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Education is extremely political. It's not that we can't come up with better ways of occupying school-age children. Montessori has been around since the early 1

Education is extremely political. It's not that we can't come up with better ways of occupying school-age children. Montessori has been around since the early 1900s! The problem is convincing everyone they need to adopt a new method. Which is absolutely completely politically impossible compared to making small tweaks to the system already present. Nobody is going to turn education upside down. Ever.

amatic 10y ago
That is very true. I wish there were more possibilities for experimental school programs in my country (either private or public). The problem is that many people have an idea about how ALL schools should work, and they try to push a change for ALL schools. Evolution of schooling would be easier if there was more variation of schooling methods and some type of 'natural' societal selection.
rwallace 10y ago
Then again, ever is a long time and what is impossible on one timescale becomes possible on another. If modern society does not succeed in drastically reforming the education system with which it has ended up, it will die off and be replaced by a different kind of society, so either way, education will indeed be turned upside down; the open questions are just the when and how.
berlin2016 10y ago
Why does everyone need to adopt a new method? There can be multiple approaches run side-by-side, the results are publicly available, parents can make an informed decision. At least, that's the situation in Germany: There are Montessori schools, Waldorf (Rudolf Steiner) schools and various others. The thing is, most of these schools have a foundation in bullshit theories or religion. I think the fact that children have to start each day with prayer at the school in question needs to be highlighted more. The comparably good results could equally-well be explained with the fact that the pupils at these schools are predominantly from well-to-do or at least education-oriented families. Neither the teachers nor the pupils face the same socio-economic pressures as they would in the public school system.
jomamaxx 10y ago
"Nobody is going to turn education upside down. Ever." It's arguable that there really isn't that-that much difference between the programs. Teacher -> classroom -> students -> core subjects. Yada yada. Motivated students, good family life, supportive parents and peers are just as important as anything.
lucb1e 10y ago
This comment triggers me. It touches stuff I've been thinking about a lot recently. > The problem is convincing everyone they need to adopt a new method. Which is absolutely completely politically impossible compared to making small tweaks to the system already present. Indeed. From experience I know that tweaks and improvements are always the way to go for management people. Did they greenlight something that didn't work? 98% of the students hated it (this happened at our school)? Do you think they reverted it? No, forget it, we need to "improve" it! The only way to get rid of something existing, is to propose something new. If you want a new school, don't call it a "new school", that would be drastically changing and "who says it's as good as the old system? Can we prove that?" No. You'd need to call it "a new form of education", but without even calling it education. It seems old concepts can only be changed by not mentioning that they're an upgrade to an old concept.

amatic 10y ago

That is very true. I wish there were more possibilities for experimental school programs in my country (either private or public). The problem is that many people have an idea about how ALL schools should work, and they try to push a change for ALL schools. Evolution of schooling would be easier if there was more variation of schooling methods and some type of 'natural' societal selection.

rwallace 10y ago

Then again, ever is a long time and what is impossible on one timescale becomes possible on another. If modern society does not succeed in drastically reforming the education system with which it has ended up, it will die off and be replaced by a different kind of society, so either way, education will indeed be turned upside down; the open questions are just the when and how.

berlin2016 10y ago

Why does everyone need to adopt a new method? There can be multiple approaches run side-by-side, the results are publicly available, parents can make an informed decision. At least, that's the situation in Germany: There are Montessori schools, Waldorf (Rudolf Steiner) schools and various others. The thing is, most of these schools have a foundation in bullshit theories or religion. I think the fact that children have to start each day with prayer at the school in question needs to be highlighted more. The comparably good results could equally-well be explained with the fact that the pupils at these schools are predominantly from well-to-do or at least education-oriented families. Neither the teachers nor the pupils face the same socio-economic pressures as they would in the public school system.

jomamaxx 10y ago

"Nobody is going to turn education upside down. Ever." It's arguable that there really isn't that-that much difference between the programs. Teacher -> classroom -> students -> core subjects. Yada yada. Motivated students, good family life, supportive parents and peers are just as important as anything.

lucb1e 10y ago

This comment triggers me. It touches stuff I've been thinking about a lot recently. > The problem is convincing everyone they need to adopt a new method. Which is absolutely completely politically impossible compared to making small tweaks to the system already present. Indeed. From experience I know that tweaks and improvements are always the way to go for management people. Did they greenlight something that didn't work? 98% of the students hated it (this happened at our school)? Do you think they reverted it? No, forget it, we need to "improve" it! The only way to get rid of something existing, is to propose something new. If you want a new school, don't call it a "new school", that would be drastically changing and "who says it's as good as the old system? Can we prove that?" No. You'd need to call it "a new form of education", but without even calling it education. It seems old concepts can only be changed by not mentioning that they're an upgrade to an old concept.