I saw this quote at Cay Broendum's blog:
I kissed my first girl and smoked my first cigarette on the same day.
I haven't had time for tobacco since.
How you going to argue with logic like that?
I wish it were possible to go back in time and see what made men like Toscanini, Elbert Hubbard, Glenn Curtis, Thomas Edison, and countless other creative people tick. What kind of education did they receive? What kind of driving force was behind Buckminster Fuller? He didn't worry about the ISTEP test or the SAT. What drove George Washington Carver or Luther Burbank to succeed? Is there greatness in all of us? Did they succeed in spite of their education or because of it? Bill Gates is spreading a lot of money around to improve education but is money the answer?
There have always been great men and women, I suppose. Many come from terrible circumstances but rise above it and others have it on a silver platter and end up in the gutter. My buddy Kevin and I were talking after school the other day rehashing our Italy trip and talking about wanting to learn more about some of the people and places we came across. I mentioned that schools leave so much out and he responded with words to the effect that there's just so much out there and we're the exceptions in that we're always hungry for more. Three out of the four of us who traveled together have been burning through books related to our trip since we came home. I'm not sure about the fourth because she's in Spain learning Spanish and traveling all over learning more.
Maybe that "everything is interesting" idea is the answer. There's very little I don't find interesting and certainly those I traveled with think the same way. We all have different interests, but yet we all are interested in the same things, if that makes any sense. I'm really disheartened by what's occurring now in mainstream education. However, I'm encouraged by some of the alternatives that are coming along. If I wasn't such an old fart. I'd seriously consider starting a charter school. For a dollar a year, I'll be able to rent a space from my school corporation and they'll have to maintain it once all the new laws get passed. I can see it now - like a Montessori school only with power tools. "Everything is interesting and we can build anything." I'm thinking those Brightworks guys are on to something.
4 comments:
HEY "BOB",
I WENT TO THE LINK FOR BRIGHTWOrKS, AND I AM MIGHTILY IMPRESSED. OUR WHOLE FAMILY AND MOST OF OUR FRIENDS ARE INTERESTED IN EVERYTHING. IS THE PROBLEM THAT KIDS AREN'T OR IS THE PROBLEM THAT ADMINISTRATORS AREN'T? OR IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE LAWMAKERS AREN'T?CURIOSITY DIDN'T JUST KILL THE CAT, IT IS AT THE ROOT OF ALL CREATIVITY. FROM THE GREATEST TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES TO THE GREATEST WORKS OF ART. FROM THE CHILD MAKING DRAWINGS TO HANG ON YOUR REFRIGERATOR, TO THE MOTORCYCLES THAT YOU BUILD. WE NEED TO TALK AND SEE IF THERE IS SOMEWHERE TO KICK START THE THINKING PROCESS IN OUR SCHOOL, EVEN AT THE LOCAL LEVEL.
ALL GREAT JOURNEYS BEGIN WITH THE FIRST STEP. I'D LIKE TO MAKE THAT JOURNEY.
TALK TO YOU SOON,
TVI
Regarding teaching things one finds interesting, I will say this. When I taught at a small school, we tended to weave our way through a fair amount of the standards but with many detours into what the kids were interesting (perhaps it wasn't the best idea to teach them how to distill alcohol but it was exactly what we'd been discussing as was how a 3D movie works and the subsequent field trip to the movie theater and the fish pond we constructed with waterfall). At the small school, it was easy. Parents thought it was great, kids were engaged, I gave a shit. Then I came to Big H.S. where there was 8 billion rules, almost all of which were illogical and many of which disengaged students and their teacher. No field trips to the big city. No leaving the building to go outside. No _______ (insert anything interesting at all). All they seemed to care about is if I was checking off all the standards and no parents were complaining. I can't teach in that kind of environment and it's not conducive to learning.
TVI: Here's one example. The World of Wheels in Indy has a special opening session for high school "shop class" students. They have people there to talk to the students about job opportunities and the students get to talk to some of the car owners before the show starts. I went once and it was great. The next year the field trip policy was changed. Can't leave until after 8:30, have to be back by 2:30. Can't go to Chicago for any reason. The guy from Dirty Jobs was in Griffith but it was at 1:00. Couldn't go to that either.
If you read the comment from Traveling Pirate, that explains it in even more detail. Everyone is worried about Average Yearly Progress, suspension rates and the big test but the things that would make it interesting and the schools more successful are now off the radar completely. If I'm doing all I can to get the little darlings interested and learn something now, how is merit pay going to help? Both the legislators and the administrators have lost touch with what works. Those in charge want education to be "nice and clean". Everyone has to do things exactly the same - students and faculty. Good education is sometimes messy but effective. Makes no sense at all.
You've hit the nail on the head. They want us all to teach the same thing at the same rate and get the same results. If that is what they want, I don't know why they don't just put all the kiddies in front of TV's and let one person in the state teach them each subject. After all, a "highly effective" teacher will get each student to master every topic no matter what, right?
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