It’s time to stop “teaching to the test” and start helping kids learn 21st Century educational and interpersonal skills.
—-
As reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, up to 20 people were stabbed at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Penn. The school is located about fifteen miles outside of Pittsburgh.
Our hearts go out to the victims and their families, and we are want to first express our sympathy to all who were affected by this tragedy.
With yet another horrific assault in a public school we have to begin asking ourselves some hard questions.
|
But with yet another horrific assault in a public school we have to begin asking ourselves some hard questions. What is going on in our schools and are we becoming so desensitized to these terrible events that we are ready to accept this as part of American life?
Schools are not empowering places. Kids in school are not encouraged to pursue what they are passionate about. They are told to complete tasks that, if successfully completed, will insure continued funding for the school (i.e. “teaching to the test”). This, coupled with the lack of learning about interpersonal skills, appreciating difference, and other emotional intelligence capacities leaves kids with little self esteem and often a lot of frustration.
By all accounts, the next generation workforce will need skills that transcend traditional educational goals.
|
By all accounts, the next generation workforce will need skills that transcend traditional educational goals. They will need to synthesize information, work collaboratively, think in ways that move beyond specialized skill sets and they will need to be passionate about continuing the learn in a world where change will only accelerate.
What kind of radical changes do we need in order for public education to become relevant to modern life? When do we start teaching emotional literacy? When do we stop making kids learn how to take tests and start teaching them how to live more fulfilling educational lives?
Education needs to change and change dramatically.
—-
On a separate note, this Friday a number of New York Elementary schools will be the site of wide ranging demonstrations in protest of the 2014 ELA Exams. You can read a public letter by over a dozen New York City school principals here.
I am waiting for the editorials calling for the regulation/banning of all knives.
On the other hand, count the death toll in this attack versus the death toll if he’d had guns.
This is clearly NOT a “21st century education” question. Telling people not to stab other people is most definitely an “old school” issue. Telling kids not to text while they drive is a 21st century issue. Telling kids not to stab each other in anger is about 100,000 years old. It’s not just the innovative, cutting edge jobs of the future that demand employees not kill each other….
I hate standardized testing as well, but is that really the culprit here? The school system is probably not the main source of blame in this case. As bad as a school district can be, those teachers were probably not telling students that stabbing is acceptable. Does anyone seriously think that the school was teaching students to stab each other? Give me a break. I’m not sure where people get the idea that teachers have such a dominant influence. Maybe the teachers can slip in a “don’t stab each other” lesson for each of the 200 students each one teaches… Read more »
wellokay,
Don’t be simplistic. I’m talking about an educational system that serves the teacher’s unions, the state and federal bureaucracy and the political institutions not the children its meant to serve. Teaching to the test symbolizes that skewed set of priorities.
It comes down to teaching the whole child. Social emotional education, in many cases, is what draws educators to the field. What they find, sadly, is that explicit social emotional education integrated with content, rarely exists within school walls unless there is someone at the helm championing the process.
When children feel safe, valued, and part of a larger community, they are less likely to harm one another and more likely to succeed academically.