I feel the video put into words what a lot of us are thinking. We are living in a much different time compared to when public education was created.
I liked his discussion on the power of imagination. It makes me think about my own children and how they can be so creative and imaginative. Then I think about how much imagination actually happens during the school day and it is much less. I feel like I try to allow for as much as possible but it seems like many times it is not possible. I already notice students in first grade who are afraid to do what they want on a project. They continually ask if what they are doing is okay and often say they can't do it. It's sad that by the age of 6 and 7 a lot of that creativity and imagination is gone. They often also want adults to do the work for them. I have to be very firm sometimes with them that I will help them but I will not do it for them.
His point about the hierarchy of curriculum also stuck out to me. We do focus so much on math, science and language arts. For the students who struggle they often miss the science lessons because of being in a small group during this time. This might be when they would excel the most. I know for our building we do our best to never pull them from PE, music, art, library or guidance but most of these are only once a week. We try to incorporate these areas into a lot of our other subjects but it just doesn't seem the same.
My concerns are that a lot of people agree with what he said but figuring out a solution is where we get stuck. I'm sure there are some places out there really trying to change education and I'm excited to learn about them but for our country as a whole it seems as though it will be a very slow process.
I am hopeful though that through this program and the projects that are being started, changes will be made in many different ways. We are leaders and we will need to have the courage to talk about how to do things differently so that we can help create a better future for public education.
