7 ms·

>> We crush the joy of learning out of children. Ken Robinson, who makes my favorite TED talk IMHO, talks about this and how odd our education system is when l

>> We crush the joy of learning out of children. Ken Robinson, who makes my favorite TED talk IMHO, talks about this and how odd our education system is when looked at objectively from the outside in. http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_crea... His followup, as well as the RSAnimate (you can find them by clicking "Full Bio>>" on the right), are good followups to his ideas. One of the most powerful quotes, to me, is from the RSAnimate: We still educate children in batches. We put them through the system by age group. Why do we do that? Why is there this assumption that the most important thing kids have in common is how old they are? It's like the most important thing about them is the date of manufacture. Not only do we crush learning out of children, but creativity suffers as well.

defdac 14y ago
Yes, it also struck me how this really underlined what Ken Robinson says. School is for fabricating industrial zombies that are good on solving prefabricated problems/tests made by someone else higher up in the hiearchy. Not inventive entrepreneurs that finds and solves real problems autonomously without the need of a professor/architect dictating what and how to solve someting.
caw 14y ago
I went to an elementary school in the U.S. where you were not grouped by age. It was a pilot program, and I can't find a reference to the program being in place almost 20 years later. The program at the school had 1 large building, which was divided into 4 classroom with some common space in between. For each class period, you went to the class taught at your level. So you could go to the 1st grade math, or you could go to the kindergarten math. I lived there for 2 years, and basically took 1st grade as kindergarten aged, and 2nd grade as 1st grade aged. The worst part was moving, and having to "re-integrate" with the system. I had to take the age appropriate 2nd grade. My parents wanted me to skip directly to 3rd grade, but the school rejected that.
- ef4 14y ago
  What's funny is that you hardly have to "pilot" this model, because it used to be the norm all across America (the one-room school house). The evidence is compelling that it works great, and it costs less too. Which of course is why it's a political non-starter. The bureaucratic imperative is bigger budgets and centralization.
- jmj42 14y ago
  We had a small private k-8 school in my home town that employed this same model (White Oaks School Monticello, IL). I considered sending both of my children. Sadly, tuition was a little out of reach for us. The school is closed now (they only lasted about 10 years). In addition to the one-room style of education, they had older students mentor younger one, an instruction model that enabled students to learn at mixed pace (accelerated for subjects the student was "good" at, slower for those they were't), music education that included learning to play an instrument at the kindergarden level, and foreign language at the 1st grade level (language choices included: french, spanish, russian, cantonese and many others) Edit: Specifically, the school employed the Reggio Emilia approach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach)
bambax 14y ago
This is a little OT, but the position of Ken Robinson is at least debatable. I dislike the fun he has with "Shakespeare's English teacher" (whoever that was!) He thinks it's pretty funny that anyone would be so un-self-aware as to want to teach English to young Shakespeare. Maybe Shakespeare was born with the ability to write the best plays and poetry. But isn't it more likely that his talent started small and grew big, and that the people who helped it grow should be commended and admired? Creativity is very important, yes; but it feeds on knowledge (creativity is the product of clashing together seemingly unrelated fields of knowledge). You don't have ideas about things you know nothing about, or if you do, they're usually useless.
ef4 14y ago
It only looks odd if you assume it was designed to educate children. On the other hand, if you assume it's designed to produce reliable, obedient consumers who won't rock the boat, it all makes perfect sense. You would probably enjoy The Underground History of American Education (http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm).

defdac 14y ago

Yes, it also struck me how this really underlined what Ken Robinson says. School is for fabricating industrial zombies that are good on solving prefabricated problems/tests made by someone else higher up in the hiearchy. Not inventive entrepreneurs that finds and solves real problems autonomously without the need of a professor/architect dictating what and how to solve someting.

caw 14y ago

I went to an elementary school in the U.S. where you were not grouped by age. It was a pilot program, and I can't find a reference to the program being in place almost 20 years later. The program at the school had 1 large building, which was divided into 4 classroom with some common space in between. For each class period, you went to the class taught at your level. So you could go to the 1st grade math, or you could go to the kindergarten math. I lived there for 2 years, and basically took 1st grade as kindergarten aged, and 2nd grade as 1st grade aged. The worst part was moving, and having to "re-integrate" with the system. I had to take the age appropriate 2nd grade. My parents wanted me to skip directly to 3rd grade, but the school rejected that.

ef4 14y ago
What's funny is that you hardly have to "pilot" this model, because it used to be the norm all across America (the one-room school house). The evidence is compelling that it works great, and it costs less too. Which of course is why it's a political non-starter. The bureaucratic imperative is bigger budgets and centralization.
jmj42 14y ago
We had a small private k-8 school in my home town that employed this same model (White Oaks School Monticello, IL). I considered sending both of my children. Sadly, tuition was a little out of reach for us. The school is closed now (they only lasted about 10 years). In addition to the one-room style of education, they had older students mentor younger one, an instruction model that enabled students to learn at mixed pace (accelerated for subjects the student was "good" at, slower for those they were't), music education that included learning to play an instrument at the kindergarden level, and foreign language at the 1st grade level (language choices included: french, spanish, russian, cantonese and many others) Edit: Specifically, the school employed the Reggio Emilia approach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach)

bambax 14y ago

This is a little OT, but the position of Ken Robinson is at least debatable. I dislike the fun he has with "Shakespeare's English teacher" (whoever that was!) He thinks it's pretty funny that anyone would be so un-self-aware as to want to teach English to young Shakespeare. Maybe Shakespeare was born with the ability to write the best plays and poetry. But isn't it more likely that his talent started small and grew big, and that the people who helped it grow should be commended and admired? Creativity is very important, yes; but it feeds on knowledge (creativity is the product of clashing together seemingly unrelated fields of knowledge). You don't have ideas about things you know nothing about, or if you do, they're usually useless.

ef4 14y ago

It only looks odd if you assume it was designed to educate children. On the other hand, if you assume it's designed to produce reliable, obedient consumers who won't rock the boat, it all makes perfect sense. You would probably enjoy The Underground History of American Education (http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm).