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How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

wired.com

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Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#31

Post by comrade_ogilvy »

rst wrote: post #10

Interesting how the public school "reform" movement in the US cuts hard against this sort of experimentation --- in particular, by mandating curricula, and evaluating students and schools by performance on cookie-cutter tests that make no room for individual interests or variation.

Not really. That is not intrinsic to the reform movement. That is the educational system responding to political pressure. The reformers have to play the game by the rules as they exist in the moment. If the standardized cookie cutter test results become the coin of the realm, then every kind change will be justified by test results, whether the proponents think that is a useful idea or not.

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#32

Post by teach »

riggins wrote: post #21

I always find it a little sad to reflect on education because I think we can unleash a generation of geniuses. I don't think it even takes a radical teaching method. I think it takes a radical reordering of priorities. Instead of glorifying athletes and closet organizers famous for making sex tapes ... we need to glorify education, hard work, and resourcefulness. And parents need to reinforce the message by rewarding…

Changing public education in America will be hard. But changing the culture would be even harder.

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#33

Post by cafard »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #8

Aaawww nuts. Yes, education could be vastly improved, but you know what, my sons school is vastly improved over what I had. Since 1913 when IQ tests started being nationally or internationally graded, the IQ median has been kept at 100. But without that smoothing the median level of 1913 would be 77 or so today, and the median today would be in the 130s We have got smarter, or perhaps we have had mental tools passed…

Or perhaps we've all just had more and more training in filling in the circles on multiple-choice tests.

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#34

Post by samatman »

pinaceae wrote: post #20

let's have some dissenting opinion here. not all kids are equal. not all kids want to learn. in each and every discussion over this topic people bring up quotes by very smart people, like kubrick, sagan, etc. on how organised learning is not needed, a young mind wants to learn, grows like a flower, all by itself, even better without the shackles of structured education. i call bullshit. this is biased through the peo…

Perhaps a tangent, but Waldorf education is the polar opposite of an open school system. It does emphasize the whole human, giving a lot of time to various arts, but the program is curriculum oriented and teacher driven. It's also quite rigorous; having formed the basis of my education, transferring into public high school was a shock.

It's also closely connected to an odd but harmless religious sect, which is a tangent on a tangent.

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#35

Post by Florin_Andrei »

pinaceae wrote: post #20

let's have some dissenting opinion here. not all kids are equal. not all kids want to learn. in each and every discussion over this topic people bring up quotes by very smart people, like kubrick, sagan, etc. on how organised learning is not needed, a young mind wants to learn, grows like a flower, all by itself, even better without the shackles of structured education. i call bullshit. this is biased through the peo…

Frankly, I hope none of the education-related ideas coming out of high tech hubs such as the Silicon Valley, come true. Nothing wrong with the fine individuals living and working here, but we are not the most gifted ones when it comes to figuring out how human beings function.

We are great at figuring out systems. Hardware. Computers. Robots. Networks thereof.

But self-aware nature-made wetware... please, just step away from that stuff. You're only making a mess.

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#36

Post by aantix »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #35
pinaceae wrote: post #20

let's have some dissenting opinion here. not all kids are equal. not all kids want to learn. in each and every discussion over this topic people bring up quotes by very smart people, like kubrick, sagan, etc. on how organised learning is not needed, a young mind wants to learn, grows like a flower, all by itself, even better without the shackles of structured education. i call bullshit. this is biased through the peo…

Frankly, I hope none of the education-related ideas coming out of high tech hubs such as the Silicon Valley, come true. Nothing wrong with the fine individuals living and working here, but we are not the most gifted ones when it comes to figuring out how human beings function. We are great at figuring out systems . Hardware. Computers. Robots. Networks thereof. But self-aware nature-made wetware... please, just step…

So not one individual in the entire Valley has a good idea for education? Not a single one?

Ugh, these gross generalizations get tiring..

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#37

Post by ams6110 »

writtles wrote: post #24
pinaceae wrote: post #20

let's have some dissenting opinion here. not all kids are equal. not all kids want to learn. in each and every discussion over this topic people bring up quotes by very smart people, like kubrick, sagan, etc. on how organised learning is not needed, a young mind wants to learn, grows like a flower, all by itself, even better without the shackles of structured education. i call bullshit. this is biased through the peo…

Also, socioeconomic status is key here. i.e. If no one in your life values education then incentive to learn is greatly diminished no matter how intelligent you are.

In my view this is almost entirely the issue. Yes there are always exceptional cases where a kid from a terrible background turns out to be a genius self-motivated learner, but for the most part, if a kid has both parents in and out of jail, bouncing from foster home to foster home, poor nutrition, always living in "survival" mode, he's not going to do well in school. All the curriculum theory and standardized testing in the world will never help that kid, and really neither will anything else. Irresponsible parenting is really the root of almost all the problems we have with education, and that problem is outside the scope of what educators can solve.

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#38

Post by martindale »

pinaceae wrote: post #20

let's have some dissenting opinion here. not all kids are equal. not all kids want to learn. in each and every discussion over this topic people bring up quotes by very smart people, like kubrick, sagan, etc. on how organised learning is not needed, a young mind wants to learn, grows like a flower, all by itself, even better without the shackles of structured education. i call bullshit. this is biased through the peo…

The single most important thing we can teach is the value of knowledge. The availability of information will continue to grow, the diversity of teaching methods will continue to expand, and the sociopolitical landscapes will continue to change; by teaching how important knowledge is, we can inspire everyone to take advantage of the resources that are increasingly available, and tailored, to the individual.

Attempting to maximize the area with a y value on the bell curve because we fail to utilize existing resources effectively [1] does not support a dissent with the forward progress—the increasing diversity of—education. You're right, not all kids are equal—and that's exactly why we need to open-source education.

[1]: http://coursefork.org/martindale/open-freedom-and-education/...

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#39

Post by 3minus1 »

ef4 wrote: post #30
pinaceae wrote: post #20

let's have some dissenting opinion here. not all kids are equal. not all kids want to learn. in each and every discussion over this topic people bring up quotes by very smart people, like kubrick, sagan, etc. on how organised learning is not needed, a young mind wants to learn, grows like a flower, all by itself, even better without the shackles of structured education. i call bullshit. this is biased through the peo…

Ah, but how can you possibly know whether the average person is innately stupid and incurious or whether school makes them that way? Anyone who spends time with small children knows that before they reach school age, they are all absurdly curious about the world, and they absorb information like a sponge. I suppose you think it's just a coincidence that they lose that curiosity right around the time they start being…

> I suppose you think it's just a coincidence that they lose that curiosity right around the time they start being stuffed into classrooms.

I mean come on. Yeah, little kids are curious, but do you really think that curiosity will translate to the amount of sustained concentration it takes to learn a complex subject like algebra.

I'm currently taking a computer science class and any time I don't feel like studying but do it anyway, I make a mental note that I would not have done that work if it weren't for the class. And it's one good reason why formal education beats autodidacticism, at least for me.

Re: How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

#40

Post by evunveot »

Unsurprisingly, the headline's "new" teaching method isn't particularly new (as the timeline sidebar in the article itself makes somewhat apparent). For example, the Sudbury Valley School [1] has been around since 1968 and is even more "radical". No grades, no curriculum, no classes, no separation by age. The governance of the school is democratic, with all decisions -- including those regarding budget and staff -- decided by a body called the School Meeting which is composed of the staff and the students together, with one vote per person.

The Sudbury School of Atlanta has an interesting blog post [2] describing how the students can naturally pick up basic skills through participating in the management of the school, in this case by choosing and acquiring a school pet.

This Wired article is more about the undirected aspect, but the compelling thing to me about adding the democratic element (the oldest running example is the Summerhill School [3], established in 1921) is that the decisions being made affect the student, so the student has a motive to participate and learns as a by-product. Thus there's a hope that children in general could benefit, not only those children who are particularly "self-directed learners".

Additionally, the things they're learning (reading, writing and arithmetic, but also teamwork, negotiation and leadership) are directly beneficial in society -- because the school itself is a microcosm of society.

It may not be a model that produces "geniuses", but it does seem like a good model for producing adults/citizens. (I have no personal experience with alternative schooling.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudbury_Valley_School

[2] http://sudburyschoolofatlanta.blogspot.com/2012/11/sudbury-a...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summerhill_School

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