Good video on what's wrong with our current education system

[ez bake]

This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=player_embedded

 

[RidgeHunter]

That was pretty good.

Originally posted by Peter Gibbons

Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.

That quote reminds me of our education system.

The ADHD epidemic and the state of our education system is a conversation I have often with people. I was a kid when that first started getting "popular'. I remember "pill time". All the kids except me and a couple of others would get little paper cups with their Ritalin. It was like One Flew Over the Cockoo's Nest. It was pretty sad, really. There was nothing "different" about those kids from any other kid. I still thank my parents for not drugging me. Like the video said, he criticism is not whether it is a real disorder, but rather the "epidemic" and how often it is diagnosed...and the inconsistencies in diagnosis (gender being a big one).

I'm glad I'm not any younger than I am. They would have tossed me around like a rag doll, it was bad enough then. If they didn't think you had ADHD, they said you we're "gifted" and not being challenged. That's what they did to me. Then when the "gifted classes" did not engage you either, they would berate you because "you're just not trying".

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying kids should have no structure and not be expected to do things they don't like....it's just that there is a limit. There is not necessarily something "wrong" with a kid if school work does not pique his interest. There is not something wrong with him if he can't be pigeonholed as a "free thinking intellectual" or "one of the masses" at 9-12 years old. He's just a kid.

By high school I had learned how to attend the minimum amount of classes, and put forth the minimum effort required to maintain A's and B's. And that was all they ever wanted. Standardization. (Well, they wanted you to attend, but you get the point.)

 

[tm8634]

WOW, EZB that was good...really good ideas...

 

[pills510]

Posted to my FB. Wonder how many of my teacher friends will agree/object?