Indoctrination

I am reading Seth Godin's new book Linchpin, and I am loving it. I can see why Time writes, "It's easy to see why people pay to hear what he has to say." Godin's message carries a cunningly subversive tone. He reads like a 'stick it to the man' instruction manual - and I love it!

One of Linchpin's chapters is titled Indoctrination: How we got here. Godin summarizes the chapter:

The scam is that just about everything you were taught in school and by the media was an invented myth, a fable designed to prep you to be a compliant worker in the local factory. School exists for a reason, but that reason might not be what you think it is.

Can you think of the mindless busy work that you had to do in school? Can you remember those fill in the blank worksheets and bubble shading scantrons? Remember sitting in your desk, facing forward while you learned in isolation?

Well, the gig is up.

It's time we schooled school and end this facade.

We need to make some dramatic changes to education. And we can start right now by listening to some of these ideas.

Aaron Eyler suggests we flip our curriculum.

Dennis Shirley and Andy Hargreaves suggest we move beyond the distractions of the Third way and graduate onto The Fourth Way.

Alfie Kohn and Daniel Pink suggest we halt the Punished by Rewards and focus on developing the intrinsic Drive that is in all of us.

I'd write more, but I have to go to school to make a difference with my students.