Purpose

A friend posted this gem on Facebook. I feel fortunate to have found my purpose. Now to set upon opening the doorway for each child to find his/hers...

My latest ah-hah is "The notion of content specificicity may be the biggest hoax of all." As promised, I am still reading the book, 50 Myths and Lies That Threaten America's Public Schools...by Berliner & Glass. The book defines myths, hoaxes, and outright lies, and while I agree with a lot of what the authors assert, I am still troubled by their sensationalistic delivery. 

I am also baffled by their lack of insight into alternative solutions to the problems they lay out. With more and more information being discovered day by day, how can we possibly expect to teach it all to kids in 12 years of school? Wouldn't it be wiser to teach them how to find and use content, rather than cram more and more random bits into their brains? 

More on this later, but you now have something to quote me on. A Harrisism, you heard it here first: "Content specifics may be the biggest hoax of all."

Best quote ever by our friend Mr. Einstein

It's so important to keep this in mind as an educator. Too often we hear and use the word "talent." I consider it a personal mission of mine to eradicate this word from the vocabulary, or at least make it laughably obsolete. I prefer the word "ability." Everyone has abilities that they can pour effort into honing. Talent is a myth. Practice may not make perfect, but it sure does make better. 

Because we learn in a departmentalized way, children tend to grow up thinking of themselves as "math people" or "creative people" or "science people," etc. I can't tell you how many people come up to me and say, "You're so lucky. I've never been a music person."

In the arts, we tend to have teachers who specialize in just one area. So they tend to teach more strongly in that area. Imagine how unbalanced their kids become, artistically. 

What if learning was more integrated? What would our society look like after a few generations of cross-curricular learning? 

I wonder if fish could climb trees, after all...