Remaking Education From Scratch

Photo by American Heritage Chocolate on Unsplash

Making something from scratch is hard.

It requires a lot of time, effort, and attention to detail. It is also usually accompanied by a recipe. Think about making cookies from scratch. You have a list of ingredients with associated baking temperatures, times, and sometimes there is even a mouth-watering picture of the finished product.

Education, as much of a “custom experience” as it appears to be at the college level, does not give early learners much of a choice. The curriculum is standardized, memorization is deemed more important than critical thinking, and it is not conducive to understanding one’s strengths or interests. It’s almost as if, when thinking about education, there is only one type of cookie and it’s old and stale. Maybe it’s time we start thinking about making fresh “educational” cookies from scratch.

This COVID-19 pandemic (it is currently October 2020) has created numerous issues for K-12 students as well as learners everywhere including:

• an abnormal and potentially risky environment for in-person learning
• a significant increase in online (at home) learning
• additional stress for teachers
• additional stress for parents of students (and empathy for teachers)
• disadvantages for families who have inadequate access to technology
• etc.

Given the current situation, does it make sense to revisit the curriculum, the process of teaching, or even the entire system just like remaking a recipe from scratch? Or is it better to make small adjustments along the way?

Perhaps now is the precise time to fix what is broken and give early learners a chance to succeed in a rapidly changing world.

In an article published on October 5th in ColumbusCEO, Annalies Corbin and Colin McGinnis (CEOs of two educational organizations) talk about taking a step back and remaking education from scratch instead of shortly returning to the “new normal.”

Cutting right to the conclusion of their article the focus is on the formative, middle school, and high school years. They summarized their views as follows:

Looking forward to a return to a “new normal?” Nope — let’s opt for “new.” Let’s rethink our fundamental purpose of Pre K-14 education and aim for a system that views Pre K-5 as fully foundational; 6–8 as exploratory; and 9–14 as a chance for students to experience career options with the intent of finding a passion that can be the career that makes the world a better place for them and their future. Let’s design a system that is agile and can be tailored to all students’ unique learning and career paths. Let’s rethink the school calendar and the way we structure the school “day.” Let’s stop striving to test for facts and instead train to solve complex problems with deep collaboration and diversity as the drivers to ensure we are actually asking ourselves the correct questions that will lead us to a new purpose.

To read the full article check out the link below:

Moonshot Idea: A radical recalibration of education

So, what do you think? Does it make sense to start over; remake education from scratch?

Let’s start with some of the cons:

1. The outcome or effectiveness is unknown
2. The investment is extremely large
3. The current system could be worse
4. Change is difficult

Now on to some of the pros:

1. The world is changing and education has not been
2. Every student learns differently
3. Much of what is memorized is forgotten
4. Technology has greatly improved access to information and tools

There is a reason why change has been difficult to come by in regards to education. On the other hand, innovation and disruption across the globe are not slowing down. If we want future generations to be prepared for what is to come they need to be taught differently than they are today.

Our current system does not do a great job of this. Therefore, in my opinion, the pros outweigh the cons.

So, what changes should take place? Here are a few general ideas:

• Focus more on emotional intelligence and less on memorizing facts
• Encourage curiosity and exploration instead of doing the ordinary
• Provide insights into careers and professions, not just theories and subjects

These are changes that can effectively be made to today’s educational curriculum. Students will be better prepared to interact with others, learn new skills, and contribute meaningfully to society through these adjustments.

To set the future generations up for success, there might not be a better time to fix what has been broken for so long.