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Saturday, October 16, 2010
Changing Education Paradigms
This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award. He brings some very interesting things to think about to the fore.
I did enjoy this and am glad that you posted it. A lot of what he is saying has been around a while, but he is putting all of the pieces together.
Ironically enough, I have been to quite a few seminars--including some DCSS training sessions--that suggest some of the same things in much the same language. We all get inspired about what education COULD look like and are encouraged to transform our classrooms.
Then we go right back to our classrooms and start preparing for the next test.
Standardized testing is probably the worst thing that has happened to schools. If you are too good at divergent thinking, you probably don't test well.
Right on! The goblin in all of this is "accountability" ... public officials are too terrified to try something that can be put into a standardized test. And that is why a "public system" is sort of doomed to be limited - not because of the students but because of policies and "accountability."
I would much prefer dynamic and divergent classrooms but that kinds of dynamism scares bureaucrats. Same thing happens in the private sector in companies ... everyone says they're for dynamic, collaborative teams until the sales quota is in jeopardy or the quarterly pro forma is due.
The analogy to industrial processes is an apt one.
Nonsense! Comparing (contrasts) apples and oranges. Another expert and his backward take on the educational system. Have him take a closer look at his country's (England, The British Isles), system. Public and private- horrible!
Most are enthralled by the nifty video tricks, instead of listing and understanding, and giving deep thought to the content.
In essence, we should just decide at Kindergarten level what we want children to learn/be careers, and "entertain them," or as I call it, edutain them, hoping they would learn in the process, and maybe grasp some content for the selected careers. When they're all bored, maybe around middle school, then they're on their own. Teachers are left to try to cram in reading, writing, etc. In the process must then exact some DISCIPLINE, when parents themselves cannot, and are afraid to. The system that is in place now was established by politicians and business men, for their own purposes. Ms. Afrique
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Dang, Cere, good find! What happened at the end - it seems to drop off all of a sudden.
ReplyDeleteI've gone to the RSA website to watch the whole talk (55 min)
I did enjoy this and am glad that you posted it. A lot of what he is saying has been around a while, but he is putting all of the pieces together.
ReplyDeleteIronically enough, I have been to quite a few seminars--including some DCSS training sessions--that suggest some of the same things in much the same language. We all get inspired about what education COULD look like and are encouraged to transform our classrooms.
Then we go right back to our classrooms and start preparing for the next test.
Standardized testing is probably the worst thing that has happened to schools. If you are too good at divergent thinking, you probably don't test well.
ReplyDeleteThe entire speech is very powerful.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thersa.org/events/vision/archive/sir-ken-robinson
Right on! The goblin in all of this is "accountability" ... public officials are too terrified to try something that can be put into a standardized test. And that is why a "public system" is sort of doomed to be limited - not because of the students but because of policies and "accountability."
ReplyDeleteI would much prefer dynamic and divergent classrooms but that kinds of dynamism scares bureaucrats. Same thing happens in the private sector in companies ... everyone says they're for dynamic, collaborative teams until the sales quota is in jeopardy or the quarterly pro forma is due.
The analogy to industrial processes is an apt one.
I loved this video. It was so clever and on target.
ReplyDeleteNonsense! Comparing (contrasts) apples and oranges. Another expert and his backward take on the educational system. Have him take a closer look at his country's (England, The British Isles), system. Public and private- horrible!
ReplyDeleteMost are enthralled by the nifty video tricks, instead of listing and understanding, and giving deep thought to the content.
In essence, we should just decide at Kindergarten level what we want children to learn/be careers, and "entertain them," or as I call it, edutain them, hoping they would learn in the process, and maybe grasp some content for the selected careers. When they're all bored, maybe around middle school, then they're on their own. Teachers are left to try to cram in reading, writing, etc. In the process must then exact some DISCIPLINE, when parents themselves cannot, and are afraid to.
The system that is in place now was established by politicians and business men, for their own purposes.
Ms. Afrique