"Education cannot equate each student with a complete set of perspectives; What's more, we are doomed to failure if we try to make every young man a historian, biologist or composer of classical music. "
HOWARD GARDNER
A few days ago was published in some newspapers the story of Jack Cator, a young British entrepreneur who has created a successful online platform. This type of news is usual, but it is not so much the headlines that were used in some media: The Punk who became a millionaire to misbehave in the school (the confidential), the story of the young British who became a millionaire for not attending in class ( ABC), the young man who became a billionaire for Misbehave in the school (BBC). It is less curious that "misbehave in school" and "not attend in class" insinuate as Keys to Jack's success. No doubt they're in bad times for school.
Thinking about it, I remembered what they say about education some of the great thinkers of our day: Robinson, Bauman, Gardner, Gerver, Wagner, Tough... they all agree that something does not work in the education we offer in our schools.
This has motivated me to compile in this article some of the things that do not work in school education, some of the problems that I consider most significant to understand what it is that we should change to offer an education in our schools that Respond to the real needs that our children and young people have to survive in a world as unstable as the present and as they were in the uncertain future.
A first problem to discuss is the fact that educational systems depend on political changes. In most of our countries, every change of government implies a change in the educational system. This leads to the chaining of reforms of the educational laws that have as main consequence uncoverable curricula and methodological changes meaningless that, in addition, are almost never accompanied by the training necessary for teachers.
Rulers often feel much more comfortable with an education that functions as a conservative element of the established than with an education that feeds the critical spirit and change. Education must therefore be left to the sidelines of political swings.
Another problem of current education is the strongly rooted belief that educational excellence has to do with memorizing data, dates and concepts rather than with the ability to use the knowledge acquired to apply them in the Real problem solving. There are still many who are convinced that the letter with blood enters and, for that reason, they relate the study with effort and suffering and not with effort and joy.
The evaluation systems of many of our schools reward students who are able to recite what the teacher has taught them, when what should be rewarded is the ability to learn autonomously, the ability to produce their own Learning. So our schools are places where they will approve and not learn. All this is aggravated by the importance and value given to the standard PISA-type tests, That leads to the improvement of the results in these tests as the main objective of the educational policies.
The belief that school is just a place of literacy is also a problem. It may have been this way in centuries past, but in the information society it makes no sense. The school must work with data, but also with values; It must teach to solve equations, but also conflicts of coexistence; Must teach to do, but must also teach to be. In addition, there are multiple studies that show that for meaningful learning it must be related to emotion, with the ability to satisfy students ' curiosity, with the joy of learning.
All this has to do with the architecture of schools, which are designed for control and discipline and not for learning. Breaking down walls and opening the doors of our classrooms is not a necessity, it is an obligation to be able to educate on the values and skills necessary to survive in the society of uncertainty.
Finally, the initial and continuous training of teachers and their social valuation as a fundamental agent for the good functioning of society are other things that do not work in the current education. The value of teachers must be recognized so that the school fulfills its true function.
At this point in an article about what does not work in education, some will be wondering how it is not said or half word about the introduction of ICT or the use of the Internet... but I think it was Steve Jobs who said that what does not work with the education is not fixed with technology. ICT should be at the service of learning, not the other way around.
In conclusion, in education too many assumptions are given that when they are carefully analyzed they prove ineffective. Changing what does not work in the education of our days has become a necessity that we cannot continue to ignore any longer.
What are the problems that most concern you with our current education? I would like you to comment on what you think about it.
Cooperating for better society, and better education.
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