Everything Comes Back to Education

Published April 15, 2009 @ 12:39PM PT

Delegates at the Global Engagement Summit discuss their projects

On yesterday's "Scale" vs. "Diffusion" post, the conversation in the comments quickly turned to our fundamental need to educate people differently for a wildly different economy. When the rules of the game keep changing, what can even be taught?

There are lots of wonderful thinkers out there who are thinking in both specific and broad terms about how to shift education. Our education blogger Clay has a wide array of guests who debate the merits of ideas like the charter school movement, and who talk about the ecosystem of education that extends far beyond the classroom, for example.

But I think that education, like climate change, is an "issue" that quickly sheds its confines and implicates everyone. Quite literally, the way we structure education now will fundamentally impact every aspect of our society; it's something we all have a stake in. I'm glad to see initiatives like Echoing Green's Be Bold and Ashoka's Changemaker Campus program that are connecting a "socially entrepreneurial" way of seeing with classrooms and career offices. I'm glad to have conversations like "Education Entrepreneur" on this site and "Universities as Agents of Change," hosted by Social Edge. And I'm glad programs like KIPP and Teach For America are challenging conventions; whether or not they have the answers, the challenge matters.

But I think this is a "can't wait" issue. We don't have ten years or even four years to change things. Whether our education system prepare people with collaboration skills and iterative mindsets, or continue to mine them for specific domains of knowledge and lock them into silos will have dramatic and far reaching impact.

So what I'm looking for now is the subaltern education that's springing up in the wake. I'm looking for the Academic Earth's democratizing access to knowledge, and the Global Engagement Summits and GlobeMeds that are building communities of learners based on the pursuit of understanding rather than the pursuit of grades. These are the institutional equivalents of "that teacher" we all have in high school who is the not-so-secret rebel against the stupid parts of the system and inspires us to continue learning. And I'm looking for the people recognize, incubating, and biggifying those innovations to let people thrive.

Please use the comments to share what you think are the most exciting education projects out there, and how we diffuse a new way of thinking throughout the system. And enjoy this wonderful video of Sir Ken Robinson discussing how education stifles creativity:

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Comments (6)

Hi Nanthaniel, I agree that education is an important issue that requires immediate action. Much of the debate in Education is in regards to what style of education is eventually dolled out in public schools across the nation with a large fear that those who need education the most, disadvantaged and poor without a strong family foundation, will continue to fall through the cracks while politics and financial hijacking will continue among the elite and powerful.

If we can step out of that debate and just focus on the question as to how to improve education to the most disenfranchised students such as: Why is education in these communities not working for kids at highest risk? What methods have been tried? What methods have not been tried and why not? How can we most quickly and easily change all of these methods to get real help to where it really needs to be now?

This would allow us to better create unbiased models based off of ideas proven to work coupled with new ideas that could work based upon research but haven't been tried and discarding that which we know doesn't work.

I believe that a lack of empowerment and sense of community is coupled with a belief system that doesn't see education as a viable solution in these communities, and although these conclusions are not conductive to future success, they are founded in sound reasoning. You are also talking about communities where jobs are scarce and kids are in survival mode growing up and seeing, partaking in or being a victim of abuse and crime.

We need to include the community in the solution, provide jobs for the community within the solution and create empowering programs that foster a sense of self worth and empathy for others to prevent a street life mentality.

Check out Peace Games out of Boston. I love this organization and what they're doing! http://www.peacegames.org/

It's crucial that we understand that it's not just education that needs fixing to fix education in these communities.

Posted by Michele Rodriguez on 04/15/2009 @ 01:12PM PT
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Exactly what I think on education
Perfect

Posted by Renata Ventura on 04/15/2009 @ 03:21PM PT
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Terrific posts on scale, diffusion, and education, Nathaniel--this is exactly what we all need to be talking about right now! On Friday I'm headed to a United Nations Environment Programme workshop in Kenya that may or may not turn out to be an example of the kinds of communities of learners you describe. One of the objectives is "to provide a forum for college students in Africa to engage creatively and innovatively with students from other regions on current environment and sustainability challenges." I'm curious to see how things play out in practice, and what role UNEP plays in shaping (or not) the discussion.

Posted by Lauren Finzer on 04/15/2009 @ 10:41PM PT
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I believe it's a shame that more emphasis isn't put on aptitude testing. Kids get out of high school and move on to higher education with no real idea of what they should major in. They wind up being what I call "misguided missles" and you see them everywhere. Any one who isn't familiar with Summerhill in England should look at it. Their kids get out of school fully knowing what they want to do with their lives! Schools could be more streamlined and less expemnsive if you know what you want to do and, therefore, concentrate more on that. Everyone should have a right to as much education that they want!

Posted by sonny carter on 04/18/2009 @ 01:33PM PT
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it is perpect on education.

Posted by Vincent paul Bellamkonda on 04/19/2009 @ 07:52AM PT
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We need to ban school paddling in the 21 states that still allow this legalized assault of children.   The injuries they sustain physically heal; the psychological damage sometimes doesn't.

Not coincidentally, the rates of abuse in schools are highest in states and regions that are poor, troubled with food insecurity, and in some cases formerly slave states.

American children, according to the Constitution's 14th amendment and as citizens of the country, are due the birthright of "equal protection" including freedom from fear of physical injury and that SHOULD include the right to a safe education.

Until we remove the physical risk of harm from at risk learners we can't expect to make sweeping improvements in their academic accomplishments.

If you want to help make this difference in at risk kids' academic lives, join "Operation Stop and Replace!" from June 24 to 26 in Washington, D.C.   It's organized by Ms. Paula Flowe of 'TheHittingStopsHere.com' (details available on her website) and will be a peaceful gathering of human rights activists - parents, teachers, professionals in work that affects children, people who have a heart and want safe educations for everyone - to ask Congress to stop child abuse in school and in American homes too.

Studies prove time and again that people do not learn well under stress.   We need to take fear out of attending school in the states in which this still applies before we can really measure what these kids are truly capable of when they gain the confidence to learn safely and freely.

Posted by Christine Clarke on 06/11/2009 @ 09:44PM PT
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Author

Nathaniel is the founding Director of the Center for Global Engagement at Northwestern University, which works annually with hundreds of students in dozens of countries around the world through curricular programs and student project incubation.