Could we stop pretending that kids will be harmed by having to learn from home during the virus and school shutdowns? This is actually a big opportunity if we relax our rigidity about education. All a teacher has to do is suggest that a kid produce something (anything) and help them when needed. We need to stop demanding that kids learn what some government, or university committee, or ETS, or OECD, has decided that they must learn and let them learn what they want to learn. Teachers need to stop “teaching” and start helping kids achieve what they actually want to achieve. Teachers can encourage kids who want to learn the same thing to work together in teams. Imagine if school allowed you to learn what you’d always wanted to learn. How many would decide to learn the quadratic formula, or how to balance a chemical equation, or memorize a physics formula? Who would decide that they needed to read Silas Marner? Letting kids decide what to read and what to learn how to do happens all the time outside of school. Teachers need to stop being the ultimate authority and instead learn to mentor just in time (online) and stop testing. Instead of online learning becoming a disaster, the virus could become the savior of education. Let’s make this school shut down into a good thing.
Great insights about the Future of Education!
I totally agree with what you’re saying, but I wouldn’t generalize, though. I’d like to point out that there are many many teachers out there who do stimulate creativity and who teach through inquiry, which is precisely what you’re talking about: a democratic and open classroom where students have the chance to explore their areas of interest.
My son is practising video editing (using Fortnite videos), one daughter is working out more, has learned a ton of songs on the piano and is getting better at shooting a basketball, another daughter has improved her online shopping skills 🤔 and another daughter is creating new kinds of birds in a Roblox game. After doing their school work of course.
I completely agree Roger! My son is in Year 9 and I have long despaired about the our education system (absolutely no reflection on the wonderful work that teachers and schools do, but an absolute comment on how Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove destroyed education). I am looking forward to using this time to help my son fall in love with learning all over again!
Sorry, but learning quadratic equations and balancing chemical equations amongst other things are important to learn. Believe it or not, many students really enjoy learning these.
My kid's learning to bake.
Thanks Roger. Just asked my 5 year old what she’d like to learn tomorrow. She thought about it for a bit and said “I want to learn how to do plats in my hair. And to sew”. That’s a chunk of another day at the Haynes School of Life curriculum taken care of then!😊 👍🏼
Online mentoring or curriculum driven teaching only works where there is online access. New York City estimates 114,000 children in the district are homeless or in unstable housing. They have little or no access to regular service. In the present situation they cannot use libraries, "Ys", Boys/Girls Clubs, coffee shops and fast food restaurants etc that previously provided WIFI access. So now what? In ex urban and rural areas the problem is even worse because those institutions and organizations didn't exist in the first place and the existence and/or expense of access puts it out of reach of many. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/nyregion/new-york-homeless-students-coronavirus.html . Add to this the social and psychological disruption caused by the loss of family jobs and income adding to already fractured and unstable environments and there are the makings of a perfect storm for some children and the potential for additional stratification in education between those who have and those who don't. In the current emergency the structure of paperbound traditional education may be the only lifeline these children have. Summerhill was/is a beautiful dream but it is an upper class one.
Beaucoup de profs parlent trop ! Ils doivent souffrir de la distanciation. Écoutez plus les élèves maintenant... // Many teachers talk too much! Good time to listen to your students instead.
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Stop teaching start educating