Denying our geniuses....
Time magazine has an interesting article about how badly our school system serves some of the most promising individuals. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1653653,00.html
I was fortunate enough to attend montessori school till I was 9. Montessori, when done right, is entirely student led. If you want to only read or color for weeks on end that's fine (I did both). There are basic rules about respectful behavior but other than that they just trust that kids are hardwired to learn, and that if you set up an environment that its conducive to autodidactic learning they'll turn out okay.
Public school was hard after that. I cried through 4th grade and skipped 5th. Sixth wasn't much better. In January my math teacher handed me the 7th grade textbook and said "if you don't like the pace you can work ahead". I think she expected me to get frustrated and come crying back, but by the end of 12th grade I was doing most of my classes that way. I was frustrated with the system and my teachers were frustrated with me. We agreed they would mark me present if I took my books to the library and stayed out of their hair.
I left school feeling there had to be a better way. I hated school because I was smart. My sister and a dyslexic kid I tutored got the shaft because they had learning disabilities. My sister ended up in a private school, but the other kid got tracked into the special ed classes with kids who threw chairs and lit their desks on fire. I managed to convince her she was smart at math (and her grades improved) but she still didn't like school and I don't blame her.
I spend a lot of time reading about education. I want to understand learning, what problems face our schools, what's been tried, what works for which kids, and what just looks good on paper. I still have a shred of idealism and think that everyone deserves "a free and appropriate public education".
I like my new job, not only is the environment is more peaceful, but I get to work everyday with people who feel the same way about this stuff that I do. I know to most people its "just educational software", but to me its more than that. Its recognizing that children deserve an education that fits just like they deserve clothes that fit.
What do other people think?
(Thanks to midnitepheonix for posting this.)
I was fortunate enough to attend montessori school till I was 9. Montessori, when done right, is entirely student led. If you want to only read or color for weeks on end that's fine (I did both). There are basic rules about respectful behavior but other than that they just trust that kids are hardwired to learn, and that if you set up an environment that its conducive to autodidactic learning they'll turn out okay.
Public school was hard after that. I cried through 4th grade and skipped 5th. Sixth wasn't much better. In January my math teacher handed me the 7th grade textbook and said "if you don't like the pace you can work ahead". I think she expected me to get frustrated and come crying back, but by the end of 12th grade I was doing most of my classes that way. I was frustrated with the system and my teachers were frustrated with me. We agreed they would mark me present if I took my books to the library and stayed out of their hair.
I left school feeling there had to be a better way. I hated school because I was smart. My sister and a dyslexic kid I tutored got the shaft because they had learning disabilities. My sister ended up in a private school, but the other kid got tracked into the special ed classes with kids who threw chairs and lit their desks on fire. I managed to convince her she was smart at math (and her grades improved) but she still didn't like school and I don't blame her.
I spend a lot of time reading about education. I want to understand learning, what problems face our schools, what's been tried, what works for which kids, and what just looks good on paper. I still have a shred of idealism and think that everyone deserves "a free and appropriate public education".
I like my new job, not only is the environment is more peaceful, but I get to work everyday with people who feel the same way about this stuff that I do. I know to most people its "just educational software", but to me its more than that. Its recognizing that children deserve an education that fits just like they deserve clothes that fit.
What do other people think?
(Thanks to midnitepheonix for posting this.)