What you have written, Thom, is so important, and goes along with what you've laid out since the Regan 80's. Hard to believe what's happened, the most recent push to privatize education, Trump and DeVos' outrageous moves, and the horror stories of how poorly both teachers and kids actually are treated in those schools, most all of it by…
What you have written, Thom, is so important, and goes along with what you've laid out since the Regan 80's. Hard to believe what's happened, the most recent push to privatize education, Trump and DeVos' outrageous moves, and the horror stories of how poorly both teachers and kids actually are treated in those schools, most all of it by the creeping, money-at-all costs, power grabs.
Adding to this important warning you have shared, I would like to say that there is an additional step we can be aware of to save, improve and re-empower public education. Here is one quote you shared, De Vos, speaking:
“They’ve made it clear that they care more about a system, one created in the 1800s, than they do about individual students.”
Like on a mobious strip which turns back on itself, showing the opposite side, this statement does indicate ways that we must reorient public education, a direction being called for now. I can only speak briefly of it here, but the times and tides of public comment are indicating the direction we must turn, one I am driven to follow.
Our current educational system Was created in the industrial times of the 1800's, this correct. One example, the large British Empire needed a way to keep all corners of it running, in touch with the central power. Like in the industrial and piece by piece mode of production, yet prevalent in workhouses in China and elsewhere, there are photos from the 19th and 20th century of people sitting in rows, in big or small rooms, sewing, stamping, etc. or learning information for their part of the bigger project. The pictures are eerily the same as our classrooms still, rows of kids learning material and tested on it for the operation of our society. Using information for the operation of our society is imperative. So, what have been our mistakes?, because look at the world we have created!! Education is a core component of what has brought us to where we are, veering away from that central and alive part of it in the 50's and 60's, and it is paramount for creating even better education for a future for those in the system right now, and the rest of us and the earth.
Indicators something is wanting to happen: William Shatner's new book: "Boldly Go, Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder," he boldly alive and healthy at 91; Michelle Obama three days ago publicly speaking saying, paraphrased: "I knew as a girl what it was I wanted to do."
What is being said by both and others, is we must allow ourselves and Children as Individuals (De Vos' quote) to follow the inherent awe, interests, passions, talents and abilities that we all have, for these are what can drive us all toward the greater good. In nature, animals are guided toward a balance in species and ecosystems by instincts and certain amounts of discovery and choice. Humans, it is believed have the most of discovery and choice, and only a couple "instincts," to suck and hold on.
Instead of instincts, our passions, interests, intuitions, and talents are a part of our intelligences that we do NOT account for in our educational system, and which are required if we are to live in balance. They are our birth right: Life, Liberty and the freedom to learn. In recent decades, with the use of computers, our focus only on facts and information-transferrence has compounded back on itself, so that we are an information-only run society, with letters and numbers, linear, driving all. Letters and numbers without a connection to our other intelligences, which inherently connect us to others, has created our very linear and now virtual screen world. (Tech selected for empowerment for good will help.)
How and what do we change? We empower and free teachers once again, and ourselves, to ask Daily, engaging education and students in the question, "How does the subject matter at hand prove to have been, or is it now, actively contributing to the well being of all and the planet? No Child Left Behind particularly tied the hands of teachers to use their own creativity in presenting information in a meaningful way, and all, students and teachers were scored for their success or failure to evidence memorized information. We all, from birth, have intelligence that inspires and thrills us in discovery and quest, and this intelligence is for Good. AND we have thinking and linear abilities, fed by helpful and important, relevant subject matter and skills, to shape our discoveries and passions into solutions for this world. See "The Hole in the Wall Experiments" in YouTubes by Sugata Mitra as a start.
What you have written, Thom, is so important, and goes along with what you've laid out since the Regan 80's. Hard to believe what's happened, the most recent push to privatize education, Trump and DeVos' outrageous moves, and the horror stories of how poorly both teachers and kids actually are treated in those schools, most all of it by the creeping, money-at-all costs, power grabs.
Adding to this important warning you have shared, I would like to say that there is an additional step we can be aware of to save, improve and re-empower public education. Here is one quote you shared, De Vos, speaking:
“They’ve made it clear that they care more about a system, one created in the 1800s, than they do about individual students.”
Like on a mobious strip which turns back on itself, showing the opposite side, this statement does indicate ways that we must reorient public education, a direction being called for now. I can only speak briefly of it here, but the times and tides of public comment are indicating the direction we must turn, one I am driven to follow.
Our current educational system Was created in the industrial times of the 1800's, this correct. One example, the large British Empire needed a way to keep all corners of it running, in touch with the central power. Like in the industrial and piece by piece mode of production, yet prevalent in workhouses in China and elsewhere, there are photos from the 19th and 20th century of people sitting in rows, in big or small rooms, sewing, stamping, etc. or learning information for their part of the bigger project. The pictures are eerily the same as our classrooms still, rows of kids learning material and tested on it for the operation of our society. Using information for the operation of our society is imperative. So, what have been our mistakes?, because look at the world we have created!! Education is a core component of what has brought us to where we are, veering away from that central and alive part of it in the 50's and 60's, and it is paramount for creating even better education for a future for those in the system right now, and the rest of us and the earth.
Indicators something is wanting to happen: William Shatner's new book: "Boldly Go, Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder," he boldly alive and healthy at 91; Michelle Obama three days ago publicly speaking saying, paraphrased: "I knew as a girl what it was I wanted to do."
What is being said by both and others, is we must allow ourselves and Children as Individuals (De Vos' quote) to follow the inherent awe, interests, passions, talents and abilities that we all have, for these are what can drive us all toward the greater good. In nature, animals are guided toward a balance in species and ecosystems by instincts and certain amounts of discovery and choice. Humans, it is believed have the most of discovery and choice, and only a couple "instincts," to suck and hold on.
Instead of instincts, our passions, interests, intuitions, and talents are a part of our intelligences that we do NOT account for in our educational system, and which are required if we are to live in balance. They are our birth right: Life, Liberty and the freedom to learn. In recent decades, with the use of computers, our focus only on facts and information-transferrence has compounded back on itself, so that we are an information-only run society, with letters and numbers, linear, driving all. Letters and numbers without a connection to our other intelligences, which inherently connect us to others, has created our very linear and now virtual screen world. (Tech selected for empowerment for good will help.)
How and what do we change? We empower and free teachers once again, and ourselves, to ask Daily, engaging education and students in the question, "How does the subject matter at hand prove to have been, or is it now, actively contributing to the well being of all and the planet? No Child Left Behind particularly tied the hands of teachers to use their own creativity in presenting information in a meaningful way, and all, students and teachers were scored for their success or failure to evidence memorized information. We all, from birth, have intelligence that inspires and thrills us in discovery and quest, and this intelligence is for Good. AND we have thinking and linear abilities, fed by helpful and important, relevant subject matter and skills, to shape our discoveries and passions into solutions for this world. See "The Hole in the Wall Experiments" in YouTubes by Sugata Mitra as a start.