Last week I sent a note to regular readers:
Perhaps it’s a sense that things are possible post-pandemic, but I’ve been asked for comments on the future of education three times since the beginning of the year. While I have some unscientific and undoubtedly biased thoughts I’m happy to share it occurs to me this group is exceptionally diverse.
So the request: Could you write a bit about what you’d like to see in education going forward? The subject is huge and readers represent at least seven countries so just pick a few and stay away from clear needs in some countries - like affordable and equitable education. Those are incredibly important, but perhaps some thoughts on curriculum, teaching, etc.. I’ll collect and post them with my comments in a week - say a cutoff on the 24th of April. Let me know if you want your name attached or not. And don’t worry about it if you don’t have time.
Here are the responses in order of arrival:
I could write too much on this but one thing I think should be focused on is an increase and improvement of vocational education including changing the name and giving it an equal or near equal standing with so called academic education. With the rapid changes in technology there are numerous supporting jobs required and they must be trained for. I would also like to change the word Engineering to Applied science and technology which might attract more women and others who have a fear or not so great feeling about "Engineering" .......................you asked for it there are many other things like required mentoring in High school, more use of the case method in all education fields...... good question
Ed Hajim
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Thanks for the request, Steve!
I think fixing the existing bureaucracy of schooling is a fool's errand, so I'm more interested in creating a scaffolding that helps anyone learn, at any time, with others not gated by their common age, etc. We've created many kinds of artificial scarcity where abundance exists.
With that in mind, if you have the time, I'd route you to my TEDx talk, then the Vegas talk I did right after, which dovetails into the first one, then my Brain on the Hidden Curriculum of Schooling and Great Design Questions Unschooling Raises.
Happy to talk about any of the above at any moment :)
Jerry Michalski
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As a grandparent who has primary care of two elementary school aged children, I have observed, obsessed and have a lot to comment on public education in my city, Seattle.
Our system is at once both profoundly broken and resilient.
Broken? A system that refused to use a complexity lens to plan and be able to respond to changing contexts. (And appears to have NOT been planning all along, but I don't know if that is true. They appear to operate with a fixed mindset. A mechanical mindset.When the governor set a deadline to return to school, the resulting design reflected a reaction versus a design ready for complex contexts. (The lowest common denominator?)
Resilient? The teachers and learning specialists who spend every ounce of their beings supporting their students (this is not ALL teachers, but we have been blessed with ones who have been AMAZING and have saved our collective sanity. Thank you Nadia, Michelle, Kendra, Stephanie, and many more...)
Broken is a system where children of color don't want to come back into the classroom for all the racism they endured before and during the pandemic. How is it we are shocked to hear this?
Resilient? The advocates for children with special needs, for communities of color, LBGTQ, and for families sapped by Covid-related financial and emotional losses. The people who have wrapped families as best they could with food, services, support and compassion.
The resilient people are resilient. Well supported families adapted in the pandemic with home based learning, bought the additional services their children needed/wanted, and when and where they had to, made sacrifices around their own work and parenting roles. Barely skipping a beat they continued their quest to get their kids "into a good college." Yup, the system they want is one that provides the path to a good college. They make the system work for their families or they go to private school. It is a sort of bootstrap mindset for white upper-middle and upper class families. "You can make it work if you do the work!" And they donate to the PTA so they are also addressing all the ills of the system. Yeah, right. But have we leveraged white privilege to redeem the school district? I don't think so. And lump me in there as often I crumble at the depth of need and the brokenness of the system.
Broken is a system so weirdly funded that when pressed to bring back students into the classroom, the caveat is "and sorry, transportation only for those federally mandated." (Note: this example is one of cascading impact. Bus drivers laid off, weird funding approaches and what might be perceived different motivations to remove choice options from the system by denying transportation.) A system that responds to loud, privileged parents who want their kids out of the house now. How is that an option for working families and single parents, particularly those with children in multiple schools? (Broken, in that the district has poor understanding and management of their own budget and yet resist audits and insights, preferring to spend money on PR to make things look good.)
Resilient? Parents who try and set up, moderate and endure Facebook support groups (that are often hijacked) that try and serve as a critical connection points (neighborhood car pools, walking busses?) even if the data shared is often wrong. (What happened to data???)
Broken is a state leadership that says schools MUST OPEN for the mental health of students, and yet the state nor the district provides funding for additional physical or mental health services (or has to cut them due to budget shortfalls), offers no support to families struggling with the mental health needs of their children beyond a link to a help line (not the school district's), and diminishes students who must stay or choose to stay remote by hyping those who are returning to the classrooms.
Our systems are designed based on outdated, broken financing models, labor/management relationships that have deteriorated over time into spaces of zero trust and constant battles, and the instantiation of our profound, national racism.
There is no better time to reinvent, not just tinker. To do that, however, we have to re-prioritize socially and financially the role of public education for all. We can't have schools funded on real-estate taxes which continue to thread red lines through our communities. And those of us with means CANNOT WALK AWAY.
Nancy White
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I think the focus on making students a product for companies is wrong. The skills someone might need in 10 or 15 years may be very different. I'd like to see school focus learning how to learn rather than memorizing facts that may not be facts. At least some of it needs to be fun and play is overlooked. Play's where you find your passion. For people not going to college I like apprentice systems like the German and Danish systems.
In Alberta we had streaming. Kids were assigned to groups by what they thought was ability. They must have thought it would be easier to put me in the slowest group because I'm deaf. We were the kids who were constantly reminded we'd never amount to anything. On top of that kids and even some of the staff bullied me because I look unusual. My parents didn't know enough to advocate for me. Some children fall through the floor. I'd like to see that fixed.
Oh - I want people like Steve to teach math and science:-)
Jheri
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I've written quite a bit on what I think is important assuming the issues Nancy points out can be addressed, so I'll spare you. Get in touch if you'd ever like to talk about it. But one thing..
The first time I was in my grad school mentor's office I noticed something on the top left of his blackboard
Knowledge is acquired and never bestowed
It was always there.
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