Shawn Cornally, at Think Thank Thunk, has written some great posts over the years about doing calculus classes in some fabulous ways. Last night he asked, "Perhaps the job really is impossible to do right. What then?"
Instead of thinking about doing it right, does it help to think about doing it well?
I've always felt that making kids go to school, and making students (even in college) take certain classes, are ways we disempower students, and lessen their curiosity and eagerness to learn. I feel like the system we're a part of does make it impossible to do it 'right'. But I love learning how to do it better.
Even though it's not math, I want to share a blog post about a 4th/5th grade class that's doing really cool things with geography. They're doing it very well!
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"I've always felt that making kids go to school, and making students (even in college) take certain classes, are ways we disempower students, and lessen their curiosity and eagerness to learn."
ReplyDeleteAs a counterpoint, what of the students who are not really in a position to choose if we do away with mandatory schooling? Would a student from a family that doesn't value education get the same opportunities if it became a choice?
I think most families do value education, actually. And those that don't aren't improved much by school. What if we had schooling still, but it was wide open? I wrote a post about my ideal school here.
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