I wanted to take this opportunity to share this video. I
recently watched this video in my READ411 Language & Literacy class. I simply
had to share it. This video brings up some very relevant points about today’s
education system and the problems it faces. One of the most striking points
made by narrator Sir Ken Robinson, the speaker who gave this talk at the RSA (Royal
Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce), is that the “current
system of education was designed and conceived and structured for a different
age…it was conceived in the intellectual culture of the enlightenment.” (Robinson,
Kenneth. "Changing Education Paradigms ." RSA. Address.) Sir Ken
Robinson elaborates further this point as the video animates it, but I think
this quote has the power to explain itself.
When I heard this line everything seemed to click in my
mind; learning about the history of education in my classes here at Montclair
State University has made me aware of the fact that our education system was
becoming the system that it currently is during the industrial revolution and
age of enlightenment in the USA, but I never connected the relationship between
this history and the system currently in place. Robinson is spot on when saying
this, and I think this truly speaks to the issues facing education in 2012. As
a student I personally believe that technology has not played a big enough role
in my education. The inclusion of technology in my education does not reflect
the inclusion of technology in the society in which I live. I believe that teachers
and school officials are having difficulty including technology in the
classroom not only for economical and social issues, but also because of the
basis of our education system. We have maintained the same ideals in our
classrooms for over a century, and these ideals are conflicting with the
constantly changing technological society in which we live. I believe that in
order to have coherence in the classroom we need to first reconsider the ideals
which our education system has been founded.
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ReplyDeleteSarah-Ann,
ReplyDeleteI literally just posted this same video on my blog post today, not realizing you had it on yours!! This video was very intriguing to me, and it actually made the history of education make perfect sense to me. I feel that teachers today are not utilizing technology in their classrooms enough, and in turn, students are bored out of their minds, which is making teachers and parents alike worried for the well-being of kids. Moreover, boredom is being confused with A.D.D. and students are going through schools being drugged up in order to sit and focus on a boring lecture. I too never made the connection of the gentry's interest in the liberal arts and their push for a liberal arts education in schools nationwide. What was interesting to them in the 18th century is not what is interesting to students today in the 21st century. I felt that this video was important enough to share with everyone else too!
Hi Jess,
ReplyDeleteThe fact that both of us posted the same video proves just how influential this video was for us! I agree with you; this video provided a clear explanation of the history of education.
While there are definitely cases of A.D.D. and A.D.H.D which are correctly diagnosed, I do also think that doctors have become too quick to diagnose children who are simply bored or uninterested with these disorders. I hope decades from now a study is done to compare the number of children diagnosed with these disorders with the increased inclusion of technology in the classroom. It will be interesting to see whether or not a students are being correctly diagnosed or if perhaps they simply aren't being engaged with technology in the classroom as much as they are outside of the classroom.