Great article on five changes every (high) school should make. Do you agree?
In her book Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn (Viking), Duke University professor Cathy Davidson talks about how the education system must be overhauled.
“Her recommendations center on one of the most astounding revelations
of the digital age: Even academically reticent students publish work
prolifically, subject it to critique and improve it on the Internet.
This goes for everything from political commentary to still photography
to satirical videos — all the stuff that parents and teachers habitually
read as “distraction,” writes Virginia Heffernan in the New York Times review of Davidson’s book recently.
In last week’s article “How Do We Prepare Our Children for What’s Next,” Davidson listed five changes she would put in place to bring the American education system into the 21st century. I’m reposting this part because I think it’s worth calling out separately.
By Cathy Davidson
- End standardized end-of-grade tests. They
demotivate learning and good teaching. Instead, test in challenging
ways, using tough game mechanics with real-time feedback on results so
kids can learn from the test—not be taught to scam the test! - Make all learning real, relevant, tied to communities,
with real application in the kids’ lives outside of the classroom.
Example: Ban research papers—unless they are published online and have
an informative, persuasive, or other real purpose for others. Learning
should have an impact beyond getting an “A” on the assignment. - Teach kids to think through, with, about, for–and
create–new, interactive digital global communication. I don’t mean this
as an add on. I mean rethinking all the subjects we now teach in view of
the possibilities (what techies call “affordances”) of the digital age.
That means getting rid of the “two cultures” binary. STEM subjects are
impoverished without creativity, analysis, critical thinking. The
Information Age is about putting back together the knowledge that the
Industrial Age subdivided. A simpler way is to say have them all learn
Scratch multimedia programming and think about the possibilities. - Restore arts, music, shop, P.E., dance: Kids need the soul-stirring learning that lets them move, make, sing, create, dream.
- Eliminate the “college prep” and AP distinctions,
and stop making college the implicit standard for all education, back to
preschool. Many worthy careers don’t need higher ed. Many careers
that don’t need higher ed still need a liberal arts education in
creative, applied, cross-disciplinary thinking, all of which are as
necessary to run your whole hair salon or motorcycle repair shop as they
are to get a law degree. Conversely, make college free and open to
everyone, at any age. Now, that would be a game changer!
