every morning. And I'm not talking about preschool or Kindergarten here, which are heavenly compared to my Dickensian experience. I'm alluding to the tedium that kicks in around Fourth grade, when the fun stops. Compared to the technological progress we've seen over the past thirty years and the tools that we could use to stimulate learning, it's hard to believe that schools still offers the same, mind-numbing diet of politically correct, vapid text books, and endless test prepping now thrown in for good measure, making it simultaneously tiresome and pressured. Aside from the occasional, wildly-inspiring teachers who pop up now and again -- incredible souls who shine like beacons on a foggy night -- we have barely evolved in our ability to tire the pants off our kids so that the notion of freedom, i.e. leaving school ASAP is something to be yearned for, not dreaded by those who aren't considered 'academic.' Surely we can come up with a creative way to inspire and motivate our kids so that they might actually crave information? Wait a minute. Was that a high pitched wail I just heard emanate from the dreary halls of the Board of Ed? Wouldn't it be logical to design educational units that are 'fun' and 'creative' as the springboard for a whole new system so that kids who are into video games might actually learn algebra while they're directing the earth's population into oblivion? How about using the online Lego-building application to teach spatial skills? I am a huge fan of Dr. Howard Gardener's theory of Multiple Intelligences that promotes the notion that each child learns via different forms of unconventional intelligences such as music smart, word smart, number/reasoning smart, picture smart, people smart, body smart, self smart, and nature smart. Schools focus mostly on the word and number smart kids and the rest are left to the guidance counselors, behavioral therapists, and ultimately, to a slow death of the soul, uninformed by education as it really should be -- a wondrous process of intrigue and learning that could seduce even the most unenthusiastic learners.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Putting F-U-N into A-B-C
My son wonders why he needs to go to school and I can't help agreeing with him. Not because I am an advocate of truancy -- I believe that a quality public education is one of the most important aspects of any cultured society -- it's just that our outmoded methods of education makes me wonder whether the ultimate purpose is to create worker bees or independent, critical thinkers? Don't bother to answer. I just have a really hard time understanding why educational methods haven't changed in the hundred years since I feigned a stomach ache
every morning. And I'm not talking about preschool or Kindergarten here, which are heavenly compared to my Dickensian experience. I'm alluding to the tedium that kicks in around Fourth grade, when the fun stops. Compared to the technological progress we've seen over the past thirty years and the tools that we could use to stimulate learning, it's hard to believe that schools still offers the same, mind-numbing diet of politically correct, vapid text books, and endless test prepping now thrown in for good measure, making it simultaneously tiresome and pressured. Aside from the occasional, wildly-inspiring teachers who pop up now and again -- incredible souls who shine like beacons on a foggy night -- we have barely evolved in our ability to tire the pants off our kids so that the notion of freedom, i.e. leaving school ASAP is something to be yearned for, not dreaded by those who aren't considered 'academic.' Surely we can come up with a creative way to inspire and motivate our kids so that they might actually crave information? Wait a minute. Was that a high pitched wail I just heard emanate from the dreary halls of the Board of Ed? Wouldn't it be logical to design educational units that are 'fun' and 'creative' as the springboard for a whole new system so that kids who are into video games might actually learn algebra while they're directing the earth's population into oblivion? How about using the online Lego-building application to teach spatial skills? I am a huge fan of Dr. Howard Gardener's theory of Multiple Intelligences that promotes the notion that each child learns via different forms of unconventional intelligences such as music smart, word smart, number/reasoning smart, picture smart, people smart, body smart, self smart, and nature smart. Schools focus mostly on the word and number smart kids and the rest are left to the guidance counselors, behavioral therapists, and ultimately, to a slow death of the soul, uninformed by education as it really should be -- a wondrous process of intrigue and learning that could seduce even the most unenthusiastic learners.
every morning. And I'm not talking about preschool or Kindergarten here, which are heavenly compared to my Dickensian experience. I'm alluding to the tedium that kicks in around Fourth grade, when the fun stops. Compared to the technological progress we've seen over the past thirty years and the tools that we could use to stimulate learning, it's hard to believe that schools still offers the same, mind-numbing diet of politically correct, vapid text books, and endless test prepping now thrown in for good measure, making it simultaneously tiresome and pressured. Aside from the occasional, wildly-inspiring teachers who pop up now and again -- incredible souls who shine like beacons on a foggy night -- we have barely evolved in our ability to tire the pants off our kids so that the notion of freedom, i.e. leaving school ASAP is something to be yearned for, not dreaded by those who aren't considered 'academic.' Surely we can come up with a creative way to inspire and motivate our kids so that they might actually crave information? Wait a minute. Was that a high pitched wail I just heard emanate from the dreary halls of the Board of Ed? Wouldn't it be logical to design educational units that are 'fun' and 'creative' as the springboard for a whole new system so that kids who are into video games might actually learn algebra while they're directing the earth's population into oblivion? How about using the online Lego-building application to teach spatial skills? I am a huge fan of Dr. Howard Gardener's theory of Multiple Intelligences that promotes the notion that each child learns via different forms of unconventional intelligences such as music smart, word smart, number/reasoning smart, picture smart, people smart, body smart, self smart, and nature smart. Schools focus mostly on the word and number smart kids and the rest are left to the guidance counselors, behavioral therapists, and ultimately, to a slow death of the soul, uninformed by education as it really should be -- a wondrous process of intrigue and learning that could seduce even the most unenthusiastic learners.
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