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Originally Posted by Still Growing  Dreamline, Very good point
Lauxa, Also a good point. You know I can imagine a day whereby we have less teachers and we use video showing outstanding teachers on a large screen that does professional presentations. Then the teachers in the classroom could pause and ask questions and make additional comments.
Each student could be exposed to the best teachers in the world. |
It doesn't matter if you have a video recording of the best teachers in the world, if it's not specifically tailored to the student's needs it won't be anymore effective than what we do now.
We don't need the best teachers in the world, we need competent adults that engage the kids. We don't need gimmicks like animals and cartoon characters, we need teaching methods that produce measurable results and relate to real-life problems kids can solve. (The biggest problem I had in school is that the work was so meaningless. Do this math equation, fill in the blank- why? "Because you're supposed to" and "just do it" are not acceptable answers, nor is, "it will be useful in the future." I always thought, "than why don't I learn it then?")
Most importantly, kids need to stop being schooled in what to think and instead how to think. (Which is pretty simple- get out of the way and they'll think on their own.) When all the questions are already written down and all the thoughts are blanks to be filled in you're left with a system that teaches people how to perform well only within the context of that system. Originality is lost and so too are the vast resources that could be produced by competent, whole individuals.
Personally I think all this talk about educational reform is futile. School does exactly what it's supposed to do- force people into a mold best suited for the corporate world. You are to be a good employee, not an enlightened person. People cannot and will never become educated that way. Unless it's redesigned from the ground up to serve people instead of corporations we will never be rid of the problems we experience today.