We Are Probably Doing it Wrong

“If you are doing it the way you always have, you are probably doing it wrong.” That is on a painting in my wife’s office. I agree with that statement and I think that most people do too.

Unfortunately, in education we seem to keep doing it the way we always have. I would contend that we are doing it wrong. Most things in the world have changed in the time between when formal education was first developed and today. Our students need a new and different set of skills than the skills our parents needed to be successful. I have written it before, we are preparing students for jobs that don’t exist yet. Are we giving them the best opportunity to be successful in those new unknown jobs? We are not if we continue to ask them to participate in school the way our parents and their parents did.

Thank you Jaime Casap for suggesting the Tedx Talk from Will Richardson, The Surprising Truth About Learning in Schools. One thing that stood out to me was this image from his talk.

I am sure that anyone can figure out which side is what we believe that education should look like and which side is what education actually looks like. As Will Richardson noted in his talk, he hasn’t found anyone that says that the things on the right are what schools should look like, yet we continue to reward schools that are designed in the same way they have been for generations.

Another Tedx Talk from Seth Godin, Stop Stealing Dreams, had much the same feel. Godin asks the question “What is school for?” That is a powerful question. Our answers should be driving the evolution of our current schools and the development of our new schools.

Why are we still doing it the way we always have? What are schools for? How would you answer those questions? What are you going to do if your answers don’t match up with the current norms in education?

A friend of mine frequently says “Change is hard. Buck up buttercup.” I think that it is time for us all to buck up.