Access to a world of infinite information has changed how we communicate, process information, and think. Decentralized systems have proven to be more productive and agile than rigid, top-down ones. Innovation, creativity, and independent thinking are increasingly crucial to the global economy.
And yet the dominant model of public education is still fundamentally rooted in the industrial revolution that spawned it, when workplaces valued punctuality, regularity, attention, and silence above all else. (In 1899, William T. Harris, the US commissioner of education, celebrated the fact that US schools had developed the "appearance of a machine," one that teaches the student "to behave in an orderly manner, to stay in his own place, and not get in the way of others.") We don't openly profess those values nowadays, but our educational system—which routinely tests kids on their ability to recall information and demonstrate mastery of a narrow set of skills—doubles down on the view that students are material to be processed, programmed, and quality-tested. School administrators prepare curriculum standards and "pacing guides" that tell teachers what to teach each day. Legions of managers supervise everything that happens in the classroom; in 2010 only 50 percent of public school staff members in the US were teachers.
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That's why a new breed of educators, inspired by everything from the Internet to evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and AI, are inventing radical new ways for children to learn, grow, and thrive. To them, knowledge isn't a commodity that's delivered from teacher to student but something that emerges from the students' own curiosity-fueled exploration. Teachers provide prompts, not answers, and then they step aside so students can teach themselves and one another. They are creating ways for children to discover their passion—and uncovering a generation of geniuses in the process.
Good, long article on how education could be reinvented for the 21st century.
(Score: 3, Informative) by urza9814 on Tuesday August 25 2015, @02:48PM
Last I heard my old highschool still had them (I only graduated in 2008, so it wasn't *that* long ago); and I certainly don't expect they've eliminated them since. It's always been a fairly popular program. They had welding, networking, cosmetology, culinary, automotive, and a few others I don't remember at the moment. I know my currently girlfriend, who grew up in Vermont (I was in Pennsylvania) attending a similar program in her highschool so quite a few such programs definitely do still exist.
I went the other route though and took some classes at the local university. Which was pretty worthless to be honest -- how many times can you take introduction to OOP and still learn something? The assembly class was decent, but still easier than my highschool programming classes...the university has a decent reputation for other fields, but they're not much for comp sci. Credits didn't even transfer. It was fun though! :)