Challenging for Change

I found Chris Lehmann's recent "Education is Broken" speech from TEDx Philly both inspiring and challenging. Lehmann's main beef is with the state of western education seems to be schools' institutionalization for the production of future workers, and the subsequent removal of individuals' interests and passions in favour of broad curriculum. While I haven't heard of any district heads specifically target the removal of passion for their schools, Lehmann focusses on this resulting from heavy curricula and an outdated assembly line modal. He suggests there are many well-meaning but ineffective teachers but that is not necessarily the fault of individuals involved with education, but the system itself. Here are a couple of my take away thoughts culled from Lehmann's presentation and other web presences: His blogPractical Theory and the school at which he is principal, Science Leadership Academy.

People want to follow their talents, interests, and strengths. I agree that this notion of individual choosing should be at the center of a modern education. Nearly everywhere else in our lives, people get to make their own choices. What do you want to be when you grow-up? Do you want fries with that? While school is a place where young people develop a general set of skills, the specific, specialized tasks that are often stressed when teachers merely "cover curriculum" do not apply to the vast majority of students' futures. Lehmann's S.L.A. school appears to avoid that pitfall quite well.

Creation is ownership of learning. Early education does a great job of creating learning products, then we begin to take our learning too seriously and focus on comprehension by recall and standardized testing. Creativity is supposedly one of the most important and sought-after employable skills and yet we reduce the opportunities for students to create, except for "the creative" (arts) types. Making students accountable for demonstrating their learning through the creation of "something" is another of Lehmann's school's central tenants.

Good stuff in my mind. Good, challenging, seemingly systematically opposed stuff. Well... if radically improving educational practices wasn't challenging, it probably also wouldn't be worth it either.