Comments on: A teacher’s view on the education crisis

By: Mr. Teacher

Mr. Teacher — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:14:25 +0000

Education is very less attention from the parties should consider that education is a very educational crisis.
Education is the responsibility of all parties, not just teachers, parents, schools, government. However, all parties are obliged to support education.

By: Laina

Laina — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:54:37 +0000

I sat with a group of teachers today (I am a secondary principal) in their year end department meeting and I was truly humbled by their passion for teaching …yes, they were excited about new ways to incorporate the budding technology, but what impressed me most (and has from most of these people) is that they value their connections with their students the most, not their smartboard, their blogs or their podcasts nor their subjects per se.
For students that come to us with motivation and excitement to learn will do so despite “poor” teaching or lack of resources including those technological, but the number one and, I might argue, ONLY thing that truly and consistently reaches disengaged students is a caring teacher….it’s that connection that some teachers strive to make and the connections to learning and to the student’s lives that make the greatest difference for them. Caring and passion cost nothing. One of the newest and youngest members of the team made a point that in teaching they all get paid the same so why is it that some (and definitely this group) and many for that matter, strive so hard to reach their students, all their students?
On another related note, why is it that the model of secondary education we still have today is based on the university model? So much of the foundation of learning, the courses, the time mandated to earn a “credit,” the physical structure of schools and classrooms…all built for those students who were not going to stay on the farm, but after grade 8 were going to pursue studies in law, medicine, business or teaching….i.e. university.
Today, in our province of Ontario, less than 25% of the students we teach go to university…something is not right here!

Love this conversation!

By: Don Tapscott

Don Tapscott — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:36:02 +0000

Mike, I would say that Kevin was lucky to have you as a teacher. If only we had more teachers with your insight and zeal. You are absolutely right when you say that “the technology on its own is merely a conduit to critical thinking. The passion for learning must come from within.”

In the longer essay on the Edge, I quote Seymour Papert, one of the world’s foremost experts on how technology can provide new ways to learn: “The scandal of education is that every time you teach something, you deprive a child of the pleasure and benefit of discovery.”

Students hit a brick pedagogical wall when they enter university and find themselves in lecture halls filled with 300 other classmates. Young people are our greatest hope for solving many of the problems my generation have created, and yet we squander this resource by denying them the proper tools for thinking and creativity.

By: Web Media Daily – Friday June 12, 2009 | Reinventing Yourself...

Web Media Daily – Friday June 12, 2009 | Reinventing Yourself... — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:20:32 +0000

[...] A teacher’s view on the education crisis [...]

By: Fabian

Fabian — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:03:10 +0000

Excellent post. We need to produce adroit students with the resources to critically engage in society. Technological limitations within the secondary classroom can stifle learning, but a lack of passion for learning within the classroom culture can absolutely stunt learning.