don't."
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/12/creativity_is_rejected_teachers_and_bosses_don_t_value_out_of_the_box_thinking.html
Link to study published in Psychological Science:
http://pss.sagepub.com/content/23/1/13