Today's public education is built on a foundation of standardization and conformity.
The preferred future of public education needs to be built on a foundation of diversity and personalization.
Our present stands in direct opposition to this preferred future.
So, what do we do about that?
ReplyDeleteThere is a Ying and Yang to this though. Differentiation and conformity are grotesquely out of balance in public education but both tendencies need to be present in public education. I would say the same about dissent and compliance. I feel this way because socialization is a worthy goal for public education. It is the principal reason I believe it more desirable than enterprises like parochial schools, private schools and home schooling.
ReplyDeleteJoe, love this! I NEEDED you yesterday when I was going at it with @dropounation on Twitter! It started with his blog post that suggested that "value-added" data for evaluating teacher effectiveness was a step in the right direction... He then spouted all kinds of absurdities about how high-stakes testing teaches students what to learn... He kept avoiding my questions about his teaching experience until he finally admitted that he is "education journalist, activist, tutors a child, and his dad was a teacher for 30 years". Because we need more non-educators deciding how students learn best and judging teacher effectiveness...
ReplyDeleteSorry for the rant, but your post just brought back all of the frustrations of yesterday!
I see technology as the instigator of this paradigm shift. Personalizing the classroom experience will begin with all students being given a voice.
ReplyDeleteI read a few days ago that you were considering buying iPads for the classroom. Was the feedback helpful?
Jordan
@jrwolfe
Joe,
ReplyDeleteCan you tell me why all my colleagues equate uniformity with professionalism? The district imposed a pacing guide on us this year meant to improve test scores. Instead of protesting this invasion of their prerogatives my co-workers all tried to outdo each other in the degree to which they aligned their teaching with the guide. I sincerely do not understand their reasoning. Why is it good for kids to have all of us conforming in lockstep?
Thanks for a profound thought. I find it depressing to hear Canadian educators worry about standardization as The Answer. I thought we had a lock on it here in America.
ReplyDelete