Today is the first day of school. It begins – the return to traditional school that we left 3 years ago. Already I’ve hit some things. Things that remind me how much I don’t like the traditional solution to education even though this school has a really progressive outlook on learning.
Fact is they still keep many of the same measures. When you group children no matter how progressive the program a stick is needed that says if you can jump this then you’re good enough on this topic and that stick is testing. What is cool is that since the kids are having such an nontraditional school start the school is taking the opportunity to introduce more project based learning. Yes and yes.
You don’t learn by memorizing facts and regurgitating them in the the way a single teacher (or even a group of teachers) wants to see them. You don’t. Homeshcool opened up the power of active, failure based, non judgmental learning and it is powerful people. My hope is through all of this restructuring of learning this sort of learning takes the forefront.
There’s a reason the old way has failed so many kids and it’s not because of a lack of money or the hard sweat underpaid/underappreciated tears of teachers. It’s because it doesn’t work. It barely worked for the age it was designed in – The Industrial Age. The slapping of lipstick on this pig where they take some of the revolutionary ideas of learning and try to cram them into their traditional box works even worse. Pick one and stick with it.
I hope they pick the difficult one, the one that turns everything on its head and feels really uncomfortable. I know the feeling. I had it when we started homeschooling. It only takes a few months before you realize the power you’ve unleashed. And suddenly you don’t understand why everyone isn’t learning like this.
Because it’s the future of an elevated, highly educated society.
