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Concrete suggestions: Don't treat schooling like a factory. Don't group students by age. Don't teach around the concept of there just being one answer. Don'

by JeffL 16y ago

Concrete suggestions: Don't treat schooling like a factory. Don't group students by age. Don't teach around the concept of there just being one answer. Don't segregate people into two tracks: academic and working. A lot of the things he's talking about are the same as what Maria Montessori advocated. If I have kids I plan on sending them to a Montessori school if I can afford it.

Groxx 16y ago
Those are more like concrete anti suggestions. They're things to not do, not things to do. They say what to get away from, which nearly anyone can agree on, but not on what to go towards, which few agree on, which is a big reason why they're not changing.
- bugsy 16y ago
  The best way to improve your chance of success in business is to avoid doing all the things that ensure failure, nearly all of which are well known. There is no specific plan that will give a high chance of success, but there are many specific plans for failure. Learning is the same way. But don't make the mistake of thinking that the above list of things not to do were arrived at by accident. They were not. They are intended to create failure.
- JeffL 16y ago
  Do treat schooling as character development and a place to grow children into adults. Do this by having a flexible curriculum so kids can study what's interesting to them. Do mix age groups so that older kids can teach younger kids and thus learn the material better themselves, and younger kids can look up to the more successful older kids. If age groups are mixed, then there's might be less room for thuggery. Do teach that there are multiple answers by having more open-ended and creative assignments. By the way, the elementary school I went to had a special one-month period one year called "mini-course" month or something like that, where everyone could choose one of the many offered mini courses and do just that every day. This was when I got to go to the small computer lab all day every day for a month and learn basic and a database program on Apple II's. Perhaps one of the best months of my life, and incredibly enriching. You would probably never see anything like this if scoring well on a standardized test is the most important measure of a school.

by JeffL 16y ago

Groxx 16y ago

Those are more like concrete anti suggestions. They're things to not do, not things to do. They say what to get away from, which nearly anyone can agree on, but not on what to go towards, which few agree on, which is a big reason why they're not changing.

bugsy 16y ago
The best way to improve your chance of success in business is to avoid doing all the things that ensure failure, nearly all of which are well known. There is no specific plan that will give a high chance of success, but there are many specific plans for failure. Learning is the same way. But don't make the mistake of thinking that the above list of things not to do were arrived at by accident. They were not. They are intended to create failure.
JeffL 16y ago
Do treat schooling as character development and a place to grow children into adults. Do this by having a flexible curriculum so kids can study what's interesting to them. Do mix age groups so that older kids can teach younger kids and thus learn the material better themselves, and younger kids can look up to the more successful older kids. If age groups are mixed, then there's might be less room for thuggery. Do teach that there are multiple answers by having more open-ended and creative assignments. By the way, the elementary school I went to had a special one-month period one year called "mini-course" month or something like that, where everyone could choose one of the many offered mini courses and do just that every day. This was when I got to go to the small computer lab all day every day for a month and learn basic and a database program on Apple II's. Perhaps one of the best months of my life, and incredibly enriching. You would probably never see anything like this if scoring well on a standardized test is the most important measure of a school.