wk 3 Videos - Interview with Ron Smith

This video really hit me. It made me think about where education is going and where it should be going. Unfortunately, the education systems in my area seem to be heading in the opposite direction than the education system Ron Smith described. As I think about the possible future of education, I can’t help fall into the Downward Spiral Zander talks about. I had a discussion with my principal this past week on this topic and his feelings are that in 10 years, the school day will be longer, the school year will go all year round, and extra curricular activities will take a big hit and virtually fall by the way side. This last part especially is very dejecting to me. In talking to some of the middle school teachers – teachers of the class of 2014 (which needs to be 100% proficient or advanced in reading and math…haha – what a joke!), all things not being tested are falling to the wayside. This past week, one teacher pulled a dozen students from a musical dress rehearsal (2 days before the opening night) for remediation. That is half of a class. I might suggest that half of a class is not a remedial type situation, but another class. If the musical students needed help, odds are, non-musical students need help as well. So basically, the whole class would need remediation. Something doesn’t quite add up.

Some of the teachers have also mentioned pulling students from social studies, science, and other mainstream classes for reading and math help. Forget library science, forget art, music, and the agricultural sciences, forget proper typing technique and Internet safety, we need students to be able to find the length of the missing side of the triangle. Don’t get me wrong, math and reading are important. Vital even, but at what cost?

Enter Ron Smith. Students aren’t allowed to make a power point for a presentation – they must use…flash, animation? What an idea. Sometimes it seems that a power point is often a student’s crowning achievement. But they can do so much more. But when reading and math are only things being taught, none of the other stuff is learned. Which is more important to a worker in the workforce, finding the length of the missing side of the triangle or designing a city block? I vote city block. Project based assignments not only teach an enormous array of standards and usable skills, they are so much more interesting to students and more valuable to learners in their future life.