Comments on: Why does it take so long?

By: sunnywilliams

sunnywilliams — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 12:53:18 +0000

I believe that pressure has to be put on schools and teachers to change. Unfortunately, too many parents think that the way they were taught X number of years ago is the way their children should be taught. We need parents and community members who see what the work world is like to speak up. We need people to talk about how business is done world wide and what tools they are using. Until the majority sees that there current students will need different tools and skills, then I am afraid that the change will happen classroom to classroom.

By: Doug Johnson

Doug Johnson — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 13:50:40 +0000

Cathy,

Great post.

Increasingly convinced it will take parents like you putting kids in schools that are project-based (or some alternative) to such a degree that learning becomes more important than football teams, class rings, and prom that “school” will actually change. We’re just moving the proverbial deck chairs on the Titanic if we think we can do new kinds of education in the old time-bound system of education.

All the best,

Doug

By: Norman

Norman — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 00:37:26 +0000

There are times,certainly, when in my position as principal, I yearn to tell all these kids to quit school, pack their backpack and spend a year seeing the world – as long as it doesn’t include the continental US and Canada. What they would learn seems to me a great deal more valuable than a year of biology, algebra and Shakespeare.
And then I realize that I can have that point of view because I went through biology, algebra and Shakespeare.
I don’t know why it takes schools so long to catch up. I think it is because schools have been asked to do too much, and so their primary, unacknowledged mission is simply to manage the kids. And that mission abhors chaos, and change is seen as a harbinger of chaos.
Kids use cell phones. So what do we do? We ban them, thereby setting up a conflict, and making ourselves, in the eyes of teenagers, irrelevant.

ON THE OTHER HAND . . . Give a kid a computer, and will they explore fascinating subjects and become auto-didactic? Some will, but the large majority that I see will use this incredible resource to watch mindless *and often cruel) videos, cartoons, pornography and play time-wasting games.
I think as a bottom line we keep them from their worst instincts until such a point that they are called to their higher selves. And at best, we give them glimpses into what that higher self looks and feels like.
Pity that for so much of the time we don’t seem to do the same for ourselves . . .

By: ken rodoff

ken rodoff — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 01:04:28 +0000

A mentor of mine says, ‘School is silly, learning is important’. I agree with this statement. It is coated in many truths.

First and foremost, if learning is important, then the ways in which a teacher provides learning experiences are integral.

I totally understand your son’s disenchanted attitude with school.

In my new position, I now see, really see, what goes on in some classrooms.

However, even though I am an advocate for tech integration (Joyce and I met w/ a History teacher today about developing WWI blogs), I have surely seen many an effective, engaging teacher who needed nothing more than a vivid imagination and endless enthusiasm.

My favorite teacher ever (and yes, the aforementioned mentor) kept every (no joke) student excited without a computer, typewriter, or cell-phone. Yes, the mid-eighties, but quality teaching is timeless.

I hope your son has the chance to encounter a great teacher who will inspire, excite, and engage him. When he does, he will surely see a teacher in the lead, allowing technology to follow. And then, when the teacher hits her pinnacle, she will watch as her students pass her by and she will marvel at their success.