Certificate System

Just reading “Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America” and had to laugh with one of their ideas to fix education

“There would need to be an online system that parents and students could consult to learn which certificates are needed for different career choices, what needs to be known in order to obtain each certificate, and what methods might be used to obtain the necessary knowledge.”

Collins, Allan; Halverson, Richard (2009-08-31). Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America (Technology, Education-Connections, the Tec Series) (p. 114). Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition.

 

How do kids know what they want to be when they grow up when they have no idea what their future holds, let alone the number of jobs they will hold.  Did they not see the Did You Know videos? 

 

As The World Turns

Just reading Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology by Allan Collins and Richard Halverson.  In it they talk about the change in education from an apprenticeship model moving towards a factory model at the turn of the century at the time of the industrial revolution.  Has education reached a point in the pendulum where we are beginning to shift back towards this model?

Currently reformers are talking about passion based learning, practical applications of learning and just in time learning.  There is no point in memorizing facts when you can simply google it is what they say.  If this is indeed the case, are we not moving back towards this system of learning where students are not focused on a specific trade but are taught how to think for themselves and be able to teach themselves?  Is education moving back towards a system that groups of people will work towards learning how to do something by teaching each other, training each other.

Could we perhaps as educators begin to work with parents on helping them help us with the move away from factory education? With the 19th century model of education much of the teaching fell upon the parents are we moving back towards that?  We can not expect to be successful to force more and more on teachers until they break.  I think we have reached a point on the pendulum that we need to include parents in these conversations and have them, help us, help them.

I don’t think I will see it in my lifetime but it still makes me wonder if the pendulum is indeed moving in the other direction. . .

http://www.bcjobs.ca/content/images/PENDULUM_SWINGS.jpg