- [Narrator] There is
a growing feeling today that something is wrong with
our system of education. But what is it? Well, we send our children to school to prepare them for the real world, which is changing very, very fast. But our schools haven't changed much for hundreds of years. In fact, thought leaders
from around the world agree that the current system of education was designed in the Industrial Age, mainly to churn out factory workers. And this Industrial Age mentality of mass production and mass control still runs deep in schools. Industrial Age values. We educate children by batches, and govern their lives by ringing bells. All day long, students do
nothing but follow instructions. Sit down, take out your
books, turn to page 40, solve problem number three, stop talking. At school, you're rewarded for doing exactly what you're told. These are Industrial Age values that were really important
for factory workers. Their success depended
on following instructions and doing exactly what they were told. But in today's world, how far can you get by simply following instructions? The modern world values
people who can be creative, who can communicate their ideas, and collaborate with others. But our children don't get a chance to develop such skills
in a system that's based on Industrial Age values. Lack of autonomy and control. At school, our children experience a complete lack of autonomy and control. Every minute of a child's life is tightly controlled by the system. But in today's world, if
you're doing important work, then you're managing your own time. You're making your own decisions regarding what to do and when to do it. But life at school looks very different. The system is sending a dangerous
message to our children, that they are not in
charge of their own lives. They just have to follow
whatever is laid down, instead of taking charge and
making the most of their lives. Experts believe autonomy is incredibly important for children. It's no wonder then that our children are bored and demotivated by school. Can you image how you would feel if you were told exactly what do to for every minute of your life? Inauthentic learning. Most of the learning that
happens in schools today is not authentic, because it relies on memorization and rote learning. The system defines a
generic set of knowledge that all children must know. And then, every few months, we measure how much has been retained
by administering exams. We know that such
learning is not authentic because most of it is gone
the day after the exam. Learning can be much
deeper and more authentic. It can be so much more than
just memorization and retention. But that's the only thing we measure, and test scores are the
only thing we value. This has created an
extremely unhealthy culture for students, parents, and teachers. Children are going through
endless hours of tuitions, staying up all night
memorizing useless facts that they will forget very soon. No room for passions and interests. We have an extremely standardized system, where each child must learn the same thing at the same time in the
same way as everyone else. This doesn't respect the
basic fact of being human, that each of us is unique
and different in our own way. We all have different
passions and interests. And the key to fulfillment in life is to find your passion. But do the schools of
today help our children find and develop their passion? There seems to be no room in
the current education system for the most important
questions in a child's life: What am I good at? What do I want to do in life? How do I fit into this world? The system doesn't seem to care. There are so many greatly talented people who failed in the
traditional school system. Fortunately, they were able
to overcome these failures. But not everyone can. We have no measure for how much talent, how much potential goes
unrecognized in the current system. Differences in how we learn. Each of us is also
different in how we learn, in how much time we
take to learn something, and what tools and
resources work best for us. But the system has no
room for such differences. So, if you're a bit slow
in learning something, you are considered a failure, when all you needed was a
bit more time to catch up. Lecturing. In the current system,
children are lectured for more than five hours a day. But there are a few big
problems with lecturing. Sal Khan from Khan Academy calls lecturing "a fundamentally dehumanizing experience. "30 kids with fingers on their lips, "not allowed to interact with each other." Also, in any given classroom, different students are at
different levels of understanding. Now, whatever the teacher does, there are bound to be students who are either bored
because they're ahead, or confused because they're behind. Because of the Internet and digital media, our children have at their fingertips all the information in the world. Technology has made it possible for anyone to learn anything, but for fear of losing control, the system is not leveraging
these incredible resources. Our system of education, which evolved in the Industrial Age, has become outdated and ineffective. If we want to prepare our
children for the modern world, if we want learning to be
effective and engaging, then there's no doubt that we need to fundamentally change
our system of education.
I went to an "alternative" high school for two years before it ultimately shut down. The school encouraged independent study and had the students do projects and essays on things that they were interested in and receive grades for them.
The concept was great, but the practice was terrible. Most students would eventually do nothing and take advantage of the laid back policies the school offered. It only made things worse that the administrators sort of expected the teachers to implement these policies on their own without much guidance. The school's mission was filled with buzzwords and goals similar those in this video but it all fell through.
The Board of those schools refused to continue funding those schools after seeing that they weren't making much progress. HSPA scores were low and most of the students didn't do anything.
It's really easy to say we have to fix things, but implementing the solution is the hardest part. After attending that school, I saw first hand how easily it an all go wrong.
edit:typos
All I cared about as a teenager was videogames, alcohol and chasing girls. I didn't WANT to learn, if given an option I wouldn't go to school at all and instead go to plumbing school or something for a few months to earn a living to buy more alcohol and videogames.
However, I was forced to go and forced to learn. How did that turn out? Fucking great! I grew up, stopped partying and went to university. The only reason I could was because my computer went away and getting grounded if I didn't do at least "ok" at school (C's and B's).
The only reason school exists is prepare you for the future. It involves doing things you might not value but they are necessary. We don't teach algebra and calculus and history because you will need it at your job, we teach it because we want a civilized and an educated society.
In 7th grade I liked home economics. In 9th grade I liked history. In 11th grade I liked chemistry. I ended up doing a PhD in computer science/applied mathematics, nothing to do with history or chemistry or home economics.
FUCK giving children a choice, force things down their throat if you have to. I fucking hated arts but they have benefited my development and creativity. I hated writing but it turned out to be necessary as an adult. I hated geography but I am a god of maps and navigation because our teacher was that good.
The whole mentality of "oh they have a choice!" is rotten to the core. Children SHOULD NOT have a choice because they have no idea what the outside world is like. They should receive a holistic and comprehensive education so that if they actually become passionate about something, they can just fucking google it themselves and learn it. School is to learn stuff you cant/don't want to learn by yourself. If you give children a choice they will do what they want to do: Fuck around and be children.
That’s great that they state the problems, but there’s no hint at possible solutions to these problems - especially at scale in society. Children are treated like ‘factory workers’ because school itself is a factory of learning.
Everyone has problems. Not everyone has solutions I guess.
"thought leaders"
what the fuck? What is that fucking word?
Wow I disagree with basically every point made in this video. Has the narrator even been in a school in the last 10 years?
I was fighting the mold in my bowl with my pee,
when a thought popped into my brain.
If all of us hated high school so much,
why was nothing ever changed?
So i called brian up, with my plan that's red hot.
It was a private institution in the name of punk-rock.
We got some government funding,
and our own private road,
and 666 for our radio snow code.
Chris jensen's teaching science & he's still running mountain.
We fired the guy from bad religion cuz he sold punk rock out,
and we'll give the dirty punks a dip & get rid of all their fleas.
And we'll never ever buy anything with a UPC.
The punk rock academy.
Where all the students,
they're diagnosed with ADD.
Take me home tonight.
I don't wanna let you go til the feelin's right.
Take me home tonight.
I don't wanna let you go til the feelin's right.
We'll import a token jock, & then we'll kick his token ass!
And there will never ever be a physical education class!
Think about it and you'll agree.
It's the bizzity bizzity bomb!
& maybe we can get assuck to play the senior prom!
Betsy DeVos
Betsy DeVos
Betsy DeVos
Betsy DeVos
Betsy DeVos
Betsy DeVos