John Merrow wrote on 20. Jan, 2011 at 12:04 am (in a comment to his own post here ):
We have to move beyond ‘regurgitation education.’ Our kids don’t live in that world anywhere else. Two of the three justifications for school no longer apply in anything resembling the traditional sense (and the way it was when we were kids, unless you are under 27 or so).
The three: 1) Schools (and libraries) were where the knowledge was stored-in books, in teachers’ head, and so on. Not true today. Today knowledge and information are all around us, 24/7, so schools have a new function: help kids ask questions, separate wheat from chaff (and choose wheat). 2) Socialization-we went to school to learn to get along with other kids. Today, however, there’s an App for that, dozens of them. So schools have a new function there as well–’socialization’ with people all around the world. Pen pals on steroids. The old way is dead. 3) Custodial care. We still need and want that, but schools that do only that and provide merely marginal education are in fact dangerous places, because the energy of kids will come out somehow. Unfortunately, often in negative and nasty ways if it’s not channeled into meaningful learning experiences.
That’s the ‘magic bullet’ if one exists: meaningful learning opportunities. Not small classes or charter schools or pay-for-performance, et cetera.
(I still hope you all will take a look at my book, The Influence of Teachers, because I go into this in great detail.)
I must admit John has me interested.
I too have been thinking about how we can move past the kind of surface learning that is memorized, parroted back and quickly forgotten to a deeper learning that is schematically connected to experiences and thoughts. The kind of learning that produces critical thinkers.
So I am wondering… does he have the 3 purposes of school right? 1)knowledge acquisition, 2) socialization, and 3) custodial?
Somewhere in there should be transference of values, belief, dispositions toward producing good, tax paying citizens right? Or maybe forced integration with people very different than yourself? I would love your take. What would you list as the justifications for school today ?
Has anyone read his book?
(Update: Word is that The Influence of Teachers will be available for order online in about 2 weeks.)
John Merrow wrote on 20. Jan, 2011 at 12:04 am (in a comment to his own post here ):
I must admit John has me interested.
I too have been thinking about how we can move past the kind of surface learning that is memorized, parroted back and quickly forgotten to a deeper learning that is schematically connected to experiences and thoughts. The kind of learning that produces critical thinkers.
So I am wondering… does he have the 3 purposes of school right? 1)knowledge acquisition, 2) socialization, and 3) custodial?
Somewhere in there should be transference of values, belief, dispositions toward producing good, tax paying citizens right? Or maybe forced integration with people very different than yourself? I would love your take. What would you list as the justifications for school today ?
Has anyone read his book?
(Update: Word is that The Influence of Teachers will be available for order online in about 2 weeks.)