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Test Schools, Not Children
Instead of subjecting children to an endless series of tests and grades, we should be testing the schools for how engaged the children are, and how many ah-ha! moments there are in a typical day. In the long-term we should test how durable the learning is (how much 5th grade algebra and trigonometry do you remember?), how much curiosity the graduates retain, and how passionate they are for learning as adults.
Closing Statement from Gever Tulley
People perceive many issues in education today, and it is clear from our conversation (sometimes heated, sometimes brilliant), that any attempt to address one single issue necessarily leaves many unanswered issues. In general, those well served by a traditional education seem to see little problem with continuing the practice, and those who struggled through school embrace the notion of change - not for the sake of change, but for the chance that we might invent something better.
In seeking to change how we assess children, I started this conversation with the suggestion that we switch the focus of assessment to the schools. To many, this seemed to be a naive approach. A few commenters seemed to be saying, "the system can work, we just need to be more targeted with our testing." Many agreed that there was too much testing, but that some testing can actually be beneficial. Others found merit and suggested ways that it be implemented. Some concern was raised regarding the time it would take to know when a school was failing.
Eric Mercer turned the topic around, asking, "An educational system reflects, not creates, the habits and practices of a society. So which is broken?" My immediate thought is that the best way to fix an ailing society starts with fixing education, which seems to echo the sentiments of many commenters who suggested that schools aren't doing a good job of helping students discover what they truly want to do with their lives. Lee Wilkinson's high school experience seemed to be putting up more roadblocks when it could have been paving the way; "The problem as I see it is; I told them back then that this is what I wanted to do with my life and was told to stop day dreaming."
This has been a fascinating conversation, and I thank everyone for joining in. I am doing my small part to explore new ways to create meaningful education through Tinkering School and my newest project, Brightworks (http://sfbrightworks.org). All my best,
-gever
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Mark Meijer 100+
I think people in general would flourish if they have the choice and opportunity to do what they like to do and what they're good at. I made this point in another conversation insofar as it relates to being motivated and doing work and caring about things (which I guess is exemplified by plenty of TED speakers btw, including yourself).
And the same thing of course goes for learning. Although I think this is true for people of all ages, especially children tend to be naturally curious, yet they tend not to like going to school (except of course the tinkering school ;)). So maybe we should ask ourselves what's wrong with that picture. Testing schools might be an excellent way to go about it.
I would imagine that children's curiosity helps them to find out just what it is they like to do and what they're good at. While without such experiences, they might not even get a sense of being capable of doing anything worthwhile.
So if we want for them to become contributing and caring and motivated members of society, then allowing them to engage and learn through their natural curiosity seems to be an essential prerequisite. Right now it looks rather like the education system is generally a hindrance to this process.
Gever Tulley 100+
What is needed is a series of long-term (10-20 year) experiments designed to evaluate and discover new learning systems.
Mark Meijer 100+
A more concerted and formal effort like you suggest could help to put those into a larger perspective as well as a larger spotlight, and might lend the whole issue some much needed validity in people's minds.
For anyone interested, I think this graduation speech has some excellent points:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M4tdMsg3ts
Adam Burk 500+
Sir Ken Robinson said it tersely, we need to transform education. Is this not what you have done at Tinkering School and now Brightworks? We have to fundamentally change the aims of education.
Furthermore, we know that schools and students do not exist in isolation. They are intimately tied to economics for example. Studies show us time and time again, regardless of what type of learning system a student goes through their socio-economic experience has tremendous effect on their learning trajectory. So perhaps we not only need to be talking about evaluating new learning systems, but entirely new human community systems. This purview would encompass education, economic, and ecological systems (and more) all at once.
Martin Ukrop 100+
How come school makes children gradually dislike learning? Yes, we should test schools, but in my view primarily to determine, where the mistake is. Some schools are better - where's the difference?