I have not added a new post in quite some time, but the added time I have gotten since my work decided that I am too outlandish to work there full time has given me time to focus on my passion.
So within Second Life I work to help people think. A little broad I know, but we seem to be lacking in that, as of late. Too many people are stuck in “Well that is how it has always been done. -You can’t change the system.- What you value isn’t assessible.” motif. So I try all available networks to see what I can do to stimulate independant thinking.
Not; this is what you are SUPPOSE to do, but why are you doing it?
Does it work for you?
If it doesn’t, why do it? Who does it help to perpetrate a model that has no real validity?
This type of talk is what gets me in trouble. That means those who have been successful in the game of education have NO motivation to change..only the consumers can validate a new direction. The current model is not working. Our current education is a farce.
We now live in a world that is moving SOOoooo fast that by the time you have learned something well enough to teach it.. It is out of date. The current model of multiple choice testing of questions created in an enviroment back in 1985 really has very little use RIGHT NOW.
Right now we need to know what to do. How do we assimulate the tools available and maximize our ability to filter and use that information.
Gone is the authoritarian classroom that says, “I am the teacher and you will ONLY gain this information if you sit and listen to me.” Do we really need to know it if it is Googlable?
We do need to know “how to use it.”, “How to filter it”, “Why it is of value”. We need to be able to think, to discern, to put puzzle pieces together and to share our findings with the global community.
My proposal, as caustic as it will be taken- is: Get rid of our current system. Take all the money that is thrown down the toilet maintaining the status quo and the many buildings, tenured professors and resources and redirect it. Make it paramount that the infrastructure is devoted to developing bandwidth to every home with a computer that can support the many new tools. And I do mean many tools so they are available to all. Education for all will be these items… Not buses to a classroom but a virtual classroom. Use webcams, virtual worlds, blogs, games, websites, search engines and make each person share with the world knowledge base.
Any time logged on in any engaged field could be noted. Let them choose where they wish to be engaged. Maximize the geniuses in say.. astronomy, those who like word puzzles, art, creative writing, race cars. Why force someone who can construct a pyramid in their thoughts to hear the history of British authors?
A person so logged into this type of a system as they mature will allow us to see their areas of curiosity their skills and where they might possibly find the greatest satisfaction. We have a world with so much information that no one can say they are all knowledgable, so to get any expertise early focus of those with that propensity needs to devote their focus.
So the problem then becomes, “Well how will we know who is an authority?” Get rid of degrees. They don’t work. I have worked with PhDs. I have worked with the PhD students. They are free labor and an internal validational community that allows professors to force feed their perceptions on their students or you-don’t-get-your-degree workhouses. They are not inspirational locations for thought. What they produce? Well… “gulp” .. what I can say without resorting to obsenities is they are NOT producing what was orginally intended.
Replace degrees with “Propensity to Learn Rating” How fast can you learn? What is your ability to take information and make them into a usable workable idea? To network and gather a team to support it? Yes, you would need some basic courses to force feed some technology, mathematics and basic terminology, but what we need are couses that teach HOW TO LEARN. Then give a rating of areas of emphasis that shows how many hours you have engaged in the speciality.
I have become a great fan of TED talks. And I am going to end this with a link to this one as something thought provoking. Charles Leadbeater has done the research and has come out to wave the flag for reform as have many others. We can only pick up speed if we can unify and over throw the tyrants we have given our life and our childrens life over to… I call for revolutionary reform!
We have a target market of children who wish to learn and are computer literate and virtually more savy than their parents or instructors and with short attention spans. We want to maximize the use of our resources. We no longer need cookie-cutters of ourselves. Lets provide them with a means to answer their curiosity and give them their launching platform to soar.
http://www.ted.com/talks/charles_leadbeater_on_education.html
Thanks
Your humble Roadside Philosopher