My crystal ball predicts the future of education

This morning, I looked at my crystal ball to see the future of education and what's to come in 2014 and on to the end of the decade. Here's a quick run down of what I saw:

The school 'monopoly' on education is crumbling and will continue to loose ground.
Education will be democratized—the internet has taken care of that.

It's all about my education. What do I want to learn? Students will demand more freedom in learning. Students are already working for more self-determined learning opportunities.
The power of educators is being transferred to the learner: Learners in control. Education will become more personalized. You can see this already with the cropping up of learning studios, centres, informal groups, informal arrangements for skills-building, training and general learning etc

People are looking for more creativity, more uniqueness, more opportunities for expression and DIY is all the rage. In the future it will be all about your skills and you ability to meet the needs of the community you serve.
 We will see 'passion-driven' learning result in heightened mastery and specialization; thriving, vibrant communities of knowledge holders, contributing towards stronger communities.


The role of teachers? Alvin Toffler says it best in an interview for Edutopia:

I think (and this is not going to sit very well with the union) that maybe teaching shouldn't be a lifetime career. Maybe it's important for teachers to quit for three or four years and go do something else and come back. They'll come back with better ideas. They'll come back with ideas about how the outside world works, in ways that would not have been available to them if they were in the classroom the whole time.

So, let's sit down as a culture, as a society, and say, "Teachers, parents, people outside, how do we completely rethink this? We're going to create a new system from ground zero, and what new ideas have you got?" And collect those new ideas. That would be a very healthy thing for the country to do.

What do you predict for the future of education?

Skin Color: The Shame of Silence. Book Review.

Skin color matters.
If you think that in today's society, skin color is no longer an issue, you are probably still being white.

 History matters! At a conference for Christian groups to learn from Indigenous people about moving towards reconciliation and justice, one of the participants—a reverend of a church—later said to me, "I expected to be inspired! I expected to learn something new, something I hadn't heard before. Instead I was made to feel guilty and uncomfortable."
"If it has to be said over and over again, maybe that’s because people like you have yet to take responsibility for your inherited white skin privilege," I wanted to say. "Did you think you would come here not be challenged?" I replied instead.
The poor man was expecting great things of others and very little of himself!

This is an example of why we are nowhere near a just society for all.  It is why we need books such as Skin color: The shame of silence by Conrad P. Pritscher.
White people need white awareness education by white people.White people need to acknowledge their white skin privilege. White people need to be challenged and they need to challenge the deeply ingrained, deeply harmful belief of white supremacy that is ingrained in our culture.
This book helps white people talk to white people about white racism, “since people of color have been talking about these racial matters until they are “blue” in the face and it does not seem to make a dent in the institutionalized racism (white racism) that continues to exist in our society.”(23)

Pritscher defines himself as a recovering racist—‘recovering racist' implying that "although European Americans are often born and acculturated into a racist society, in a position of power and greater wealth because of their ancestry, they can recover from this societally inherited disease if they choose to by actively fighting the racism in themselves, as well as in the larger, institutionally racist society.

Education
Not until we have higher levels of white awareness (by whites) will we have a noticeable reduction in racism.  Education is at the heart of how we can reduce racism and Pritscher’s writing is an offering of how to do so—in and out of school.
So before you protest loudly, “I’m white but I‘m not racist. I don’t need this book,’
I invite you to pause for a moment. If you are living your life blind to your white privilege, you are part of the problem.
Pritscher argues that if as an educator, you are not actively addressing issues of racism, then you are likely perpetuating racism: “If you are actively permitting the status quo, you are permitting racism period. The responsibility is yours to work towards racial justice.” (36).

It does not surprise me when Pritscher postulates that the demand for certainty in our society—to exist in comforting constraints—breeds and upholds attitudes of rigidity and inflexibility of mind.
He argues that currently, schooling provides conditions for the continuation of racism. He points out the connections that have been made between rigid thinking, (“closedness’), conformity and desire for predictability to heightened degrees of racism. He emphasizes that there is a strong link between "dogged and excessive obedience to authority" (which schools often cultivate) and a tendency towards racism.
  “Should we ask what kind of schooling promotes people who are prone to fear and aggression, are resistant to change, and are intolerant of ambiguity?  What continues to foster such high needs to obey authority and to be certain?” Conrad asks (18).

Pritscher explores the pitfalls of traditional schooling (including college and universities), and the idea that it tends to control students minds to the point where students often seek additional control, conforming to the dictations of the 1%.

High Quality Education

Education is not enough. What is required now is a fundamental shifting of how we educate; a high quality education described by Pritscher as comprising of self-direction, “which is thought to help people be more tolerant of ambiguity, be more open to change.”
Quality learners will be less prone to fear and aggression, which is after all the root of racism.
Pritscher explains, “Self-directed education (quality learning rather than ‘training’) fosters freedom and in turn, racism reduction. To self direct your learning is to be open to the unexpected, the surprise and the habitual chaos. It is to be unafraid of ambiguity, uncertainty but nurtures the believe in oneself, not external authority and in turn less suspicion of others.”

Other examples of what white people can do to unlearn racist ways include ‘living room sessions,’—inviting friends and families to share discussions on oppression, contacting school boards, school superintendents, teachers, city council members, and others in positions of power, with phone calls, letters to the editor, e-mails etc. and expressing the view that “we now, as whites, need to be a traitor to whiteness if we are to be loyal to humanity.”

Pritscher covers the roots of white privilege and the contribution of our 'image and idea makers' (experts and researchers in the fields of social sciences, psychiatry, medicine, education) towards perpetuating oppression, when they tell us what is normal, abnormal, deviant) “These images and ideas are used to label, divide and oppress people, often in ways that are difficult to detect.”

But: “There's no one natural category for anything, yet the mostly white value system generally holds that there is.  We too often believe that there is an essential nature of man.  Once this nature is discovered through science, it is used to determine value.  One of these implicit white values was, and continues to be for some whites, that whites are better than African-Americans and other people of color. (38).

Pritscher very kindly takes in to consideration your white feelings:
“This does not mean white people are bad.  It means the way we have taught our young has not changed in over a century.  We, our parents, and grandparents often unconsciously hold that which prevents us from noticeably reducing racism.”(21).

In conclusion, speaking as a person of colour, white people need to take their hurt feelings out of the picture (“Oh I feel so awkward—“me, me this is all about me and my feelings”). They need to stop undermining the experiences of people of colour, ("Some of the nuns are hurt by all this talk about how bad the residential schools. It wasn’t all evil.”). They need to be willing to do this work so that we can have a just society for all people.

With Pritscher, “white people can no longer in good conscience, avoid  dealing with the bigotry and racism that is ingrained in white communities. It is white people’s responsibility to educate themselves on these issues.”

8 obsolete ideas in education.

I bet you can think of a tonne more but here are my eight, unhelpful ideas in education. Thanks be, these beliefs are starting to fall by the wayside.

1. The idea that the earlier you 'teach' kids skills like reading, the smarter they will become.

This is not true at all. If a kid shows interest in learning how to read, for instance or doing math then by all means, don't stop them. (My 3 year old nephew is keen to do addition and is always asking about numbers and what they add up to. My own daughter taught herself how to read at 4, after showing a natural inclination towards letters). But to believe that hammering their heads full with your agenda to get them 'smart' is likely to have the opposite effect--and worse, it might even cause undue stress and lack of self-confidence in children whose work is after all, to play.

2. Learning that is dolled out in bite sizes.

This is a pet peeve. If you think about the way you approach something you are keen on, it is with a wholeheartedness that doesn't stop just because the clock says it's 10.30. That interest is alive within you--you reflect a lot on  it, you see connections and synergies evolving because you are primed to learn more about it; your radar is up and at the ready. When a kid is learning naturally, you will notice much the same: they want to learn in gulps!

3. Constantly interrupting the learning process.
We all do it. We especially interrupt ourselves! But when children are in the midst of exploring, examining, playing, we would do well to try to avoid worrying the process. Just watch a little kids' face when they are concentrating--it's a joy to behold.

Urggh.

4. Learning has to be evident and measurable--by a certain standard. Our standard.

Hence homework and testing because if you can't prove it, you don't know it.

5. Learning anything without context.
Without real life, tangible context, how can education be meaningful?

6. Well roundedness.
The danger is that you are likely to end up with mediocrity in everything and mastery in nothing.

7. The school day.
The school day, we all know is based around the 9 to 5 schedule but as work evolves and changes, school will have to keep up as well.

8. The school itself. The classroom setting. The bell ringing.
Break it open, let the family and the community be part of educating our children.

Let's hear it from our readers now!

Unschoolers go to school:The easier way?

I remember when one of my daughters wanted to go to school. She said, "I don't like homeschooling. It's weird. I want to go to school." That was in grade 6. She is now in grade 11 at high school. She has long since been disillusioned with public school. She tires of the day to day routine, the lack of stimulating material. She is bored by the tediousness of homework, quizzes, tests, more tests.  She now appreciates the unschooling mindset and is amused by the dogged insistence of her peers that without a high school diploma, you can't get anywhere in life ("How else will you get a job?"). Where before, she wanted nothing to do with homeschoolers and unschoolers–trying her best to distance herself from that embarrassing part of her history–now she celebrates the open-mindedness that unschooling fostered in her.

However, she stays on in school.
Why does she stay on? She knows she could drop-out or 'rise-up' if you like, at a moment's notice. But no, she languishes on.

It is because of the ease of schooling; the sheer convenience of it.
You go in. Someone else fills your day for you.  Everything is set up so that you don't need to think to deeply about it. If it is not to your liking, well then, you can complain and point fingers and accuse someone else for why that is so–let someone else take the blame for why things aren't working for you.  It's not your fault after all, it's the system's fault. You don't have to take responsibility. In fact, you are discouraged to do so!

At school, the path is direct. Do A and then B and you should get C. It's a formula that many people buy into and those who know better still delude themselves with.
My daughter says she would quit school IF she had something solid (by this she means if she had acting gigs lined up at the ready) so that she wouldn't distract herself by hanging out online all day and wasting her time. IF there was a structure to the day. IF there was a plan.

I don't knock it: having structure is important. Setting goals is necessary. But why does someone have to stand over you to ensure that you actually do it? Why does some outside authority have to monitor you, prod you, 'make you do it?' To me, that sounds awfully a lot like slave mentality. Do it yourself!
But free will seems lacking. Again, I'm not knocking it. People have to do what they have to do in order to get motivated.
Most people don't believe that they can propel themselves without being forced to. But is that due to a lack of self trust? I don't know.  Do you?

Is it time to reclaim the word 'education'?

Ivan Illich defined education as “learning under the assumption of scarcity.”
In Natural Born Learners, Writer, Aaron Falbel explains Illich’s thinking further:

The very idea education conveys to people is that valuable learning is scarce in society. Valuable learning, in this way of thinking, is not something that happens readily. On the contrary, special arrangements must be made to impart it. If we just left it up to chance or up to the personal initiative of the learner, most people would not learn those things due to their scarcity. Education is an institutional, deliberate, arrangement whereby scarce knowledge is held. 

Falbel continues:

llich says we have evolved into a subspecies called Homo Educandus, which means the human being born in need of education, in need of educational treatment. This is a fundamental belief of most people today: Just like we have a need for food and shelter, we have a need for education, and if we don’t acquire it we are deeply deprived, stigmatized, and disadvantaged.

Here’s what John Holt said about education in 1976:

It’s not a word I personally use. . . . The word “education” is a word much used, and different people mean different things by it. But on the whole, it seems to me what most people mean by “education” has got some ideas built into it or contains certain assumptions, and one of them is that learning is an activity which is separate from the rest of life and done best of all when we are not doing anything else, and best of all where nothing else is done—learning places, places especially constructed for learning. Another assumption is that education is a designed process, in which some people do things to other people or get other people to do things which will presumably be for their own good.  Education means that some A is doing something to somebody else B. (as cited in Hern, Deschooling Society. 2008, p. 61)

Still, when Ivan Illich talked about “the stench of education” permeating all areas of society (as it has now done so), and Holt promoted ‘instead of education,’ both men recognized their own privilege—that of having used their ‘education’ in order to examine the ills of institutionalized education. 'Unschooling,' a term that Holt came up with and 'deschooling,' Illich's word, were words that sought to do something about this stench that is corrupting our understanding of the natural, human impulse to learn.
Now, I’m starting to smell the ‘stench of unschooling.'  I ask myself, has unschooling become as narrow in definition, self-limiting, pretentious and exclusionary as ‘education’ has?

On a private unschooling facebook page where people share advice and support, I was told that my use of the word ‘educate’ was inappropriate: it is not an “unschooly" word (I was also told that my topic, ‘climate change’ was inappropriate for the group). I was silenced and my post removed.

I have since had time to think about this. To be in a position to unschool is to be in a position of privilege.  It usually means that you have experienced 'education/ing' and refused it. Unschoolers have been able to pick apart the understanding of education—that 'education' as we know it, is more about being taught than about learning. We recognize that conventional thinking continues to defer education to professionalism and authority that is outside of oneself.

Education: Not a dirty word.
But doing a basic google search, I learn that ‘education' is known to have several root words. It is popularly known to be derived from the Latin root 'educo' meaning to 'educe'- to draw out.
 It also has root words, 'educare' and 'educere'. 'to "educare" which means to  'rear or to bring up' and it refers to child rearing, whereas, 'educere' which is derived from two roots 'e' and 'ducere' means to 'draw out from within' or to 'lead forth'.
"To draw forth from within" Upbringing rather than instruction, "to develop from within.”
This definition, I can live with. It conveys a process of growing in knowledge and understanding-starting from what is already there. Also, it involves growing of character, personality--not just in skill and knowledge.

Yes, the concept of education has been deeply sullied, but it might be time for all those interested in pursuing and helping others to pursue 'knowledge and mastery' to reclaim this word as ours.

When it comes to 'learning,'Aaron Falbel compares learning with education:
In Natural Born Learners he builds on Ivan Ilich’s work saying about education:

Learning, on the other hand, is a natural process—a biological process really, similar to breathing: we do it all the time. From the moment they are born, babies are already learning. They are good at learning, their learning does not need to be developed or improved or enhanced in any way. The notion that people need to be taught how to learn or need to go to school in order to learn how to learn—phrases we hear all the time—is preposterous and deeply insulting to babies who are prodigious learners. I don’t use the word “learning” very much, because I think we get into trouble when we make such an issue out of learning, particularly when we try to control it or direct it. Why do we need to make such a fuss out of something we all do naturally?

But 'learning' is the process while 'education' is what emerges out of the process. Education is ever-evolving, and is a direct result of learning.

I turn it over to you! What are your thoughts? Do you like the word 'education?' Is it useful?

Diverting Learning

My three year old nephew goes to afternoon 'school.' I asked him one day how he was liking it.
"I like it but my friends interrupt me when I'm doing something," he frowned. "They keep interrupting me."
His sulky comment is the crux of the problem of how we divert learning from happening. We place kids in situations where they are unable to carry out their thought processes to the higher levels.
At school, we move children from subject to subject so that they have no time to sink their teeth into material they might, given peace and quiet, gain meaning from.

But it is not only at school that learning is diverted. We all do it. Our kid is in the middle of figuring out a tune on the piano, or noticing details about the way a tool is put together, or observing tadpoles wiggling about amongst the lily pads--and we are in a hurry to refocus him on what we think needs to get done. We demand that he leaves what is interesting to him at the moment and heed our perspective and enter into our concerns (which are vastly more important of course).

We do it to others, and we do it to ourselves. We are constantly being interrupted, or interrupting ourselves be in by social media distractions, multi-tasking, our families etc.
I have to admit that the week at home when our family had no phone and internet connection was  a very restful week where I was actually able to read an entire novel, go to bed earlier and actually gather my thoughts together!

Personally, I feel increasingly like less and less of what I do is done with my complete attention. I feel divided by multiple duties and expectations (my own, or those of others).

So for the next few days, I plan to make an effort to stop interrupting myself by checking Facebook, emails etc.  I plan to spend time working on stilling my chattering mind. I plan to talk less and listen and watch more. I plan to not be so available to the world.

What about you? How have you been diverting learning from happening and how are you changing that?

Determining the proper questions to ask.

You get to the solution by asking the right questions.

Einstein said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”
Do we spend time determining the proper questions to ask? Hardly. We tend to stick to the familiar path. We ask questions that reflect our personal convictions—our personal world view. Our believes.
And the answers we come up bring no revelation; they can not surprise us, they are predictable.

In life, we rush to get to the correct answer. We feel compelled to come up with solutions lest we are found wanting. School is a training ground for this attitude, where we are expected to deliver answers efficiently and thoughtlessly, in the time we are allocated to do so.

We don't teach kids to ask the difficult questions. When it comes to children, it goes easier for us if they ask the questions we have neatly packaged answers for.
But if we could begin to think of inquiry as a process and not an end product what a world of possibilities that would open up.
We want change? Then we need to take it outside of our comfort zone.
In her book, ‘The Art of the Question’ Marilee Goldberg said, ‘A paradigm shift occurs when a question is asked inside the current paradigm that can only be answered from outside it.'
And American author and polymath, Robert Anton Wilson, "Every kind of ignorance in the world all results from not realizing that our perceptions are gambles. We believe what we see and then we believe our interpretation of it, we don't even know we are making an interpretation most of the time. We think this is reality."
There are many realities: we have exhausted nothing.

Here's a really handy resource by Vogt, E., Brown, J. and Isaacs, called The Art of Powerful Questions: Catalyzing Insight, Innovation and Action. It will get you thinking about what a powerful question look like—such as it:

• generates curiosity in the listener
• stimulates reflective conversation
• is thought-provoking
• surfaces underlying assumptions
• invites creativity and new possibilities
• generates energy and forward movement
• channels attention and focuses inquiry
• stays with participants
• touches a deep meaning
• evokes more questions