All fired up...

Oh my has this week got me all fired up! Between this course and Dr. Crocker's course I have spent the whole week frustrated with both our current education model and where we are moving in this country.

In this course we talk at length about the skills needed for students in the 21st century...experiential learning, collaboration, critical thinking, creative minds....yada yada yada. Then we flash to Dr. Crocker's class, and our discussions about policy and the new "R2T" initiative. We talk about standardized education, national assessments, data driven instruction...yada, yada, yada. How ironic is it that these two streams of thinking are completely contradictory to one another. How do we, as educational leaders remedy this critical conflict of a education model?

I am not sure what the answer is. Maybe that is why we are here; to develop our understanding of the problem and the process to change it.

The video we watched in class echoed much of the recent message sent from the federal government regarding education. This whole concept of competition has emerged as the headliner for educational propaganda! Is this where we should be going? Competition and learning may not be a mixture that I would support. Especially in the form of a race! In a race the whole goal is to leave others "in your dust." To win....to be the first to cross the finish line. It is every man (or student) for themselves.

This does not sound to me like 21st Century learning. It sounds to me like the private sector: the marketplace. While I agree that the education system should prepare student to enter the competitive global marketplace, schools should not be a place where we force our student to compete to learn. Learning is about individual growth, understanding, and personal exploration facilitated in a collaborative, safe environment where one can make mistakes and not be penalized. In a race there is no time for mistakes, you are working against the clock...throwing elbows to cross the finish line first. This is not a model I would recommend for the classroom nor the United States education system.