Holistic Ground is home to a growing holistic social network and holistic magazine. Together, we collaborate to bring holistic ideals back into our lives and into our communities. Find kindred spirits, work together in groups or simply enjoy the company of like-minds. That’s Holistic Ground.
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In one of the best TED talks this year, Sir Ken Robinson describes how our out-dated education systems stifle creativity in an age where it’s truly needed. He argues an educational system built during the Industrial age, to train a workforce for industrial work, isn’t going to serve us going forward nor will it support the growing number of youth geared toward more creative endeavors.
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Most of us in education are going to see the this video as being way out of touch with what the current movement is in education. It seems to pull from a 1980′s model. But, we are gearing up for even more drastic changes over the next 10 years. Instead of schools teaching people to learn and regurgitate, we are preparing to teach on a more assimilation/create model. Students will learn to research, which will foster them to be more self-propelled in what they learn. Then, they assimilate the information and create something new like a project or research paper.
But, the main issue which the news, media, and social movers and shakers are not aware of is the dreaded College Board (CB). Its name suggests that it is affiliated with colleges, but it merely a company which has wiggled its way into control of the US education system. They created the SAT, ACT, and every standardized test in the nation. They control AP testing and even military testing. They have sold themselves into the business of accrediting colleges as well as public and private schools. Now, this is where it gets confusing. They are a company with many small branches of companies which operate under other names, but if you track the systems and follow the money, they are all CB affiliated.
The CB is the evil monster which has pushed education into becoming a standardized test-taking beast; everything from student achievement, teacher readiness, college preparedness, college credit, school accreditation, and even personality and learning styles. They make money coming and going. And, this is the institution that is suppressing strides forward in education.
Interestingly enough, there is also a strange dynamic between almost all education associations and the CB. NEA and state education associations are demonized by the CB. I think this may be because the education associations are made up of the teachers who want this new dynamic shift in education, which is in opposition to the progress of the CB. It’s also interesting that as soon as we make a big push to make changes, the CB creates a strategy to implement incentive-based teacher pay scales utilizing standardized tests made by whom?
The real issue is the College Board.
This is fantastic insight and illumination Michael – from someone on the inside. This… what would you call it… this kind of sneaky infiltration and control technique is not uncommon anywhere there’s power at stake. My parents were both teachers and I remember them both expressing frustration with this kind of thing.
Thanks for the info Michael, I am glad to hear there is a movement for a change! I wonder though how it is in other countries? My kids are still small & in kindergarten, so I don’t have much experience from real schools lately, but I can only assume there must be a reason for the growth in popularity of Waldorf & Montessori schools.
Here, the growth in Montessori schools is linked to the decline of inner-city school systems. Our larger cities have lost their street level business districts, with corporate offices moving into the suburbs, no “down town” shopping areas. The cities have stripped back taxes to entice growth, but it has left the schools struggling to pay the heat and water, with a very small return on the incentives. So, we have small pockets of rich areas along with a huge impoverished city population. If the rich pay into bringing their schools up to par, the poorer areas soak up most of this revenue. Thus, the Waldorf & Montessori schools have become popular as a way to avoid paying to bring everyone up to par. Its pure selfishness. But, on the other-hand, its the best viable solution for these wealthy folks. It has nothing to do with the objectives of the system.
My main problem with the Waldorf & Montessori schools is the pay for the teachers. They are private institutions, so they have a much lower pay rate for teachers with very limited benefits, so they tend to attract teachers that can’t get a job in public schools. I have seen this happen for years. My education friends tend to teach within the private system until the first opportunity they get to teach in public schools. Some never get hired, so they’ll stay with the private schools. Therefore, are the Waldorf & Montessori schools really any better? Are they getting the best teachers?
21st Century Schools is the program that I am involved with for our district. We are working to bring higher technology to the classrooms, and training teachers to use the technology better. But, I happen to be in a better funded school district. We just need a better option for our larger city and more rural areas. The pundits will argue that just throwing money at the problem won’t help, but cutting the funding isn’t helping either.
In our state we have a huge movement by the pundits to use the argument that this guy makes along with other fear tactics to push vouchers. But, the intelligent people of our community keep reminding them of the one major flaw in vouchers. If we remove the brightest and best and rich from all of the public schools, the public schools will become devastated beyond what it is now. Education will be the privilege of the elite.
No, even some of my more liberal friends use have bought into these fear tactics and objective-based arguments, which is unfortunate in my opinion. These schools could benefit the most from having the involvement and participation of these families. And, if they’d give their public systems a chance they might find that there are many rewarding qualities of being in public schools.
On a frustrating note, it drives me crazy that the families that usually pull their kids out and put them in expensive private school were generally the parents that bawked the most when we ask for donations. I guess its easier to pay a monthly tuition bill than to send a roll of paper towels :o( I don’t get it.
Oh your last comment there kind of sums it up :) Fear tends to skew one’s perception of the problem and then logical solutions, like creating a booster club to help support your local school suddenly moves out of view. No one thinks twice to start a booster club for a sports team at the school, but what about a booster club for the school itself?
It’s very difficult to get humans out of this fear-based view of the situation. We tend to retreat to a me-and-mine-first mentality when the fear of lack takes control. This strikes at the heart of what many in the holistic communities work to overcome all the time and this wisdom should get farther into the “real world” if we’re going to overcome things like this. This is one of the goals of this website. How can we, as those who *do* see how fear creates these problems… how can we infuse greater wisdom so that our communities can rise above this?
I always love a challenge.
Amazing video. Truth is timeless and as an adult it does ring so true, that we are educated out of our creativity! At this stage of my life I have packed in the corporate world because it was “killing my soul”; am pursuing my passion, the thing I’ve loved doing since I was a child – writing. Born with the gift, it got lost with man’s rules and an education that said (in my generation), “get a job that pays,” not “a job that brings you joy”. If I had the joy it wouldn’ be a job.
I’ve been blessed to come across an organization on LinkedIn, The Rose of Education Organization, that is just getting set up; to mentor and work with the youth, those who may be at a dis-advantage; to encourage and uplift them through artistic means, making it “fun”. You might want to check them out. I understand the main web site will be up and running in January 2011 – but for now The Rose is at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3477989&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr
You might be interested in joining in with this effort. I have, and I live in Canada. The Rose is based out of the USA and the ultimate goal is an international one where volunteers such as you and I provide our talents to work one-on-one with youth. Sort of a “Give it 4-Ward” movement.
I’m currently living in Asia.
It’s going to take some time for that understanding to filter through. It’s completely learning by rote, unless you are in fantastic schools like The Green School or UWC. The amount of homework they pile on these kids, starting from a very early age, is staggering. The testing system has produced a society of moms and dads who hire tutors, sit with their kids, etc. Many even take time off to help their kids study. The FB comments from friends around exam times make me wonder who is more stressed and it’s pretty clear that the parents are feeding into this frenzy of expectations. It’s created a new dynamic in the class system as well, where parents really do judge you by what you are doing for your kids. It’s not only how your kids are doing (which is also ridiculous, mind you).
This is mainstream education and has generally produced people who follow along and who don’t explore their creativity. Some don’t even question much. My husband ordered a Sausage McMuffin with Egg one time, which stumped the counter person who only knew it as SME. All that aside, Singapore is trying to build itself as a centre of arts (among other things like technology) and the talent here is quite amazing so hopefully with new schools like The School of the Arts (newly opened) these kids and (parents and society at large) will see that there is value and validity in arts. In loving what we do and that pursuing our passion in arts more aligns us with who we are. It should be about who we are, not what we do, which is how we are currently judged by society.