This is basically the sort of thing I've been saying since High School and my Mom has been preaching about since I was home-schooled (till I was 8). But since these RSAnimate people just do such a good job of explaining exactly how I feel about our education system I'll let 'em at it.
There is one thing they do leave out here. And that is that students are always always resisting. Wherever there is a dominant paradigm there will always be resistance to it. Students do it all the time, they do cheat, they do collaborate with eachother, they even discredit the marks they get simply by not letting it govern their lives. The power of a mindset is too often overlooked. Just imagine what education could be if the constrains of traditional schooling were lifted.
I've been thinking though, how do we start changing our education system around so that it is a better model for today's children and society? It's a lot more complicated than simply saying "it's not working but here's the sort of thing that would". We'd need to first break down what's not working - a task that could take more than simple years to come about. Institutions like schools are so embedded in our social system on so many different levels that even to change it minimally would take years. And then, what do we change it to? I feel like there are an infinite number of possible directions a new education system could take, all perfectly viable to try - but which one? How does one decide how to completely rework such a fundamental pillar of our society?
These are just those mind boggling questions I wish I could answer better. And maybe I will someday. In 100 (200?) years maybe they will look back on our society and think what silly silly 21st century humans, did they really think that was a good idea? In fact, I'm positive they will. They'll have moved forward as we always strive to, or perhaps they'll have simply moved - to try something different.
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