For the past few years, there has been a worrying trend in education. Bill Gates has even blogged about it just last week. While everyone agrees we need a departure from the rote memory method of learning to one which involves critical thinking and decision making, how would you go about implementing this in a real life class format? Do away with text books and work with Case Studies like Harvard? What other methods could work?
Ask HN: Education is broken, how do you fix it?
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Re: Ask HN: Education is broken, how do you fix it?
#2Everyone keeps saying Education system is broken, and to some extent it is. Here's some reasons why...
1. with advancements in technology, education too needs to evolve, but we are still stuck in the era of printed books and expensive text books. I remember seeing a computer for the 1st time in grade 7. It took me few years to understand the complete potential and how I can use it. Now, kids in pre-school are hooked to iPad games and have figured out ways to watch cartoon on demand. Thus going to school to learn about animals from textbook pics is not very inspiring and interesting.
2. For higher education, the school text books are still stuck in the 90's technology. School needs to engage students with more hands-on work, rather than lectures. Hands-on project building and training is a very useful tool for learning and has proven to be more engaging among students of all ages. [Shameless advertisement : checkout my workshops on robotics at workshop.iroboticist.com]
Re: Ask HN: Education is broken, how do you fix it?
#3The high school I taught at for several years was working to lessen the usage of textbooks and primarily work with literature and primary source materials. In the history department, we delivered facts using lectures or a textbook reading. Basically, the idea was to give the students enough facts that they could then interpret and critically think about literature and the primary source materials.
My testing was mainly essay based as it gave me the best view of whether or not the students actually understood the material. It also gave them the opportunity to learn how to better communicate what they knew, as opposed to only what a teacher was asking. For instance, students might completely know the circumstances and events surrounding the War of 1812, but forget things like the names of forts or specific battles or dates. That student could perform poorly on a multiple choice exam, but do tremendously well on an essay test.
Scantron test = easy as hell to grade. Essay test = you actually have to know what you're teaching.
I also believe that teacher credentialing has backfired. Credentialing programs are basically made up of $10,000 of busywork and make it so anyone that can put up with doing busywork can get through (exceptions exist). If I were in charge, I would have some sort of apprenticeship system where new teachers learned from the best teachers.
End note: it is also kind of silly that you need a college degree and a credential to teach elementary school. Shouldn't everyone be proficient enough at elementary school concepts when they graduate high school that they could then teach the basics to others?
Re: Ask HN: Education is broken, how do you fix it?
#4how about involving actual companies to come in and let them interact with the students? For example, the marketing department of an FMCG company could ask students to prepare a marketing campaign when students take up a marketing course.
Re: Ask HN: Education is broken, how do you fix it?
#5> how would you go about implementing this in a real life class format?
Allow experienced professional educators to shape education policy.
Re: Ask HN: Education is broken, how do you fix it?
#6> how would you go about implementing this in a real life class format? Allow experienced professional educators to shape education policy.
How would you implement this? Would you eleminate all elected officials from education policy, such as local boards of education? Who would determine what qualifies as an "expereinced, proffessional educator"?
Re: Ask HN: Education is broken, how do you fix it?
#7how about involving actual companies to come in and let them interact with the students? For example, the marketing department of an FMCG company could ask students to prepare a marketing campaign when students take up a marketing course.
this should be accompanied with the government providing tax benefits to the organization that indulge in this initiative, which would not only help in advertising and marketing, but will also catch the eye of organisations for their own benefit.
Re: Ask HN: Education is broken, how do you fix it?
#8speaking for myself as a learner, the only things I've learned to a very high level (foreign languages, computer science, maths, etc ) have all been things that I've had an immense amount of self interest in and have dedicated tons of time to. In the us educational system I think one of main problems is that you take a lot of subjects you don't need and another is that most subjects are not presented in a problem solving approach manner.
It might just be my opinion, but I don't think sociology, anthropology, or even anatomy have any reason for being on a high school curriculum. It seems much more important to me to give students in this age group a really solid understanding of core areas: math, physics, literature / writing (i.e. the analytical thought and expressive process), and foreign languages (for today's world I'd also add computer science). If you know and comprehensively understand the above areas there's nothing stopping a high school student from majoring in any field imaginable.
As far as the second area is concerned I think this just has to do with less busy work and more active thought and problem solving engagement. For instance, force students to come up with their own formulas for finding the area of a square BEFORE you show them the formula and steps for sovling the equations. I think this helps engrain knowledge and internalize it, also this is how everything in the real world works anyway, and prepares students for their future career choices.
Those are just some of my thoughts...
Re: Ask HN: Education is broken, how do you fix it?
#9speaking for myself as a learner, the only things I've learned to a very high level (foreign languages, computer science, maths, etc ) have all been things that I've had an immense amount of self interest in and have dedicated tons of time to. In the us educational system I think one of main problems is that you take a lot of subjects you don't need and another is that most subjects are not presented in a problem sol…
Your comments makes me wonder if educators are too focused on having students memorize specific information they deem necessary as opposed to being obsessed about equipping students with the necessary skills to learn anything.
School can also be incredibly boring for students with interests outside the narrow scope of the specified curriculum. I found that many students that 'didn't like history', just hadn't found a topic they could really sink their teeth into. Once they did -let's say food in a particular time period- we could then build off that interest to learn about that time period as a whole (politics, society, wars, economics etc...)
Re: Ask HN: Education is broken, how do you fix it?
#10Hey man! Nice question. Our current system of education was designed for 19th century industrialism, yet today we’re preparing our kids for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technology that hasn’t been invented, to solve problems we can’t yet imagine.
We need to gear learning towards the 21st Century Set of Literacies: how well we can find information, validate it, synthesize it, leverage it, communicate it, collaborate with it and problem solve with it. And we need to be developing self-driven learners who are confident thinkers, socially mature, engaged in their communities, resilient in the face of life's challenges and adaptable to change.
How does this play out in the classroom? With a greater focus on critical reflection, teachers need to be Socratic and philosophic in their outlook. Teachers need to act as vital facilitators and motivators, reflecting the move towards a focus on self-directed learning. And they need to be highly trained in emotional intelligence, reflecting a greater focus on behavioural and non-cognitive skills.
I've written an essay about this on my personal blog if you're keen (thecreativefiles.com)