Where Old Meets Now

What is it with Monty Python and finding those excellent analogies
needed to get a point across simply and accurately, with the just
perfect amount of humour.  This week in CCK08 we are discussing the
concept of Instructional Design, and how in our new world of new world
literacies (if you believe in that kind of stuff), how we present (I
mean guide students) information needs to be rethought and redeveloped
from the ground up in many cases.  That is an excellent notion, however
we are forgetting an important piece of the puzzle, the ground itself.

A lot of attention gets focused on the classroom, the curriculum, the
students, the stake holders in an educational community, and how we can
improve these individual elements to improve the overall atmosphere of
education, the learning.  Again this approach is fundamentally flawed
it ignores the real issue, our formal education system is flawed, we
are failing our students, are we preparing them for their future or our
societies dreams?

The number of students that enter higher education is very low compared
to the actual number that graduates.  And the number that enter higher
education and actually leaves with a diploma is even lower.  But our
educational method for most of North America is geared towards everyone
is going to graduate and everyone is going to go to college and most
likely university, and we throw in some classes of autobody and word
working for the few that won’t.  This is our fundamental problem, or
structure of education it is not supporting the majority of our
students, if it was everybody would be a doctor or lawyer or accountant
for that matter.  Regardless of what innovations I try within my
classroom this fundamental hurdle will be very difficult and/or
impossible to overcome.

Here lies the real challenge, wipe the slate clean (And yes I mean slate,
this is my classroom boards, not even whiteboards let alone smartboards),
and start from scratch.  The first thing we need to ask is how do we
best serve our students, School needs to be designed with the end in
mind, some nations around the world are already employing this model. 
I realize some have an issue with streaming the students, but very few
really need Bio 30, many need skills or trades when they graduate. 
Personally I taught a student that thought with the end in mind and
realized this point.  I taught him Science 9 and then again Science 23,
I asked him why he did not focus on getting a 30 level in either
Bio/Chem/Physics, his answer was quite well thought out.  “I want to be
a mechanic, I only need Science 23, the rest of the time I spend in the
mechanics bay taking as many modules as I can”.  This student even
within the confines of our own highly structured system of formal
education completed his own work around, to facilitate his own learning
needs.  And the work he completed for my in Science 23 was excellent,
did not slack off, always questioned and participated, he realized the
importance of education because he made education important to himself.

So therein lies the problem, the structure of education needs to be
revamped to allow students the opportunity to find out why education is
important to them.  Force feeding this insight will only invite
resistance, and unlike the Borg, Resistance in this case is not
futile.  Students regularly turn off.  Do not get me wrong, I am not
advocating entirely open education, where the students meander and
learn bits here and there like some are openly suggesting.  Sometimes I
think people forget what K-12 is like, the majority need structure and
guidance, but this could be lessened if school provided the education
they needed.