The modern education system was developed around the idea that we needed engineers, rocket scientists, and other math/science-based careers in order to compete with a new paradigm of democracy vs communism. After all, we need to be competitive not just in the Space Race, but in weapons development (see Dwight Eisenhower’s farewell address as an example). Very good propaganda indeed as we contemplate the means rather than the ends. And so we stressed assimilation. Rank-and-file. Order. Hierarchy. Freedom of expression was a threat to the health of the system. Circumventing the status quo was treasonous. (Again, I refer you back to Wu’s work as it beautifully describes this mentality in AT&T, the FCC, and others.)
Education is currently experiencing fragmentation unprecedented in its storied history. Phrases such as “differentiated instruction” and “whole child instruction” or “student-centered learning environment” proliferate our profession. Children live and operate in a culture that has taught them that they don’t have to listen to a single voice, let alone recognize the authority of an individual or organization.
And so we currently find ourselves in the midst of a system that has a foot in each world. Here in Texas, for example, we have the “four-by-four” where all high school students must take four years each of the four content areas (developed, at least in part, to encourage more math and science classes among students that were only taking the minimum of two). Students don’t have the option (at least in a traditional, public high school) of filling their schedule with classes that would move them towards proficiency/mastery of a single topic. Instead, they become a jack/jill-of-all-trades and a master of none. We have standardized tests that aren’t intended to promote creativity, but conformity. These tests don’t measure the potential of a student and, if you really get right to the heart of the matter, they don’t even accurately measure whether or not a student mastered what they were supposed to have learned and don’t get me started about states/organizations that are starting to use “the test” as a witch hunt.
Therein lies the problem. We are forced to fragment our instruction to match the fragmented minds of our students, each different from the one sitting next to them. We crave creativity, innovation, and collaboration. We desire for them to create something amazing, whether individually or as a team of peers. But that must be put on hold while we prepare for an assessment (and life within a system) that demands the opposite. Your bright idea of how to find the third derivative is only acceptable if it matches how the teacher showed you how to do it, after all… But therein lies a problem.
Fragmentation does not stop. It does not slow down. It does not reverse. And it shouldn’t.
Fragmentation provides an opportunity. We have the opportunity unrealized in previous decades for providing each child with a relevant, meaningful education that empowers them into the fragmented society in which they are entering. As children experience the constant, rapid-fire change in the media around them, may we see this not as a threat, but as an opportunity. May we engage what is taking place and embrace it. If some children learn by building, let them build. If some learn through video (watching, producing, shooting, acting, creating, etc), let them! If some learn through networking with others, find opportunities for them to meet movers-and-shakers and hone their craft. If child learn by playing, let them play. (Hint: all children learn by playing.)
We must stop the insanity of believing we can use a 19th century model of production to churn out identical children with identical skill sets and identical banks of knowledge. Every child is different. This means we must stop the exclusive use of a 19th century model of assessment (checklists, standardized anything, binary gauges) and embrace assessment that is not only tailored to the child, but will accurately gauge whether or not they have learned and mastered a concept. This, of course, will force us to stop relying on 19th century definitions of what are essential knowledge and skills and help us to embrace the new landscape before us. This will force us higher up Bloom’s taxonomy.
There is nothing more democratic than empowering the individual to reach their full capacity. But we haven’t done that for decades, if not longer. The opportunity is before us, if we will only take it. The new landscape is different than the old. The old was sterile, flat, and cold. The new is broken and fragmented, but it is beautiful.
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Greg Garner 