Rethinking education

As I was pondering what to write for this week's blog, a flood of student faces, both past and present, flashed before me, and I caught myself smiling as I so many times do when I think of the amazing privilege to affect, inspire and develop these students' potential. I am even more painfully aware of not only the privilege, but also the responsibility that comes with it (you probably think 'the responsibility talk again?', but in my defense, I am the oldest child and apparently being aware of responsibilities is in the oldest child's genes....although, I'd much rather refer to myself as a rebel with a cause, and what a cause it is).

Anyway, back to the point, the talk below is a bit long (18 minutes or so), and I therefore thought that it might be a good idea to just highlight some of the main points in the speech, although I'd recommend watching the talk, if you have a few minutes spare.

Sir Ken Robinson delivered the talk entitled Bring on the revolution and emphasizes the following ideas:



As a human race, we make very little use of our human resources, i.e. our talents. He mentions that "very many people go through their whole lives having no real sense of what their talents may be or if they have any to speak of". Robinson continues to explain that several reasons for this exists and one of these primary reasons is education. It is further argued that talents are often buried very deep and that if educators do not create circumstances where they can be explored and developed, they will often remain dormant.

For this purpose then, the speaker argues that a need for not just a reformation of the education system, but a revolution of it exists. "Reform is no use anymore, because that's simply improving a broken model". This is clearly easier said than done and Robinson argues that "one of the real challenges is to innovate fundamentally in education", and this in most part means rethinking things that we just take for granted. With this statement, Robinson argues that many of the principles, theories and methodologies that are used in the classroom (and education system as a whole), is designed for earlier decades, for a society with very different needs than the one we and the students in our class find ourselves in.

(Side note, what would this blog be without a quote and amazingly enough, Sir Robinson used one in his speech that is very fitting). Abraham Lincoln once said that:


"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country".


Robinson argues that linearity (the idea of going through a line of tasks and then going off to college or getting a job) and conformity (with outcomes, curriculums and methodologies being standardized) are challenges that still remain in education today. In addition, Robinson blames the lack of awakening passion in our students as a main cause for students rather opting out of education as opposed to actively engage in the learning process.

In conclusion, Robinson summarizes his arguments by stating that:

"It's about customizing to your circumstances, and personalizing education to the people you're actually teaching. And doing that, I think is the answer to the future because it's not about scaling a new solution; it's about creating a movement in education in which people develop their own solutions, but with external support based on a personalized curriculum".

So apart from playing devil's advocate on the subject of education, for I know that it is almost an impossible task to have a personalized curriculum for each student and that plenty of what we are told to do in the classroom is standardized, Sir Robinson's arguments have reference to the following:

1. We do need to rethink how and what we teach students. They grow up in an era where gaming, having access to a world of information in an instant, and television, etc. are the norms (taken for granted). If the teacher does not keep up with what is happening or what defines the students' world, we cannot possibly educate and prepare them effectively for the world outside the classroom.
2. To develop talents and ignite passion is a huge honor, and even though the language arts teacher has a set curriculum with clearly defined outcomes, this probably still remains one of the most accommodating classrooms for development of that which makes us...us...our talents, character and passion.
3. With the world of information (external teachers) available at the click of a button, for example having search engines, YouTube and the list is really long, students can learn about anything they want, whenever they want. No wonder so many of them do not like school. We as educators need to acknowledge that the external educators are most probably cooler than we are (ouch...sorry...I know!), but perhaps we should form alliances with them and incorporate this into our classroom.

I realize that I have probably just listed a number of arguments that you are way too familiar with, ... that I am preaching to the choir, ...but I have witnessed too many language classes at both schools and universities where a TPACK approach, no!, not even a technocentric approach exists, and the learners in these classes, sat there totally uninvolved, uninspired and not learning at all. The teachers are evidently not familiar with the needs of their target audience.

(Thanks to CI556, I am now a rebel with a newly found cause, and it is what? week six of the semester...watch out world!). (Side note 2: World, as I read my classmates' blogs, I feel it is only fair to warn you that we are an army of students having our views on language teaching altered...hope you are ready for us).