If you watch the Sir Ken Robinson talk/animae on Changing Education Paradigms he tells a pretty convincing story.
One of the quotes in there is "We have a system of education that is modeled on the interest of industrialism and in the image of it. School are still pretty much organized on factory lines — ringing bells, separate facilities, specialized into separate subjects. We still educate children by batches." | |
Will this change in the 21st century? Or is it already with the advent of a lot more people home schooling, or even more recently the popularity of unschooling taking off. I would still say the mainstream public education however is still based very much so on the system of industrialism and creates a divide between children who believe they aren't smart due to the fact that they aren't a perfect fit for this type of education. I was one of the kids that was considered "smart" due to the fact that I did well in school. I could (and still can) memorize most of what you are saying, or what I just read and regurgitate it back to you to provide the belief that I understood it all.
On the other hand my husband wasn't one of the kids that you would have considered top of his class. He struggles in test taking and I would go as far as saying it creates self doubt in his knowledge just by saying there will be a written exam. Yet he is one of the smartest guys I know. You can give him an issue of any mechanical type and he will be able to come up with a solution that is well thought out, researched and more than likely will work. He can handle a house, a car, a bathroom reno, an amazing meal etc with ease, and is constantly driven to learn more about various subjects and have intellectual conversations. Yet he was a kid in the school system doesn't know how to value this type of knowledge and skill.
What do you believe are ways we can change the structure to build more self esteem and value of these smarts that we carry in our unique ways?
On the other hand my husband wasn't one of the kids that you would have considered top of his class. He struggles in test taking and I would go as far as saying it creates self doubt in his knowledge just by saying there will be a written exam. Yet he is one of the smartest guys I know. You can give him an issue of any mechanical type and he will be able to come up with a solution that is well thought out, researched and more than likely will work. He can handle a house, a car, a bathroom reno, an amazing meal etc with ease, and is constantly driven to learn more about various subjects and have intellectual conversations. Yet he was a kid in the school system doesn't know how to value this type of knowledge and skill.
What do you believe are ways we can change the structure to build more self esteem and value of these smarts that we carry in our unique ways?