You’re much deeper thinker than poor old me, but what are the underlying assumptions about people in general that would support the type or reform you are discussing?

In my observations there is a 85/15 rule. 15% of the population will take the responsibility to get involved to the point you’re talking about. The other 85% will have to be constantly pushed, cajoled or otherwise motivated. 85% of the population doesn’t want to think about or deal withe the effort required to make the kind of change you’re describing. So how do you move such a dramatic change to the education system forward?

One other aspect of your discussion makes me uncomfortable and maybe I just don’t understand your perspective. “Cultural learning would be homogenized”? I’m not sure I would want that. So I will need to hear more.

You also describe some behavioral issues in with the educational discussion. Are you saying changing the educational method is required to affect change in young adults so that they understand and accept responsibility for raising their children? My experience is a little different. I see the youngest parents accepting and showing more responsibility in raising their children properly from a behavioral and cultural perspective. It may be a regional thing as I have spent considerable time in the south and mid-west and see a more conservative social norm than is exhibited in the northeast or the the west coast or is reported since the mainstream media is dominated from those two regions.

Anyway its an interesting discussion even though I’m not as eloquent as yourself or Dan.

In particular, I appreciate O’Rourke’s observation that public education provided a crucial transition path out of the chaotic mix of cultures and education that we as a nation began with. But that is not the challenge of education now, nor is it the method best tuned to the lifestyles present and the technology available. I smiled at his reference to hiring Aritstotle, as I often use this image of a gathering of students around a sage, wise, loving mentor under trees on a mountainside, in a public library, or in a corporate data center when trying to help people see what I see for education of the future. Note that such a model of education is a free market, performance-driven model capable of being fine-tuned to the learning styles and needs of of the pupils, as well as the expertise of the teacher.

The implications of your statement, “… desirable for each citizen to be an active part of the education system” bear some discussion. It’s easy to think that what you are saying is akin to parent involvement in schools, as simple as chaperoning a field trip, or as intensive as committing 2 hours in the classroom per week. But that is not what I hear when I read that, and I suspect you do not either. I am not fully convinced of this, but very close to believing that public education is not a right. It’s a personal obligation. The access to tools (public broadband), societal understanding and support, and buy-in of companies of all sizes would have to happen first, but the perception of education as a public right somehow guaranteed by the Constitution is what leads repeatedly back to all the ills of the current system. How can a government at any level stand behind a system that is 400 million unique educational objectives, all on different time schedules, all with different standards for comprehension and completion? Or fund such a system if the sources of information and training (i.e. the end point of the money trail) are distributed throughout the globe?

The benefits of the new system—whatever it becomes—will be measured not in academic criteria, but in peace, self fulfillment, understanding, collaboration, and plurality. These are the criteria of global citizens, the only true end point of any education system. Do you agree?

http://weeklystandard.com/articles/end-them-don‘t-mend-them

The outline which P.J. proposes would allow for the type of outcome which I have briefly described, at a cost less than or equal to what we spend now, and with a reward to the teachers in excess of what is currently paid for teaching.

Lucinda, many thanks for your comments and the referral to Reggio Emilia—the second time someone has recommended it to me in two weeks. The concept of families and communities learning together throughout their lives is central to the All New Public Education concept, so it sounds like I need to come up to speed on RE to learn the lessons of their experience. Thanks also for the reference to Project Zero, another program I am unfamiliar with.

Regarding Sir Ken’s call for revolution, I wonder how he sees it happening. My attempts to call the President’s attention to the role he can play in convening a global task force to decide a strategy and implementation plan were graciously acknowledged with a form letter. With as many pressing urgent matters as face the government today, it will take a group with considerable aggregate stature to gain the attention that this issue merits. I would hope that we could leverage Sir Ken’s reputation to bring together the many experts and notables who see the current system as fundamentally flawed. Could we see the revolution in our lifetimes? Anything is possible, but I have always considered this my 150-year project. “Learning communities,” as you so accurately term them, enabled by technology, will cross borders, engendering respect and understanding to a degree humans have always aspired to but never known, and raise the level of compassion and interpersonal connection among individuals dispersed throughout the world on a scale we can barely imagine. While I suspect geopolitical and socio-economic distinctions will rapidly diminish as factors in predicting access to knowledge, this so flies in the face of nationalism and evolution as we know it that the speed of change will undoubtedly alarm those in positions of power who depend on those distinctions. Attrition is a slow process, so I’m not convinced all this will happen while you and I are around to witness it. For the sake of our grand children, I push onward from the faith that rebuilding public education from scratch is going to happen.

Spread the word, Lucinda!

I just did a presentation for Lesley Univ. in which I speak about how capable and intelligent the human child is. I , too, believe we need to transition our culture, or educate our society on the reality of a child’s ability to learn far before he/she ever enters school, to look closely at how children learn, what is learning? How do you know when you’ve learned something?? How do you know when your students have learned?

The work from Reggio Emilia begins with young children and families.
It is NOT a deficit model, which is where our schools begin.
RE begins with the child and the child’s interests.
I believe a good education is also a social experience. Coming together in learning communities is tremendously important. When we share our thinking, listen to other’s ideas, reflect and reframe our thinking, ask more questions… we learn.
You might also be interested of the work that comes from Harvard’s Project Zero, Making Learning Visible.

I like the idea of a revolution, as Ken Robinson talks about.
I am so anxious for a change and to see a difference in my lifetime!

So let’s keep thinking on this. Bounce it off of your friends, asking them to picture public education as they would create it if they were tasked to come up with something totally new. Let us know what you hear.