This Tumblog is maintained by Christina. Say hi to her on twitter, @Knewton_Tina or check out her articles on the Knewton blog.
“In a speech last week, President Obama said it was unacceptable that “as many as a quarter of American students are not finishing high school.” But our current educational approach doesn’t just fail to prepare teenagers for graduation or for college academics; it fails to prepare them, in a profound way, for adult life.
We want young people to become independent and capable, yet we structure their days to the minute and give them few opportunities to do anything but answer multiple-choice questions, follow instructions and memorize information. We cast social interaction as an impediment to learning, yet all evidence points to the huge role it plays in their psychological development.
That’s why we need to rethink the very nature of high school itself.”
Applying the concepts in this article to college would be a very interesting idea too.
Some great ideas here! Reminds me John Gatto’s education classic, Dumbing Us Down (one of the chapters suggests that students are micromanaged and taught that “nothing really matters”). Whether or not you agree, it makes for stimulating discussion.
Notes
-
aburstingflameoffun liked this
-
thegenerationproject reblogged this from polaraxis and added:
Obama’s interesting take on education
-
assumptionsandapproximations liked this
-
anakarent reblogged this from polaraxis
-
emanuelecristin reblogged this from polaraxis
-
talcomoumeletron reblogged this from polaraxis and added:
Leonardo Piloni: Would like Brazil only had...problem like this. Too bad there’s more
-
knewton reblogged this from polaraxis and added:
Some great ideas here! Reminds me John Gatto’s education classic, Dumbing Us Down (one
-
philomathie liked this
-
jamesgeekfeed liked this
-
This was featured in #Education
-
mermaid-vision liked this
-
mshannah liked this
-
polaraxis posted this
Things I like...
-
Social Media High School
Class of 2011
-
The Obama administration has drafted new...
-
And now my attempt at transferring overheard humor
Joke heard at Florida Educator Technology...
-
That awkward moment when you see a really cute guy at a free SAT test and you get really sad...
-
I just finished making some lists for short term future goals/events.
- Finances
- SAT Action Plan
-
Clear department: VC and PE raise investment and get warm again after a cold spell in the second...
-
“Some Git fans claim Git is now as easy to learn as Bazaar or Mercurial. With respect, we strongly...”
-
IBM Venture Exec from Silicon Valley: Boston Startups Very Active in Mobile, Cloud Computing,...
