I think the ideas in Clayton Christensen’s books The Innovator’s Dilema and Disrupting Class are very relevant here. He argues that large scale change is never possible in large established systems. Therefore, our current school system cannot change. The change has to happen through migration. As learning alternatives become more suited to fit the needs of a now relatively silent majority the scales will tip and we will see a mass exodus of students from our traditional schools to find their education elsewhere. What is going to tip the scales? Will it be online schools as many have suggested? I tend to think this may have a part but most online schools I have seen are merely traditional schools put on the internet. There is nothing all that progressive about them. Is it charter schools? Or rather a particular brand of charter school? Perhaps. Or is it unschooling? The technology is certainly there for students to adequately educate themselves with the aid of online and electronic resources. These technologies will only improve as time wares on.

Schools have not always been as they currently are today. Sure, our schools today look a lot like 19th century schools but even though they have had a long run there is historic precedent for a nation or world to change the way the business of education happens. If we narrow our view of the history of education to the last 200 years we are missing too much. There were times in our past where apprenticeships were the number one method of education. How did we make the shift? Was it through necessity? Or was there some other force that made us make that shift?

I see two major forces that shape how and why we educate our children the way we do: Economic and Political or rather Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian. The last major shift, at least in the US came when we decided we needed an educated citizenry and that the state should sponsor schooling. This was coupled with the need for an educated workforce. Our current economic troubles speak to one of these founding actors. Perhaps one result of the current economic disaster will be a forced change. People (parents included) may be open under the current and near future economic climate to make some concessions about our education system and become open to more progressive approaches.

Thus, even left-leaning US education is based in a ‘not-so-hidden’ curriculum dedicated to preserving the social order. We see, for example, the least interesting, most formalised theses on the planet coming from US grad schools. We see the greatest fidelity to the industrial processing view of research. We see the most emphasis placed on compliance – attendance, silly assignments, in US higher education. And all of these things filter down all the way to kindergarten and even pre-school, where US politicians of every persuasion believe in abusing very young children with strict academics.

So, what is wrong with American schools is, essentially, what is wrong with America. Stuck in notions of an elitist Republic which last seemed “revolutionary and democratic” in the run up to the French Revolution, trapped by a conservative religious base which is afforded as much or more influence here than equivalent movements in Israel or Iran, and trusting far too much in our own myths, we have accepted beliefs which elimate our chances for progress.

What we see in our schools is symptom, not cause.

That said, I still stick with the old idea that the purpose of education is to create citizens that will keep the ideals of the country going — an educated citizenry. That does not mean keep things the same — but to use critical thinking, global awareness, current (now technological) skills and empathy to continue to move the country forward to its potential.

“Ask not what your country can do for you . . .”

1. Help students become productive contributing citizens.
2. Help students become life-long learners.
3. Help students learn the skills they need in order to problem solve. ( I didn’t mention this earlier but we have all seen the “Did You Know” videos and we all know this is becoming a necessity.)

Now, how do we accomplish these goals????

Next – My own post about the motivations of our education system, that is, why we’re not actually interested in change…
http://speedchange.blogspot.com/2008/04/not-getting-to-universal-design.html

And finally – I try to tell the future teachers whom I get to “teach” that everything about our educational system is a construct based on (a) Protestant Christianity (the books, the room shape, the sense of literacy, the schedule), (b) market capitalism (the curriculum, grading, the intended purpose), and (c) industrialism (the idea of grades, of one process for all, of assessment). And I suggest that we will not create any meaningful change unless we begin to seriously doubt the philosophies which underlie those constructions.

I was lucky enough to attend a “School Without Walls” alternative high school. No grades, very few classes, no fixed schedule, no curricular requirements, no need to do anything at all within the school. So I have seen it work, and I have seen it work for the widest variety of kids.

But I also know the problem – schools, and teacher education, are run by people who have succeeded in the system. In their hearts they do not really understand the failures.

My first suggestion is that PhD programs in education use affirmative action to change our future leadership. 50% of the next generation of Education PhDs should be the failures, the special ed kids, the drop outs, the “just got bys” – That is the group which would bring urgency to these conversations. That is the group which can begin to imagine something completely different, because “we” know the costs of the status quo.

I agree that many of us are too close to the issue which clouds judgment, but many of us have a better ability to filter and see beyond the “now”. In my personal opinion, most of the causes preventing us from truly making change are not educational but political. I truly believe education would change quickly if it were not for the overwhelming outside influences that are identified by Paul Vallas.

Check out George Smoot on the Design of the Universe. He talks a lot about the problems of seeing the universe as a whole because of where we are at inside of it!

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ted.com%2Findex.php%2Ftalks%2Fgeorge_smoot_on_the_design_of_the_universe.html&ei=2sEtScjRMZzENIzqiJcL&usg=AFQjCNGhVGUQxOUn1MB8XFPDHXMpCDo60g&sig2=58ptVRr_2LqntNyTA76Aiw