- Afshin Ommi
- Tehran
- Iran
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We do not need to change the education system
We should not change our education system; we have to make another one.
Our education system is a huge slave training for our selfish needs and purposes. We want them to replay our life, to feel that we will exist in our children when we are dead, they will continue our way, to feel that we are eternal, our self-esteem do not let us say “ok, maybe it is all wrong, this whole system of life, this way of thinking, maybe we can improve our life with a completely different approach, we do not have such a beautiful life here on earth, I do not know, maybe the technology is not the answer, maybe it is something else that we cannot even think of, maybe we have gone the wrong direction all this time". We insist in our way of life because we do not know any other. children are the only hope, they have not been influenced by our society as we have, they have less presumption than us, they can think with much more extend than us, their imaginary mind is much more powerful than us, imaginary for us, but it is the reality for them, we should not tell them they have a good imaginary mind we have to say your real world is much better than us, we should not kill every symptom that threats our stubborn minds, we should let it grow, we should make them our leaders, not to lead them to the dark that we are in it already.
Jonathan Sieg
I am currently a high school senior in America, so I believe that my particular perspective is not only the most relevant, but often overlooked(many times reformers seem to overlook those that are currently affected and talk with the "experts in education" who have not been in high school for thirty years)
I don't necessarily agree that the older generation is trying to relive thier lives, but just trying to ensure that thier children will have the same oppurtunities as they had. However, there is a significant problem with this. Many of the oppurtunities for employment the older generation had is either already gone or will be soon. As computers increasingly replace the menial, mindless jobs, the need for innovative, discerning workers will become necessary (as computers lack the ability to discern or self-progress). You did touch on it, but just to reiterate, education needs to promote free thinking problem solvers....not brainwashed robots designed to regurgitate facts at a moments notice. I can tell you from current experience, the kids who can most quickly rattle of statistics (which they dont really understand) are the ones who are most rewarded. We need to change this convention, and aim for a generation of students who understand the problem in a deeper, more relevant way, through education that can be applied directly to thier lives, aiming them problem solvers who know how to actually effectively utilize the information they already know.
Daniel Chan
So there is a reason why education is the way it is now. I'm sorry for bringing up one of the darker sides of society but in order to sustain it, some people must be kept in the dark because the modern society isn't really practical right now, why would anybody work your butts off when you can make money, loads and loads of them by just moving funds around? Sometimes the good way isn't nessesarily the right way.
Afshin Ommi
I am wondering if there is another way to manage the world that we do not need ignorent people for the world to be sustainable. Sometimes I think I cannot even dream of another system that works, and I do not know if it is because there is no other system that can work or because of my presomptions and the misleading way that the leaders have taught us to think.
Daniel Chan
Rhona Pavis 50+
Afshin Ommi
Rhona Pavis 50+
Daniel Chan
Bernard White 10+
We need to personalize education and encourage intrinsic motivation (and achieve flow and self-control) and helping students achieve their maximal potential. Rather than telling some people that they are "stupid" and can "never change"! (resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy)
I mean a great story I love is when a man asks God to show him the "greates general" and it shows him one of his friends. And the man replies : "I knew him he was an awful general".
Then the God replies : "But he could have been the best general if only people had more faith in him".
And I hope to make all people achieve their potential and become those "best generals".
Pabitra Mukhopadhyay 30+
http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud.html
Gavin Scott
I think the main points we need in any future education system can be taken from them:
First: The software system that Mr Khan uses in his academy should be used in every school, we need to be able to track students more closely. I teach in China, which I imagine shares a common problem with india, way too many students. I have 50 students in a class and no way to really know who has problems with what. W need a system where we can better find out who is struggling in which area, and help them rather than let them fall behind.
Second: Both of them talk about classes where the students learn from each other and the teacher monitors, this should be the future of teaching. It can let weaker students catch up, it gives the teacher time to give more attention to the kids rather than just stand up and talk all the time, it allows more use of modern technology because lets face it, none of us know more than 1% of the knowledge we can find online, it means strong students can go ahead faster and perhaps most importantly, students will be more involved in the learning.
Afshin Ommi
Pabitra Mukhopadhyay 30+
For my imaginary grand son I would want a Miss Education who he can take out for a date.
Afshin Ommi
Pabitra Mukhopadhyay 30+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqwd_u6HkMo&feature=player_embedded
Random Chance 30+
As is true with most of our institutions and,
perhaps those in all countries, is that they are mismanaged for the wrong reasons, by the wrong people and only for the benefit of those doing the managing.
Much of what you said Afshin is true and I especially resonate with your final comment:
"not to lead them into the dark that we are in already."
And we sure as hell are in the dark that those who educated us, led us into.
Now they want us to stay there.
If we build a new education system, isn't that in some way changing the one we have? At the very least it is getting rid of it and that, I also would agree with.
Our institutions and, perhaps those in most countries, need to go, not just be "fixed" as they cannot be fixed.
They are no good as they don't really help those imprisoned in them.
The world over needs to build a new, just system, that benefits all people.
I can't imagine why anyone would be against such a thing.
But, there are those who are against such things.
Who are these people?
Our leaders, everywhere, in every country.
They have to go too.
To be successful in the education system in Amerika is to learn how to be successful in a corrupt system.
That, is going into the dark you alluded to in your idea.
Thus, the person has to become corrupted. They will more than likely have to become a "team player" of some kind if they want to progress in their field. Their lives, livelihood, families, their future, their children and even their country (so they are told), will be at risk or certain death, if they don't play the way they are told to.
So everyone is in some way corrupted but only a very few really benefit because those benefits keep them at the top.
The children of today should be taught how to change the unjust systems they already have been born into. How to get rid of them and how to get out from under the thumbs of those who oppress.
It is another, sneaky and insidious version of the caste system. Go along if you want to get along.
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Random Chance 30+
The old one is totally corrupted. Nothing is of value in it. Keeping any part of it is sure to corrupt a new system. That is the intention.
It is like doing an inventory.
One cannot be mislead.
It is a fact-finding and fact-facing process.
We have to get to the truth about the stock in trade.
We cannot fool ourselves about value.
What hasn't worked, has to go.
What doesn't work, has to go.
What prevents them from working is what has corrupted the entire system, so it all has to go.
Whatever the new, just system is, it will determine what goes into it.
Decisions must be about how they are made, not who makes them.
If we humans are honest about our inventory, we will admit that our systems are totally corrupt and function on corruption. They can function no other way!
What ever supports the growth of corruption, what ever aids it, makes it possible, has to go.
Just listen to those who fight for keeping "traditions" and argue about what would happen if we humans were to create a just system and implement it. It is only leaders who do not want such things.
They too have to go.
Afshin Ommi
Fritzie Reisner 100+
I know absolutely nothing about schooling in Iran, whether it is fairly homogenoeous or whether curriculum decisions are decentralized so that different schools are widely different, whether you have free public education through high school..., I just don't know.
I know a lot about the variety of models in place in the US.
Afshin Ommi
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Afshin Ommi
Fritzie Reisner 100+
For example, education in Iran seems, according to that article, to be standardized at the national level under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. In the United States, in contrast, while there is a national department that gives grants to states for schools, education is mostly funded and directed at the state and local level in the United States. Each state has its own laws which put forward the goals for education in that state, and within that, local school distrcts city by city can define a mission consistent with the state guideline.
Public schools are mandatory through twelfth grade here but not, it seems, in Iran. Public schools are secular in the United States, but in Iran, according to the article, one of the mandated aims for all schools is religious.
Afshin Ommi
george lockwood 20+
John Gianino
You sound very passionate. Can you elaborate on your idea and begin to start a plan?
Theodore A. Hoppe 200+
As Executive Director of the Curriculum Mapping Institute and President of Curriculum Designers, Inc., Dr. Jacobs is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of curriculum and instruction. She has served as an education consultant to schools nationally and internationally on issues and practices pertaining to: curriculum mapping, dynamic instruction, and 21st century strategic planning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsUgj9_ltN8