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Who should decide what the purpose of education is?
Over the past month TED community members have been answering for themselves "in your opinion, what should be the purpose of education?" http://www.ted.com/conversations/7491/in_your_opinion_what_should_t.html
During that conversation, Thomas Brucia, raised a question I would like to spend some more time on. He said, "shouldn't the question be: 'who should decide what the purpose of education is?'"
In an age where control of is this answer and ultimately the fate of millions of children in the U.S. alone is held by corporations and the ultra-wealthy, I believe this is a righteous question and lever to examine.
So, predicated on the understanding that whatever is deemed to be the purpose of education defines 12+ years of children's daily activities and habits in the form of formalized learning, aka schooling, who should decide what the purpose of education is? Is it corporations? Academics? Policy-makers? Teachers? Parents? Students themselves? ::gasp:: Local communities as a whole?
I look forward to the conversations, thanks for joining in.
Bruno Carre
In theory, every adult citizen in a democratic country chooses the decisions makers by voting, giving his/her individual trust to a member of parliament to do the job.
The challenges are numerous (academic inflation, funding, creativity, you name it) and show that the expectations regarding education are not met, hence, perhaps (?), your question. And this is actually a societal debate: who should lead, if leaders don't do the job??
It's a philosophical question of top-down versus a bottom-up.
Having said that, I strongly believe we (we=parents) still decide what education should be. As in: should parents not be happy with the education given by our governments, we can still do a tremendous job outside the school. I'm saying that because my 9-year old son has learning difficulties and as a consequence, school can/could undermine his self-confidence. And I abide by Sir Ken Robinson's point of view: the world today is facing huge problems, which require a huge deal of creativity to tackle them. And school does kill creativity.
Creativity means being confident enough to try something new. Kids are creative because they are not afraid to fail...until they're 6, as schools punish you if you try something new (and fail).
We, as parents, can develop and nurture our children's confidence to try something better than anyone else or anything else, teachers, school, corporations, you name it. So, in a way, we own (big time) the education of our beloved kids.
Gordon Hultberg
1. Time: a process would have to allow time away from "school" (papEr grading for teachers, ordinary class work for kids) to actually have productive talk about these ideas.
2. Atmosphere of play, constructive purpose, enthusiasm, not of fear or protectiveness. It would take a commitment by participants and a skilled leader/ facilitator, and a choice to participate by parents and teachers to make something feel positive and productive.
3. Talking points: it might be helpful to provide a simply worded outline of several different sample purposes of education, to start the conversations. Sort of a menu of educational purposes, from which to choose, to start exchange of ideas
4. Virtual spaces: physical meeting spaces could be offered along with live forums and blogs such as this one, where people could weigh in and listen to ideas.
5. so many people have never been asked for an opinion about such a topic, that it may feel at first like voting: can my voice make a difference? The best antidote to that would seem to me to be a literal meeting, such as a seminar around a table with groups of 8 people or so at which everyone discusses a short reading that is related to education. something very accessible, tailored to various age groups and language levels (any language the community uses). When people realize they have feelings and ideas about this topic, they may begin to care enough and believe that their voice can be heard, that they are willing to go another step and share, work with others at their school site to shape education there.
6. community truly can be defined here in numerous ways, but my instinct says that the smaller the local community the better, for purposes of ownership. Many within that group would bring broader perspectives to the group.
Adam Burk 500+
Do you know of any places that have piloted such a process?
Gordon Hultberg
For me, our accreditation committee served as a model - a positive example of stakeholders working together for a common purpose. My group included students, parents, teachers, a principal from another school, and a staff member and school board member. If presented as a true opportunity for dialogue, new meetings could grow along similar lines with respect to the purpose of education.
Thank you, Adam, for your positive interactions with contributors, for encouraging people's strengths and inviting us into further dialogue and deeper reflection.
monika hardy
Carol did a keynote, which was excellent, and she also joined in our session.
Carol has connected us to Manish in India. he is one of the narrators in schooling the world, and curator of one of the seven places Meg Wheatley and Deborah Frieze share in Walk Out Walk On.
Isaac Graves of the patchwork school connected us to Yaacov Hecht and his education cities in Israel, his book, Democratic Education is excellent: http://education-cities.com/tag/yaacov-hecht/
we asked both Yaacov and Manish to join us at the global Ed conf... but neither were able to at that time. Yaacov is launching Ed cities in Puerto Rico in march.
Deborah Frieze will be joining Paul Allison's edtechtalk session this wed 9pm est to talk about Walk On. if you're interested, follow Paul on google + and join his hangout at that time.
Ruth Israeli
Ill try to follow on wednesday.
monika hardy
it is all over. we do have a lot of work to do.
but i believe it can turn on a dime, if we're clever about zooming in and out, about true mathematical thinking. so that we can see that huge really isn't so huge if we do it together.. apart... together.
Ruth Israeli
Ruth Israeli
Peter Deutscher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleonomy
Teleonomy looks at emergent purpose - tends to be used in evolutionary biology, but finds relevance in culture, education, philosophy, economics, governments, corporations - you name it. So to answer the question - all who participate play their own role in shaping the purpose. No individual or group of individuals can effectively determine the purpose of something as complex as education, and I'm not sure I would want them to even if they could.
Krisztián Pintér 200+
Robert Winner 50+
Robert Johnson
Adam Burk 500+
So in the frame of the question leading this conversation "Who should decide what the purpose of education is?" do you think you should be the one to decide for everyone?
I say ask this with a smile, I know tone is very difficult to interpret in text-only formats. Please know I am not trying to be a jerk. Provocative, yes. Jerky, no.
Best,
Adam
Robert Johnson
I think I understand where I may have went away from the question in regards to "purpose". I say since it affects all of us as a community, then it should be decided by the community. Some may say the purpose is to train people for better jobs. Some may say its to cultivate creativity. Some may say its just to teach you about the world around you so you're better suited to be successful. In my eyes, its a combination of all those things. And I don't think that one answer is the right answer. I believe that incorporating all of those answers is what's works best because it allow individuals to do what's best suited for them and then hopefully, that translates in how they can benefit the community as a whole.
Brent Snavely
I am not so certain that adults in the past or present have such a great track record that the (adult) past should be forced upon the (youthful) present. Sure, we need to assist youths in avoiding gross errors of judgement that might lead to physical harm, but the rest of our time might best be spent helping put the students in the driver's seat -- we can back-fill a tailored content later so as to assist them to get where they want to go in their lives.
Robert Winner 50+
After considerable head banging (don't do it .. it hurts) consider this:
It is not so much about making change as it is creating the conditions under
which change is possible and the incentive to want to make change.
If we at the grass root level work to enhance education, then it will happen. There is nothing in law that prevents a school from exceeding standards. Therefore, as long as we meet requirements for graduation it is the local boards decision to effect change.
I could take the time to wrap this around a lot of fancy words but I am pretty basic and wanted to get a opinion. In effect the instructor could design the course and print the course material. The school could buy one of each text to ensure that all of the major points are covered, being careful to not enfringe on copy right laws. This would lead to many inovative presentations and options to the course using 21 st century technology and tailoring to the needs of the students.
This of course brings us back to the value of quality instructors. It also brings a flood of applications to mind. It all starts with us becoming involved.
Adam Burk 500+
Keep going. I love the trail you are on here. This is a great statement: "There is nothing in law that prevents a school from exceeding standards."
I think there is a lot of credit to what you are saying and I also think that circumstances in schools are complicated.
As for creating the conditions under which change is possible, this is definitely what the work is. I'm interested to know if you have any thoughts on how to create those conditions.
I have friends and colleagues working on this across the country through IDEA--Institute for Democratic Education in America, www.democraticeducation.org We're always looking to connect efforts and cultivate conditions for change. We have some ideas of how to do it, but are always listening for other ways and better ways.
And bottom line, you are right, it starts with us getting involved!
Chad Sansing
We in the United States largely need state and federal money to keep up with state and federal mandates regarding staffing, scheduling, testing, and sanctioning; we could educate more meaningfully and rigorously for less if our communities take ownership of customized, democratic education for children and adults. We don't need a curriculum to identify what matters to us or to our kids, we don't need a test to tell us if our actual work is excellent or not, and we don't need practice picking answers when we could be identifying and solving the problems in front of us in our lives and neighborhoods.
Thanks for sparking this conversation, Adam.
Best,
C
Robert Winner 50+
Adam Burk 500+
The amount of corporate control in schools is pretty astounding. Textbooks AND standardized testing are symptoms in my opinion of the root problem. The root problem is that we have given away our power to set the agendas for our schools and thus in some ways our own lives to "the other." The other might be authority figures or agencies and outside experts.
I am honored and happy to be holding space for you to explore! Keep going!
Robert Winner 50+
One of the "tools" used in the Shanghi system is a practicim. Student spend time with professionals in the community to gain a first hand knowledge of application and a perspective of the interrelation of the academic and the "real world".
Todays educational design is based on extrinsic (carrot and stick) methodology. I believe that we should be devising a intrinstic approach to be more in tune with the 21st century needs.
As a Aeronatical Engineer I no longer calculated areas such as aerodynamics or metallurgy. I entered the desired factors into a Cray Computer and bingo the answer appeared. There is very little need for pencil to paper in todays world.
As you say our powers at the local level have all but vanished. Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education, speaks of his desire that all texts, tests, syallbi, course materials, and grading should be done at the federal level. He wants education to be federally standardized. That approach is common in a Socialism agenda. I on the other hand regularly advise that powers should be returned to the states and that educational matters should be managed at the local level.
Again I have departed from the base question. As you can see I am quite passionate about education. My "model" is full of cross outs and erasures. I eat crow a lot and learn from everones input to these sites.
Adam Burk 500+
Thanks for continuing to add more and more value to these conversations. I respect and appreciate your perspective.
Adam
Jon Miner
The educational system in the United States suffered a shock caused by Sputnik from which it has not recovered. An over emphasis of the sciences resulted in a generation or two or three whose appreciation of the Arts and Humanities is severely limited. We were privileged in that era to see children dancing, singing, putting on plays, debating, and playing musical instruments. Of course there are still children doing those things, but the appreciation is usually found in their parent's eyes, not in the eyes of their peers.
This came about because community leaders passed the opinion up the line to the political leaders that the USA could not dare to fall behind the Soviets in Science.
Look at the society of the USA. Is it as wonderful now as it was when Sputnik was launched? Sure we are more technologically advanced. But are we as happy? Do people have the choices that they once had? Has society become more or less homogenized? Do we as a culture get along as well as we thought we would in the 60s?
Our fears have eaten away at our foundations. Our greed has eaten away at the fruits of our labor. The corporations have more rights than human beings. Schools are putting teachers on leaves of absence until money can be found for salaries. And public corporations can spend $50,000 to put up one unnecessary advertizement in a public square.
Have you read "Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand? This future was foretold in 1957. But the community did not listen. They are not listening now.
Adam Burk 500+
So what do you suggest? If local control was once given away to national control, does the answer lie in reclaiming local autonomy in your opinion?
Are their national policies that could be set to support that?
monika hardy
Cher Calusa
Adam Burk 500+
Thanks for sharing your experience and perspective. How can we create processes so that teachers, parents, and students can articulate their visions together?
Ruth Israeli
Adam Burk 500+
Thanks for the Cooperative Catalyst love. It's a great community and I've seen a lot of transformation happen through the conversations happening there.
As you know, I share your vision for what a community should be. But, even in our own neighborhoods, sometimes our own families, we don't carry that common vision. How do we get there? Do you have examples of community coming together to identify its core purpose and articulating how it will achieve that purpose? Particularly communities that involve all stakeholders, even children?
Ruth Israeli
Global Education
A global crisis calls for a global solution: the virtual education of globality, interconnectedness and mutual care from a young age.
At present the Ari Institution has attained cooperation collaboration with UNESCO and is now writing a book together that deals with the bases of a global integral education.
Our institution was invited by the Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN to present our educational perceptions and concepts and is showing signs of enthusiasm and willingness of collaboration between ARI and the educational body that operates inside NATO (besides UNESCO)
Our Institute has much experience and is very active in the field of education and firmly believes in the principles of a global education.
The institute is always ready, willing and open to cooperate with other organizations that work in the field of education.
Yes we already have active communities and of course children have their share :) Any questions or whatever I will be happy to pass along and more than happy to share details of how we are building and articulating in how to attain this vision. Yes your right, unfortunately not everyone shares the same vision even inside our homes, In our uneasy global times I really feel it is extremely important for all these private holistic directed educational organizations to form bridges between us, to help raise public awareness and influence. I guess our's is the transitional generation, hopefully all the childrens children will be able to reap the fruits of the seeds we are now planting for a mutually compatible world.
Adam Burk 500+
Thanks so much for sharing the link and some context. Can you tell me more about your experiences at the Ari Institute? I'd love to hear some details about the curriculum and pedagogy.
For example, how do students meaningfully engage in their studies?
monika hardy
thinking we need to define ed or anything for that matter is something i've been thinking about. if we, as you say, are all influenced constantly every minute from our environment, a definition brings a closure, or a death even, to that aliveness.
i love how John Hagel describes this here in his post about infinite games: http://edgeperspectives.typepad.com/edge_perspectives/2012/01/finite-and-infinite-games-which-game-shall-we-play-in-the-new-year.html
Adam - we are venturing out into our community just now, starting up art of hosting type convos. [last influence for that from Meg Wheatley's Walk Out Walk On.] all people, coming together to decide what the questions are that we are about.
i love Bunker Roy's recent TED of the barefoot movement. credentialing is truly from our community. how are they doing? how are you helping that?
Ruth Israeli
Ruth Israeli
Ruth
monika hardy
Adam Burk 500+
http://idec2012.org/
Ruth Israeli
We have an independent media station and the kids from our main community which consists of 200 families formed an after day school environment for the kids, one of their ever expanding projects consists of kids learning how to film and design their own media programs that are interactive with youths from all over. In one of our branch communites in my town, the amount of kids is much smaller (hopefully that will expand) so we are just in the beginning of building them an after school environment, I could expand here Im just not sure this is the place to be taking up thread space for this.
Robert Winner 50+
Adam Burk 500+
Is the "shaping of education" really delayed? Isn't the education and the shaping of the individual happening through k-12? Who should set the agenda for those twelve years? If you are delaying the student's ability to inform his/her path in learning, then who has decided for him or her what the purpose of education is during that time?
Zared Schwartz
Adam Burk 500+
What do you define as local? A state? A town? A neighborhood? How might such groups cultivate their vision for the purpose of education?
What are the advantages and challenges of having local control?