The 3 Idiots of the Education System

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sudhakar_Ram]Sudhakar Ram

"I am beginning to suspect all elaborate and special systems of education. They seem to me to be built up on the supposition that every child is a kind of idiot who must be taught to think". ~ Anne Sullivan.

I was conducting a Discover Your True Calling workshop at IIM, Indore last week. I had the afternoon free and decided to see the much acclaimed, high-grossing Bollywood movie - "3 Idiots". I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, largely because it is a complete indictment of our education system. The message was strikingly similar to the theme of my workshop.

The film is about three students who do not really fit into the prestigious engineering college and are considered idiots by their professor. However, the movie clearly shows who the three real idiots are - the educational system, the teachers and the parents. Reflecting on the movie on the flight back to Mumbai, I realized that any real change in education is possible only by transforming these three constituencies.

Idiot #1 - The Education System:

Our current system is performance-oriented rather than mastery-oriented. The emphasis on examinations forces students to learn by rote. They focus on scoring high marks rather than investing the time and energy to understand the subject in depth. A system where true geniuses like Einstein and Ramanujan are considered poor students really needs its head examined. In the movie, this is brilliantly brought out by Aamir Khan playing Rancho - the truly outstanding engineer who goes beyond the book to gain mastery.

Idiot #2 - The Teachers:

Our current system of pedagogy is faculty-led and follows a fixed curriculum. The average teacher assumes that there is one right answer and that (s)he knows the answer. It is the rare teacher who has the ability to facilitate rather than teach, to nurture rather than preach and to support students who stray from the well-trodden path in search of creative ways to learn. Boman Irani as Viru Sahastrabuddhe does a superb job of bringing to life a dogmatic, highly competitive, over-confident college professor - the antithesis of an ideal teacher in every way.

Idiot #3 - The Parents:

When India's HRD Minister Kapil Sibal suggested scrapping of the 10th grade exams, parents were the first to stand up against the proposal. Parents want their children to be at the top of their classes, get admitted to the best colleges and follow traditional career options - engineering, medicine, management and the like.

Parents rarely encourage their children to discover their true passions and pursue mastery rather than mediocrity. The movie's middle class Quereshis, who want their son to be an engineer, and the poorer Rastogis, who see education as a way out of poverty, are typical of today's Indian parents. They would probably be the toughest nut to crack.

The 21st century calls for talented people who are masters in their chosen fields of work. It calls for collaboration among passionate individuals, from different disciplines, to address the truly challenging issues and opportunities that the world presents. The current assembly-line approach to education falls severely short. We are not equipping our children to succeed in their world. The appeal of the movie is universal and obvious.

But what will it take for all three of the constituencies above, as well as the student community to rally around to a new educational order? Please share your perspectives. We need to work together to bring about transformation in this vital area of our society.

Committed to transformation on all fronts, Sudhakar Ram has written articles on transforming India, corporate governance, financial markets and governments. He believes that we have the potential to create a sustainable world and live in harmony with our environment. However, this would require a fundamental shift in our mindsets - the "constructs" that drive our attitudes and actions. [http://www.thenewconstructs.com/]The New Constructs is his initiative to leverage Connected Intelligence in realizing the Connected Age. Please share. Stay active, stay engaged.

Sudhakar Ram is Chairman and Co-Founder of [http://www.mastek.com/]Mastek a leading IT solutions company specializing in providing IT platforms and applications for large and complex transformation programs like the London Congestion Charging Scheme, and the National Health Service in the UK.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?The-3-Idiots-of-the-Education-System&id=3627067] The 3 Idiots of the Education System

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Mass Education Vs True Calling

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sudhakar_Ram]Sudhakar Ram

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be" ~ Abraham Maslow

We were having an argument, but it was one of those arguments you can have with a l friend - polite, yet spirited. My friend is a great guy who has dedicated his life to teaching reading, math and science to government school children in Tamil Nadu. He has had a positive impact on thousands of kids over the last decade. But I was putting him on the spot.

"Why are you trying to make everyone an IIT aspirant" I asked him. "Are there not other careers which may be more in line with their natural talents?"

"Yes, there are other possible careers for many kids," he conceded. "But their parents and peer groups value math and science most. They are afraid their child is dumb if he or she doesn't score good marks in these subjects. I've got to concentrate on math and science to build self-worth in the child." I was still thinking about this later that day when my wife Girija and I visited my mother. We got chatting with the housekeeper, whose 12-year-old son is in 7th grade in a nearby government school.

The housekeeper complained that her son, although standing 4th in his class, got his highest marks in English and Math, which he liked, while barely achieving pass marks in the other subjects like science, social science and Tamil. She wanted him to go to college, but the boy did not seem very interested in academics; he was more interested in working with on carpentry and other crafts.

I recalled our conversation with Panchayat President Elango about the youth in Kuthambakkam village, and how so many of their parents view education as some kind of a passport to upward mobility. And, in some cases, it is. However, many villages are having problems with youths who fail 10th grade public exams - and then think themselves too good for farm work or other manual labor but cannot get better jobs. These youth tend to hang about as wastrels, living off their parents and falling prey to any corrupting influence in the village.

I am convinced that every human being on earth is born with innate gifts and talents. With effort and guidance, everyone can discover his or her own calling - we each have our own path to excel and make a mark in this world. Unfortunately, our education system interferes with this process with its "one size fits all" approach.

Further, society and economies create their own complications, especially in India, by glorifying and rewarding certain vocations more than others. It's sad: the further one is from producing something useful to the world, the more the person earns. Thus a person who produces goods and services is worth 'x". The person who markets and creates a business out of these goods and services earns '10x'. And the person who provides the financial inputs to this venture earns '100x'!

The question we need to ask ourselves - and argue, cordially, with our friends and family - is whether this distortion of value needs to persist in the Connected Age - with its reduced asymmetry of information and opportunities. Will the New Age bring new opportunities to pursue one's true calling and make a good living by doing so, rather than having to pursue specific professions purely for the money, but with no joy?

Will our education system be able to honor the individuality and uniqueness of every one of us, and nurture it rather than lock us to the lowest common denominator under the pretext of leaving no child behind? These are questions that I'd like us to discuss, politely and rationally, as a community.

Sudhakar Ram is Chairman and Co-Founder of [http://www.mastek.com/]Mastek, a leading IT solutions company specializing in providing IT platforms and applications for large and complex transformation programs like the London Congestion Charging Scheme, and the National Health Service in the UK. He believes that we have the potential to create a sustainable world and live in harmony with our environment. However, this would require a fundamental shift in our mindsets - the "constructs" that drive our attitudes and actions. [http://www.thenewconstructs.com/]The New Constructs is an initiative to promote independence in all facets of life in our journey to create an interdependent, connected world. How are you progressing through your life? What suggestions do you have for the rest of us in our lifetime journeys? Please share. Stay active, stay engaged.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Mass-Education-Vs-True-Calling&id=3888233] Mass Education Vs True Calling

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The Future of Educational Technology and Education 3.0

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Steve_McClard]Steve McClard

Thinking of what education might look like in the next decade, one quickly realizes that the trends in technology are leaving a large number of our students behind. We no longer live in an age of visible movement when it comes to progress and innovation. Today is an age of exponential change. New and ever-improving technologies are popping up every day and in every corner of society.

Educating the best and the brightest in this brave new world will take a new and improved educational paradigm. Allowing our educational tools to age in the corner of the classroom will be the mistake that may cost us our future. Throwing away masses of children to inequitable access will ensure that we languish at the bottom of the global pool of employable workers for decades to come.

The New Toolbox

I was at an auction a few years ago and noticed a few old woodworking tools that I thought I could use. For a few bucks, I was able to snag an assortment of hand tools that may have been in someone's toolbox for a generation or more. As the next decade passed, I used these tools in my shop for a wide variety of projects until my projects outgrew these old, dull tools. My woodworking creations continued to improve as did my skills and artistry. I quickly discovered that using improved tools would translate into improved craftsmanship. As any woodworker will tell you, new tools require new skills.

Woodworking is a great metaphor for shaping and molding students. There is simply no good substitute for a sharp tool. If you want to build the best projects possible, you need to use the best tools possible. Thinking in terms of the next decade for our country, we will be sorely disappointed in our projects if we fail to improve our tools.

Over the course of the next few days, I will attempt to paint a picture of how technology will shape the way we educate students in the next decade. I will attempt to show the amazing possibilities that lay before us if we will simply walk through the doorway of opportunity that is open to us.

My main focus in this series of articles will be this idea: Transforming the student from being a passenger to becoming a "user." You may be wondering what I mean by this. Let me explain.

Ask yourself what it means to be a "user." A user is not simply a person who uses. For the student, being a user should involve using the latest technology in a free and autonomous manner. This new-found freedom will allow the student to become an active participant in his/her education instead of a passive passenger. No other time in history have we been so able to make this a reality.

In our current technological society, being a user also means being tracked. Tracking has become a major part of our daily lives and is precisely the engine that should drive our educational process for the foreseeable future. Tracking a student means having the ability to target education toward weaknesses and strengths. The ability to accurately customize curriculum to the individual has been the holy grail of educational philosophy for many years. This golden age of technological development may soon enable this dream to become a reality.

Current educational curriculum and individual assessment is arbitrary at best. Being able to accurately asses a student can only be achieved by using modern tracking and database technologies. The means by which we can make this a reality is readily available and only needs to be taken off the shelf to be used. If Congress is looking for a shovel-ready project, this may be the one.

Imagine a world where every child has a tablet computer with ready access to the App of virtual photographic memory (internet). Further, imagine that every student can access all the knowledge of humankind freely at any moment in time. Continue to imagine a world where a misspelled word brings up a spelling challenge application instead of an auto correction. Try to contemplate what it would mean for a teacher to have a database of every misspelled word, every misunderstood concept or every missed equation for each of their students. Try to envision a teacher with the ability to customize the experience of the individual "user" with minimal effort. Imagine the curriculum being automatically targeted to the user through an intuitive educational platform that knows every strength and each unique weakness. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

The company that makes this standard available to the educational community will be the company that shapes the future of humankind. Will it be Google, Apple, Microsoft, or some other yet unknown pioneer?

Continuing from the thoughts in my last post, I would like to elaborate on the idea of the student as a user of a new standardized educational platform. It is obvious to me that the future of education will always mirror our everyday lives in one way or another. If you examine how technology has influenced your daily life already, you begin to put together a snapshot of what it will mean to be educated in the next decade.

In the last few hundred years, most individuals would consider an education as something you receive. You often hear the question asked, "Where did you receive your education?" As we proceed through the next decade, education will slowly move away from reception and toward being custom designed for the individual user. New technology will not only allow us to receive an education, but also develop an education. The question we might ask in 10 years is, "How did you develop your education?" The question of where will still be important, but the how of the matter will be the focus that defines the individual.

To make this a reality we will need a standardized platform from which to develop a student's unique education. This standardized platform will allow us to tailor a custom curriculum that will be matched to talents, interests and life goals. For the educator, a standardized platform will create a way to assist the student in discovering a true purpose in life through a unique educational experience. The basics of reading, writing and arithmetic will not be taught as much as they will be discovered and used. Learning will become a reciprocal experience between the teacher, the student and the machine.

Under a standardized platform, each of these three participants will have a role to play. The teacher will be the facilitator, assisting the development of the curriculum and inspiring the direction the student takes. The student will be the user, gathering resources, skills and knowledge in an efficient and measured sequence. The machine will do the work of data gathering and analysis, which will assist the teacher and student in refining the curriculum. This data gathering work of the machine will also free the teacher from the burden of record-keeping and tedious tasks that currently distract from the real job of teaching and learning.

Under a standardized system, grade level will be far less important. Achievement and progression will be measured by accomplishment and intelligence as a benchmark for success. The question of failure or success will be irrelevant and replaced with a standard and consistent measurement of potential and overall intelligence. Information will no longer be missed but continually rehearsed and monitored for retention by the machine.

In our current educational paradigm, the teacher is in charge of arbitrarily constructing curriculum. This approach to curriculum development is based on inexperience in some cases, outdated materials, inadequate funding and a shortage of time. Measuring the success of a specific curriculum is currently impossible. With a standardized system, comparisons of curricular success can be made across the entire spectrum of education and then continually reformulated and enhanced by the machine.

Sadly, teachers today are bogged down with an assortment of mind-numbing tasks that would be better suited to an off-the-shelf automated system. Tasks such as data tracking, reporting and record keeping are currently accomplished manually. These tasks could easily be delegated to an intuitive database. Developing a standard to follow would eliminate these tasks and free the teacher to do their main job of teaching students.

Education 3.0

Throughout history, man has sought to pass on knowledge to the next generation. This process started with oral tradition, storytelling and writing. With the advent of the printing press, knowledge and information slowly became available to the masses. The amount of information that could be gained by one human in a lifetime was severely limited by his access to printed materials and wealth. The majority of learning was gained through observation and imitation. We can call this Education 1.0.

Education 2.0 starts around the late eighteen hundreds with universal literacy movements throughout newly industrialized regions of the world. Improvements in education slowly transitioned from apprenticeship to formal education and training. Despite our movements toward universal education, access to knowledge and opportunity continues to be inequitable throughout the world. Even with the arrival of the computer revolution, access to the tools of learning continues to define the learner.

The next decade may mark the moment in history when all men are granted equal access to the greatest treasure a soul can possess. I use the word may in the last sentence because there is the chance that we will miss this golden opportunity. Access to Education 3.0 will only be gained through investment and universal standardization. If we continue to divert wealth toward fruitless goals and corporate greed, this opportunity will be lost or hopelessly delayed.

Education 3.0, when it arrives, will be the age of universal enlightenment. Platforms for education and learning will slowly standardize and become globally accessible and affordable. The poorest to the wealthiest will have access to the machine that runs the platform.

The thought on your mind at this point is most likely wondering what machine I keep referring to. The machine in question is the one we have been so busy teaching and training since roughly 1969. You've probably guessed it by now that I am referring to the internet. The great cloud of knowledge that we call the internet is precisely the mechanism that we will use to build the platform of Education 3.0. When the platform is finally in place, the decade to follow will see the greatest amount of wealth, discoveries and use of human potential that we have witnessed during our time on this earth. The only question that remains to be answered is the point at which I will leave this series of articles.

When will we allow the user to use the machine to its potential?

Stephen McClard has been the Director of Bands at Bolivar High School since 2002. Mr. McClard graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in 1990. He started his teaching career in Southeast Missouri before moving to Illinois where he taught band for 8 years.

Mr. McClard's bands have consistently received superior ratings at contest as well as many other awards and accolades. Since 2002, the band has traveled twice to Chicago, where they won 1st place class 4A and 1st place overall at the Midwest Music In the Parks Festival. The band also traveled to Cincinnati in 2006, receiving the same honors. In 2006, Mr. McClard was named by SBO Magazine as one of the 50 Directors Who Make a Difference. In 2006, 2008 and 2009, Bolivar RI School district was named one of the "Best 100 Communities for Music Education" in America by the American Music Conference. Mr. McClard was previously featured on the cover of the 2003 issue of SBO Magazine for his work with music technology.

In addition to his career in education, Mr. McClard maintains an online woodworking business and is a 3rd generation piano technician. His woodworking creations include custom bass guitars, which have sold all over the world and one-of-a-kind computer desks made from old pianos. His piano desks have been featured in magazines such as Business 2.0 and Piano Technicians Journal and in many other newspapers and television news features.

His first book, The Superior Educator, A Calm and Assertive Approach to Classroom Management and Large Group Motivation, is available on Amazon as well as other book outlets.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Future-of-Educational-Technology-and-Education-3.0&id=3639988] The Future of Educational Technology and Education 3.0

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Why Teach Art?

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lois_Dewitt]Lois Dewitt

Thinking Skills

An article written by Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland for the Boston Globe in 2007 promotes creativity in learning: "There is, however, a very good reason to teach arts in schools, and it's not the one that arts supporters tend to fall back on. In a recent study of several art classes in Boston-area schools, we found that arts programs teach a specific set of thinking skills rarely addressed elsewhere in the curriculum - and that far from being irrelevant in a test-driven education system, arts education is becoming even more important as standardized tests like the MCAS exert a narrowing influence over what schools teach."

And why shouldn't they? Dr. Betty Edwards, best-selling author of "Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain," advocates the use of our right brain hemisphere and has written great coursework that reveals are inherent underdevelopment of this side of the brain. Most educational programs, established in the United States back in the 1800's, site a preference for left hemispherical instruction. Understandably, we were still essentially agricultural at the time, and steadily emerging to play a major part in the Industrial Revolution. Whatever music, drama and art instruction existed in the one room schoolhouse, soon migrated to larger and larger classrooms where the early technology of manufacturing in the New World was a bright glow on the future horizons of American young people.

Space Race

Into the 1900's, those artful programs diminished. The "Space Race" and Sputnik, launched an all-out emphasis on Science and Math learning and changed school curriculums forever. With the realization that America, in the 1980's and 1990's was fast become a service and technology oriented nation, our manufacturing industries diminished and a New Age of Technology changed the future glow for school children. Again, in public and private schools across the nation, the importance of that left hemisphere, so amply delineated by Dr. Betty Edwards as the time-counter, the data finder, the logician, the number-cruncher, the financier, the worker of charts and graphs would again dictate what our schools taught our youth.

Rich Creative Thinking

What we haven't quite figured out yet is that most scientific, mathematical, legal, financial positions require creativity and that great progress has been made in these areas by "thinking outside the box." For that matter, creative thinking enhances any part of our lives. How?

When we receive information, if we are basically trained in the American educational system, we process it as data, that is, it represents dates, times, charts, factors, elements that regulate our lives in monetary, fiduciary, fact-oriented ways. This is our perceptual reality. Indeed, the best trained to process this data have a good chance of doing well in our culture. Could creativity make us better? Yes, because, with the emphasis on just one hemisphere of our brain, we don't really have the whole picture. We are not cognitive to all of the options that our wonderful brains can render. Therefore, we are severely limited: economically, culturally, politically and spiritually.

The Total Brain

Developing our total brains, more the cerebral scenario of ancient Western culture, is still alive and well in many cultures today. But as the global economy spreads the word, educational patterns lean towards left hemisphere education. Will we ultimately inherit a global, lop-sided perspective, severely limiting our brain capacities in favor of the left and retarding the use of the right? In the future, will bear offspring that are limited that way?

Sci-Fi?

This prospect is dismal and hopefully, just science fiction. If we chose to, via cultural choices, cut off the very rich resources of the right side, are children and future children will inherit a two-dimensional world which stifles creativity, shuns invention and creative research, blocks poetry, the theatre, and artists endeavors and, ultimately, cuts off a very powerful resource. It could be that the world will suffer for our restrictions on creative thinking.

Here is my challenge. Learn your right side! You will become stronger, better equipped to deal with what the world has to offer and, if at first, you are uncomfortable, well, go ahead, jump into to the hot tub of creativity.

Lois's website offering free online art classes and many art resources, includes a gallery of her own paintings and pastels, as well as her videos demonstrating a wide variety of skills and techniques in the lessons: http://www.free-online-art-classes.com

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-Teach-Art?&id=3639891] Why Teach Art?

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Technology in the Classroom - Six Easy, Inexpensive Ways to Use Technology in Your Curriculum

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=James_Guilford]James Guilford

Educators worldwide have been issued the same challenge: integrate technology into your curriculum. Still, teachers are hard pressed to find concrete suggestions for using technology. Never fear. There are many ideas on this page. What follows are six easy ways to integrate tech into your curriculum. These suggestions will make your tech use organic to your classroom and user-friendly for you and your students.

1. Appoint an Expert. During readings and discussions, appoint a student as the class librarian. This student can use a computer to access online encyclopedias, dictionaries, author websites, and other references. As unknown references come up, have the librarian do quick research and then report back while the class moves forward. This is a great way to increase understanding without interrupting the flow of the class.

2. Add Commentary. Have students submit writing assignments to you as email attachments. Then, use the Comment function in Microsoft Word to post responses on student writing. Save each draft to create an electronic portfolio for each student. You can refer to this portfolio in parent conferences, specialist meetings, and student meetings. You can also use these comments to help with your progress report writing.

3. Go Over Their Heads. Use an overhead projector or an LCD projector instead of handouts. This is especially useful for pop quizzes, directions to activities, or short whole-group reading passages. Using an overhead projector instead of paper is a great start towards a greener classroom.

4. Refer to the Text. Use text messaging to send quick reminders. Imagine a text to students about important projects or homework assignments. Imagine a text to parents reminding them about permission slips or parent-teacher meetings. Texting is greener, quicker, and more reliable than paper notices.

5. Fan the Flames. Start a Facebook fan page. Use this page to post discussion questions and website links. This page can also be used to initiate conversations about books or current events related to themes and activities in your class.

6. Add Hype with Skype. Skype is an Internet service that offers free calling and video conferencing between computers. Imagine facilitating a discussion with students from a school across the country-or across the globe-about a novel or a current event. Many authors offer free or inexpensive online book chats. Use Skype to bring experts into the classroom without the hassle or expense of airfare, hotels, cabs, or other scheduling nightmares.

Integrating technology in the classroom need not be frustrating or gratuitous. Moreover, using technology does not require that you teach at a school with millions in endowment or Ivy-League-level resources. The above strategies will help you incorporate tech into your classroom in ways that are easy, valuable, and inexpensive.

ONLINE BOOK CHATS AND FREE ONLINE RESOURCES

James Guilford is the author of the young-adult novel, THE PENCIL TEST. Have an Online Book Chat (OBC) with James Guilford. With an Online Book Chat, you can easily integrate technology. Moreover, you can give your students an in-depth understanding of the novel, the writing process, and the life of a writer. Visit http://www.jamesguilford.com/speaking__workshops for more information. Find more free resources for parents, teachers, and home schools on the author's website.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Technology-in-the-Classroom---Six-Easy,-Inexpensive-Ways-to-Use-Technology-in-Your-Curriculum&id=3577453] Technology in the Classroom - Six Easy, Inexpensive Ways to Use Technology in Your Curriculum

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How Do You Imagine Your Ideal School?

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Zoltan_Cserei]Zoltan Cserei

Have you ever thought about why you are going to school? I mean, literally thought about it and not just the "damn, it's school time again" things:D Through our lifetime, we change our environment several times, we move house, change jobs, partners, and we do change school. These changes are always subject of hard decisions, and we all see the pros and cons of these, having an ideal of where we would like to end up. Let's talk about this. How do You imagine your ideal school?

Opinions vary. Some say that a school should present classic, sometimes inclement values; that a school should be a gauge for regularity, for precision set in stone. Others vote for a vibrant student life, full of parties and different events. From another point of view, some people prefer following the curriculum strictly and work hard for obtaining as good marks as possible, while others don't care as much about following the set out layout and rather engage in different activities. This is not just a question of the individual, the school is also responsible for providing its students with enough good opportunities. I consider myself lucky regarding my schooling so far: I have quite good academical results, and also like to participate in leisure time activities provided by our school and our youth council. I am proud to be able to learn where I do. Education is an important aspect of our lives, and no phase from kindergarten until university can be accentuated enough. There's no country in the world where the educational system doesn't receive heaps of critique, and just like the hundreds of journalists who don't have anything better to write about, I also have a strong opinion on how schooling should work, and what is not right. So, how do you imagine your ideal educational system? Let me share what I think. All the ideas may not apply to your country as well, because many things differ from country to country, however, I believe that most of what I'm going to say apply everywhere.

Freedom To Work On Your Own Projects

Everyone has to follow the curriculum to some measure, because a pinch of knowledge from every area is a great help in a deeper understanding of life. However, the value of the mastery of a given subject is unquestionable and insuperable. I believe that the knowledge acquired through everyday classes is enough to develop a very good skill in almost any given area. On the other hand, when you are given the choice libré to work on a subject that you really like, and you can dig deeper: now that's a totally different story. Last weekend one of my friends and I participated in a youth scientific research conference, where we presented our research about the causes and results of changes in tale telling habits and the negative side effects of violent cartoons. It was wonderful for me, even if I don't intend to become a sociologist or psychologist or anything similar (at the moment architecture seems the most compelling to me), it was still an experience full of new knowledge and ideas. I believe that anyone should be given the opportunity and also the support to be able to do serious research during school time (even before college).

Freedom To Learn According To Your Personality

We have specialized schools everywhere, art classes, social sciences, sciences of nature, information technology, and so on.. however, even if we have this choice to continue our studies in an environment tailored to our needs, some evident problems still arise. I'm talking about rating. It doesn't matter whether it's done using letters or numbers, percentage, or the devil knows what else, the result is always the same: students are classified and measured. How do you measure a man? I don't have the answer. But I don't think that if my thermodynamics test result is higher than my buddy's than he should feel like he is an inferior man. Okay, we are different, some are better regarding academic knowledge than others. However, the latter are not given a frigging chance of self-confidence, no one tells them that maybe their values are to be found elsewhere (everyone is valorous). I'm talking of the unmeasurable values: human kindness, self-sacrifice, imagination, practicality and so on. Some people excel at these areas of life, and these people are stigmatized as useless in school. We are different personalities, and deploy a whole range of different values. I'm not saying that anyone with a kind smile should be respected even if he or she has a strong belief regarding to equality of two plus two to five. I'm just saying that the focus should be rather put on learning and acquiring new ideas and becoming wiser in a way instead of creating a hierarchy of people according to their thermodynamics test.

We Need The Instinct To Learn

As a result of this wretched evaluation system, our instinct to learn new things has been largely eradicated. It would be great to have guidelines on what to read, in which direction to develop yourself, however, no one should be given so much compulsory reading that she doesn't have the time to read what she's interested in. Curiosity is among our biggest weapons. By overburdening ourselves, it might fade a little, thus lowering our appetite for fresh knowledge. I don't take compulsory tasks too seriously in school - I never did, and this is not an advice everyone should follow - but I try to always rank high on any activity (competitions, conferences, cultural events, etc.) that is outside of the rigid frames of robotic classes. What do you think, what is more important: to gate all the A++ marks and learn everything you're told to learn word by word, or to get active and climb the tree of knowledge, using the guides you were given in school.

Zoli Cserei is the author of [http://www.simplywilldo.com]Simply Will Do a thought-provoking blog about simplicity, productivity and greatness of life, providing useful tips and deep thoughts.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-Do-You-Imagine-Your-Ideal-School?&id=3488822] How Do You Imagine Your Ideal School?

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Teaching Critical and Creative Thinking in a Global Education Setting

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Cynthia_Stephenson]Cynthia Stephenson

I just finished reading A Critical Thinker's Guide to Educational Fads, which was published by The Foundation for Critical Thinking. In it the authors discuss the essential idea of various educational 'fads', proper educational uses and likely misuses of each. The fads range from school choice and Socratic questioning to integrated curriculum. Three of these fads stood out for me as important ideas that should be considered in more depth... and together as an educational strategy.

Critical Thinking

I believe critical thinking is the most important fad discussed, as it involves metacognition (thinking about thinking). When we think critically we reason, evaluate, judge and problem solve so that we produce the best thinking we can. When we think critically, we speak and listen with empathy, consider all viewpoints, think with an open mind, observe more carefully, persevere through a thought to an intelligent conclusion. Schools should teach critical thinking because this skill just might get us through any situation in life we might face.

I was not taught how to think critically in school... were you? We use critical thinking all throughout school (conducting science experiments, writing papers), but most of us are never specifically taught how and why it is important to think critically. We need to teach students this skill along with how to master test taking, how to develop good study habits and more. Most students muddle their way through and develop these skills and abilities on their own. Think of how much more successful they'd be if we'd just give them the right tools.

Educational Fads suggests the idea of teaching history as historical thinking, biology as biological thinking. Instead of memorizing our presidents, students should analyze presidencies in an historical context. Imagine the number of students who might be intrigued with science if it were taught this way. Our schools tend to teach in such a fragmented way that broad concepts are isolated instead of integrated into a larger perspective.

Citizens in today's global world need to know how to think critically in order to effectively communicate with and work alongside others from various walks of life. We must learn how to communicate with people who live in vastly different cultures where perspectives are different and backgrounds diverse.

Creative Thinking

Genuine creativity builds on critical thought, and as the authors of Educational Fads state, something is not creative simply because it is different. Creativity involves thinking 'outside the box' in order to solve a problem, create something new, do something differently than its been done before. Simply thinking creatively will only get us so far. Creative thinking must be combined with critical thinking to truly produce distinctive results.

Creativity sparks the imagination to think in unique ways to do things, to solve problems - even in interactions with others in non-conforming ways. Creativity and imagination allow us to fathom the concept of putting a man on the moon, connecting mankind through this thing called the internet, inventing silly shoes called Crocs.

Folk lore states that FedEx founder Fred Smith received a C on a term paper in which outlined the basis for his idea for FedEx. Smith describes his thoughts not as an eureka moment, but as a simple observation. He described his thought process in a 2007 interview:

"As society automated, as people began to put computers in banks to cancel checks - rather than clerks - or people began to put sophisticated electronics in airplanes - society and the manufacturers of that automated society were going to need a completely different logistics system." (From the May 6, 2007 blog posting: rel=nofollow [http://campusentrepreneurship.wordpress.com/2007/05/06/interview-with-fedex-founder-fred-smith-yale-university/]Interview with FedEx Founder Fred Smith - Yale University)

Was Fred Smith taught how to think creatively and critically? If he wasn't, he was certainly doing it on his own. His idea began creatively, but was followed up with critical thinking in order to bring the idea to reality in a credible and viable way and it was thought out within a global perspective, and if it had not, FedEx might not be the company that it is today - or even exist at all. This is the kind of creative thinking which is combined with critical thinking that our schools must teach our students how to do. Instead of giving them a problem to solve that may have an obvious solution, we must challenge them to combine critical and creative thinking to seek new pathways to a solution or to a solution itself that would not have been reached otherwise, as Mr. Smith did - as so many innovators do.

Global Education

Educational Fads describes global education as curriculum designed through a global perspective. In our increasingly diverse culture which resides in an increasingly open global community, global education is crucial for this and every future generation to participate in - in an age of nuclear capability, growing terrorism and an ever-increasing pool of diverse perspectives that have a voice in the global community.

Our schools serve as a microcosm of the larger world, and educators must prepare our children beginning at an early age to not only accept but embrace everyone's differences - their differences in appearance, in thought, religion, ethnicity, background, and more. We must teach students to think beyond their classroom, beyond their community, instilling in them a global perspective from which to learn new concepts and ideas, new perspectives, new ways of considering the various aspects of the world.

We in the United States live at a physical disadvantage to most of the world, as we are separated by many miles and have developed preconceived notions about the world which in many cases are incorrect or flawed, due in part to our lack of critical thinking and to large degree due to our physical, emotional and intellectual separation from the rest of the world's population. As the world grows closer because of technological advances that allow us to video conference with people globally with the touch of a button, purchase products from the remotest corners of the world with the click of a mouse, everyone must check their egos at the door; fairly address viewpoints with which we disagree; and empathize with others' insights, perspectives and knowledge.

If educators worldwide embraced the idea of teaching critical and creative thinking in a global education setting, future generations would learn the importance of diversity, empathy and fair-mindedness - allowing us as educated citizens of the world to think about our world, those who are in it, and the problems we face as a shared civilization.

Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Cynthia Stephenson brings 20 years of sales and marketing experience to her writing which has included corporate marketing materials, websites, blogs and more. Stephenson received her BA in Journalism in 1989 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and began her career as a graphic designer and editorial assistant for Northwestern University the following year. As a marketing communications professional, she believes that writing should be concise, persuasive and ultimately results-oriented, leading the reader to take action. Whether you need a sales calling script, a press release, or an outline for an online video, her writing style is sure to match your needs, as she understands how to write to her audience, whoever they are. http://www.c3stephenson.com

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