Having taught high school for 12 years, then TAing at university during my MA, I’ve seen more than my share of human carnage in an increasingly institutionalizing education ‘industry” as kids endure the K-12 system then try to function in the world or in post-secondary institutions after graduation.
Two core problems increasingly vex the system and deeply concern me as I ponder the future of the education system and my relationship with it:
- The carnage of social dynamics maims children’s self-concept to a degree that as adults they need to unlearn all the human trauma dumped on them. While there are positive socialization elements in schools, kids can also get that from outside schools.
- The institutionalized nature of packing students into classrooms and teaching to the average destroy innate curiosity with increasingly canned, lock-step curriculum and standardized exams that test a small subset of what ought to be available for learning. So students need to learn how to really learn once they leave high school. They are often stuck in jobs that require only their obedience and ability to follow simple steps or flounder in higher learning where an essay assignment without an assigned topic can cause an anxiety attack.
In reading about EduPunks, it is clear that there are increasing do-it-yourself options to create a more meaningful learning experience for people. The trick is to design it as much as possible within a publicly funded school system to avoid helping the neoliberal agenda of privatizing the whole system: individuation within a collective system is the goal.
The Tyee’s piece today on EduPunks helps define a new vibe. Here are a few teasers before you read the whole thing:
Not only are new technologies becoming part of how we learn, they are changing the way we communicate information. He sees the invention of hypertexts, Google and social media as turning points in the way we organize information.
In fact, Frank doesn’t see EduPunk as a movement that’s on the cutting edge. He sees it as the reinvention of an older method of learning…..At some point everything we take for granted as part of a standardized education was invented by someone.
The Wright brothers didn’t have a pilot license.
