Last week was a lot of fun. Thanks for letting me share my boy. Next Monday, it will be Mia’s turn, but for today and the remainder of this week, I’m turning my eye to education.
For the first post in this series, I’m using video as the following five minutes articulate many of my thoughts with a precision I don’t believie I could manage. The video spans the spectrum of the problem in a broad manner, but I’d like to look it in the eye on a more intimate level starting tomorrow.
Our classrooms are antique, fully stocked with decrepit tools unsuitable to building a modern metropolis for emerging minds. Old broken systems are yielding sporadic and splintered results. This will only lead to a fraction of our possible future.
We are not working nearly as hard or as smart as we need to.
I’ve kept my distance from this subject, but it’s one of larger bodies to orbit my universe and well deserving of more of my attention.
Tell me what you think.
About Sean Platt
I took my kids out of public school as no one noticed them or what they needed and bought a computer….My youngest would not have made it through school with out a computer and she has nearly graduated from college.
Attending is an important skill is finishing work started…and learning how to relate to other people. My Father was state director of special education when I was born…he would have loved what he sees now, but he could not even describe it to people when he was alive -”Every child deserves and Individual Education” was the law he wrote…and was fired for taking that position….Too bad President Kennedy and My Dad died so young they were a dynamic team….
Our public school were #10 in the nation when my father was fired the first time….30 years later and all the politics we are #47 and all the smart and wealthy kids go to private school….Oh yes and all the “Christian” kids go to their schools…
My oldest two are working on how to change education one as a software engineer/the other as a librarian…
I am in awe….I just hope I can keep up..
Good post I will be watching all week
It’s a little weird to post right after my mom, but here goes… Chase March is absolutely right that kids need to learn how to attend to information. Kids are downright professional at scanning information to select the small pieces they are interested in (think of a web page surrounded by flashing ads and ads embedded in the middle of text, kids can ignore hundreds of these before noticing one), but what is happening to the attention it takes to get through a novel and examine all its fine details? Kids need to learn how to keep up with constant adaptations as much as they need to learn how to explore the depths of a topic. There are many people out here trying to figure out that balance and many schools trying out new roles as “schools of the future” where kids learn in small learning communities that engage many subjects in the study of one concept or idea. There are a lot of students right now who are being lost in the American Education system, but don’t be too hard on the educators. Not only are they trying to meet the needs of highly skills students and average students they are trying to keep the lower achievers from disappearing altogether. The best thing the US could do right now is make the teacher career a well-payed, prestigious, and competitive market. The more enthusiastic and intelligent people who can be encouraged to join the field the better off students will be.
It’s a little weird to post right after my mom, but here goes… Chase March is absolutely right that kids need to learn how to attend to information. Kids are downright professional at scanning information to select the small pieces they are interested in (think of a web page surrounded by flashing ads and ads embedded in the middle of text, kids can ignore hundreds of these before noticing one), but what is happening to the attention it takes to get through a novel and examine all its fine details? Kids need to learn how to keep up with constant adaptations as much as they need to learn how to explore the depths of a topic. There are many people out here trying to figure out that balance and many schools trying out new roles as “schools of the future” where kids learn in small learning communities that engage many subjects in the study of one concept or idea. There are a lot of students right now who are being lost in the American Education system, but don’t be too hard on the educators. Not only are they trying to meet the needs of highly skills students and average students they are trying to keep the lower achievers from disappearing altogether. The best thing the US could do right now is make the teacher career a well-payed, prestigious, and competitive market. The more enthusiastic and intelligent people who can be encouraged to join the field the better off students will be.
Aylad: Ah, ninth grade English. I liked my ninth grade teacher, a lot. She got fired from the Catholic school I was going to at the time.. for having too many ideas.
Trina: That’s exactly it – in the box thinking. The best teachers try to teach around this, but they have a system that is structured to inhibit their success. It is sad, really, because it is human nature to want to absorb new information. I love to learn, but wasn’t really fed in my fifteen years of schooling. I was taught to memorize. That was easy, but what was next?
Randi: I’m sorry, Randi. I don’t have the space for a guest post today! Just kidding. I know exactly what you are saying. Teaching to a schedule is ridiculous. Staying on task is important, obviously, but so is taking the needs of the class into account. That’s another problem right there. Class sizes are far too large as is to be effective. Even the best teachers have so much stacked against them from day one that meeting bare minimum standards becomes something to celebrate. All I know is that it’s not good enough. We could be doing better and should be a bit more embarrassed that we’re not.
Patricia: You are keeping up. You have embraced new technology and are using it to carry out a dialogue. My state is one of the richest regions in the world and one of the poorest academic performers. Money isn’t the issue as we throw barrels at the problem. LA Unified teachers are the highest salaried in the country. The drop out rate is at half. That is inexcusable.
Quinn: Yes, kids need to learn that stuff, but it doesn’t happen through osmosis. It happens through excellent teaching. There are a lot of teachers that do not care working in systems that do not work. Yes there are countless quality teachers as well, but what can they do when forced to use their least dominant hand while holding the other over both eyes? The problem is, education isn’t evolving and it really needs to. Now more than ever.
Aylad: Ah, ninth grade English. I liked my ninth grade teacher, a lot. She got fired from the Catholic school I was going to at the time.. for having too many ideas.
Trina: That’s exactly it – in the box thinking. The best teachers try to teach around this, but they have a system that is structured to inhibit their success. It is sad, really, because it is human nature to want to absorb new information. I love to learn, but wasn’t really fed in my fifteen years of schooling. I was taught to memorize. That was easy, but what was next?
Randi: I’m sorry, Randi. I don’t have the space for a guest post today! Just kidding. I know exactly what you are saying. Teaching to a schedule is ridiculous. Staying on task is important, obviously, but so is taking the needs of the class into account. That’s another problem right there. Class sizes are far too large as is to be effective. Even the best teachers have so much stacked against them from day one that meeting bare minimum standards becomes something to celebrate. All I know is that it’s not good enough. We could be doing better and should be a bit more embarrassed that we’re not.
Patricia: You are keeping up. You have embraced new technology and are using it to carry out a dialogue. My state is one of the richest regions in the world and one of the poorest academic performers. Money isn’t the issue as we throw barrels at the problem. LA Unified teachers are the highest salaried in the country. The drop out rate is at half. That is inexcusable.
Quinn: Yes, kids need to learn that stuff, but it doesn’t happen through osmosis. It happens through excellent teaching. There are a lot of teachers that do not care working in systems that do not work. Yes there are countless quality teachers as well, but what can they do when forced to use their least dominant hand while holding the other over both eyes? The problem is, education isn’t evolving and it really needs to. Now more than ever.
Okay, it's official, Sean, Cindy, you must have a bug planted in my house. Not even two weeks ago a went on a rant about this very subject.( I think I scared the poor PTA mother. :D ) We pay for private schooling for my son, and it is such a disappointment. So many teachers are content to teach things the same way they have been taught for the last 50 years. They don't see that my child will emerge into a world that has little resemblance to their college years, let alone the world we see right now. My child won't need to know how to balance his checkbook, but he will need to know how to download and export comma delimited files from his banking website to email to his accountant. In an online world, he'll need to know how to express himself very well- in writing. He will need to know about various cultures, because he will be collaborating with co-workers from all over the world.
I could go on for hours, but it has me frustrated enough that I am seriously considering homeschooling, just so I can teach him what he'll need in the real world, not a world that existed 25 years ago.