February Reflection - TLC Cohort 5

Sir Ken Robinson's Changing Education Paradigms 

I have been questioning the way the current education system is set up for a long time.  The constant pressures of a teacher's best efforts never being up to par, the students not performing on the state's high-stakes testing measures, and the government trying to meddle in it all...the term education reform has been the "buzz" since I started teaching but each year it comes to the forefront a little more.  Why do we teach students the way it's always been done?  It can't be that all teachers can't meet the standards and are ineffective?  Why do we have to conform to this mentality that schools are only as great as the students who can perform well on standardized testing?

As the video starts,  Sir Ken Robinson explains how the current system is based on the 19th century principles of how education's ideas were conceived during the enlightenment and the the industrial age and trying to teach kids in ways of the past won't work.  I completely agree with the point made we are alienating millions of kids from school because the way schools are set up haven't really changed.  How in the world are we supposed to be preparing students for the 21st century if our educational setup is handcuffed in the past?

The video progresses and Sir Ken questions the validity of the modern epidemic of ADD, which I hadn't thought about until he makes mentions of the correlation of the increase of ADHD with the rise of standardardized testing.  Our education model is, "Let's take same aged children, put them into groups/classes, and make them learn the same thing at the same time."  It sounds as if we are making education robotic.  Taking into consideration that students are learning in the "most intensely simulating" environment in recent history and education is still setup with a "factory mentality" it's of little surprise kids can't stay focused!  We have to be able to meet the individual where they are at and that doesn't come in a neat package of same age, same time, we all learn the same thing.  

Opening up the dialogue between all stakeholders-students, parents, teachers, administration, community members, elected government officials-is a must! The learning environment is changing and in order for our children to have a chance to fit into the future the discussions of the following topics are a good place to start: rethinking of an old education system, making sure creativity and collaboration are priorities, having the technology students need with the teachers who know how to use it, and having student standards introduced at appropriate times.