Although the article by Mr. Peter Gray was long, it proved to be very enlightening. I didn’t realize that the evolution of life played a small role in the invention of today’s educational system—which has remained fairly stagnant in an ever-changing world. It was nice to see what brought about these educational institutions—which we are all products of. Realizing that these such institutions are fairly new, it gives me renewed hope that we will able to adapt to the needs of our children and stop suppressing their innate characteristics.
Likewise, Sir Ken Robinson’s YouTube video opened my eyes further and showed me that the way our educational systems are functioning is completely and utterly wrong. Who are we to say that children should be grouped by age? No one child learns the same as no one teacher teaches the same. Just because the educational systems were founded in reaction to industrialization and the revolution that followed doesn’t mean that it is the right move or way to go. Everyone has a passion and by enabling a child or an adult to explore such desires would not only be beneficial to them but would help our community out by producing caring and self-fulfilled members of society.
Furthermore, Will Richardson’s TED Talk hit the nail on the head for me. It brought back so much memories of my time in school. Personally, I never understood what was the big deal with improving SAT9 scores to match those of our US counterparts. I mean, what was the importance of learning stateside seasons and whatnot when we have a rich culture at our fingertips. Oftentimes, we teach our students based on stateside standards and neglect the things that are important to us as an island community—like the lunar phases we experience. Don’t get me wrong we should learn about some of these things but our whole educational experience shouldn’t be based entirely on standards of people who are live so far away and whose differs from ours.
Yes, our educational system could use some work—it is underfunded and poorly managed but who are you to say what BETTER is? Improving test scores is not the be all end all for education. There shouldn’t be a one-size fits curriculum to be honest. Instead, we should be looking at ways to engage all students regardless of their capabilities to make learning a fun and interesting way of attaining knowledge and solving problems we faced with. I am in no way saying that today’s educators are doing a poor job. What I am saying is that system in which we teach has got to go. Life has changed and so to must our educational system. We must be the change we wish to see in the world! Help our children enjoy life and be adept in bridging the gaps between the classroom and problems we faced with out in the “REAL WORLD.”
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Sandie, I definitely agree with you. I believe it is important to incorporate lessons from our cultures here on Guam into the S.A.T tests our children receive. By doing this, I'm sure we'll have improved test scores because then students will actually UNDERSTAND the questions being asked. Therefore, I think it's unfair for our kids here on Guam not to be given that opportunity to fully comprehend the tests they are faced with because of how it's TOTALLY STATESIDE BASED.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that many classrooms focus on teaching nouns and not verbs. I can easily find information about any thing, but what I need to know most is what to do with it. Content vs. process
ReplyDeleteHere's a link for you: http://goo.gl/XNddS