“When we put kids in the factory that we call school, the thing we created to indoctrinate them, why are we surprised at the question, “will this be on the test?” Seth Godin ponders this question in his TedEx speech “Stop Stealing Dreams.” In his discussion Godin challenges the system in which everything that “touches us” is the exact opposite of how we are living and how we are educating the next generation of leaders. If I am honest with myself I want to scoop up my family and live off the grid to fight the system. However, that is not the answer either. We have to know what the problem is if we want to fix anything, so let’s take a look at where it began.
The problem can be traced back to the fact that “we are products of the industrial age.” The industrial age brought productivity and productivity brought the ability for people to make more money than they ever imagined. However, in order to make even more money, more people were needed. They were needed to work in the factories and produce even more to allow for people to make even more money. These people had to be trained though. Thus, school was built. “[School] was to train people to behave, to comply, to fit in. [You were] processed for a whole year and if you were defective, [you were] held back. In order to train people school was created. Until technology. With the introduction of technology for the first time ever we do not need a human being to teach us because the internet connects us all. (Stop Stealing Dreams, 2012) With the internet Godin suggests several ways to think outside the box and “un-normalize” education- -Homework during the day- lectures at night. For free. Explore face to face with teachers during the day.
“Passion and insight are reality. Your work is more important than your congruents to an answer key. Persistence in the face of a skeptical authority figure is priceless and yet we undermine it. Fitting in is a short term strategy that gets you nowhere, standing out is a long term strategy that takes guts and produces results. If you care enough about your work to be willing to be criticized for it, then you have done a goods days work.” (Stop Stealing Dreams, 2012) May we all have the guts to stand out. Resources: STOP STEALING DREAMS: Seth Godin at TEDxYouth@BFS. (n.d.). Retrieved June 13, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXpbONjV1Jc
3 Comments
6/13/2015 09:02:53 am
Well said! I, too, feel overwhelmed with ideas and ways to change my teaching and classroom for next year and it seems like a daunting task to make so many changes. However, I am committed to making changes even if its in baby steps. Education does need to change, though. I, for one, am hopeless at history. I can tell you the big milestones but other than that I just look up what I need to know. And it's that way for our students as well. If they can look up anything that we are telling them to memorize, what's the point? We should focus on creativity, innovation and collaboration instead.
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6/20/2015 10:27:23 am
Polly,
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When I watched this video, the part that stood out to me as well, was when Godin mentioned education having, "Homework during the day- lectures at night." With how our master’s program currently set up this way, I find myself more productive with every last bit of time I have. If I was still in high school, this would probably also work well and my time would be used more efficiently. Teenagers need a lot more rest in the morning while they are growing and their brains are still developing; and with their active evenings, their energy could be focused towards learning.
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