Vive La Revolution!

As a future educator in the making, I found this video incredibly important and informative.  I can’t take credit and say I found this video on my own – friends posted it to Facebook.

My breakdown of the video:

1. Public education – economy link
2. Public education – cultural link
3. Past vs. Future (methods of education)
1. 18th century / Enlightenment
2. 19th century / Industrial Revolution
4. Gene pool of education
1. Academic = smart people
2. Non-academic = not smart people
3. This model causes CHAOS
5. ADHD issue – a modern epidemic?
1. Standardized testing – ADHD link?
2. Geographic (increases as you move toward the east coast)
6. The Arts are victims of this mentality
1. Aesthetic experience: senses operating at peak
2. Anesthetic experience: senses shut off/deadened
1. ADHD drugs do this (deaden the senses)
7. Education modeled as interest of industrialization and image of it
1. Like a factory / production line mentality
2. Standardization – getting away from it is the key
8. Divergent thinking ≠ creativity
1. Divergent thinking defined: essential capacity for creativity
2. Test for divergent thinking in Break Point & Beyond
9. Gene pool of education (academic vs. non-academic) = MYTH
1. Collaboration: great learning happens in groups; the stuff of growth
2. Culture of our institutions: 
1. The habits of our institutions
2. The habitats they occupy

What do you think about this video?  Are the arguments Ken Robinson make valid?  What do you think of his criticism of schools as factories?  Why do we group children by age in the classroom instead of by their individual progress?  How many of us knew a classmate who skipped grades?  What will it take to overhaul the current education system?  Who stands to lose and who stands to win by not making or making radical changes to America’s educational structures?


Some articles related to America’s school systems:

• From The Chronicle of Higher Education: Innovations (blog)

• From Cat in the Stack:  by Cathy Davidson
• “We The Teacher” 

• “Four Indispensable Methods for Organizing Group Attention”

• “How To Crowdsource Grading”

• From Ed.gov (U.S. Department of Education): “U.S. Department of Education’s Open Innovation Portal Hosts NEA Foundation’s Challenge to Innovate”

• From Slate: “A Private Matter: Am I hurting my local public schools – and hurting America – by sending my kids to expensive private schools?” by Patty Stonesifer and Sandy Stonesifer

• From Slate: “The Educated Child: Keeping Public Education Vital” by Peggy Kaye

• From Slate: “Rethinking the School Desk: Is the best way to fix the American classroom to improve the furniture?” by Linda Perlstein

• From Slate: “Classrooms With a View: Innovative school design is hard, but it doesn’t have to be.” By Ronald E. Bogle

• From Slate: “Brilliance in a Box: What do the best classrooms in the world look like?” by Amanda Ripley

[Edited on 13 November 2010 to add 2 more articles from Slate.]

• From Slate: "The Fifth-Grade Exploration Studio: the winner in Slate's contest to reinvent the American classroom." by Linda Perlstein

• From Slate: "The '21st Century Classroom' Finalists: The 10 finalists in Slate's competition to improve the American classroom." by Linda Perlstein

Sites:

• Open Innovation Portal

• Challenge.gov

• DonorsChoose.org (My absolute favorite charity.)