When discussing education, everyone has an opinion. Yet, despite it being one of the big unsolved problems of the 20th and 21st century, a huge money sink for donors and the government, and everybody feeling that the status quo in education is seriously wanting, there is no consensus for a solution. We can't put a finger on it. Some argue for tougher grading. Some argue for more back to basics, the "three-Rs." And some argue for more play time or creative arts (I'm more in this camp). But whatever solutions people dream up, none are implemented and there's a good reason they're not. As bad as how some of us view the current state of education, we do realize that many people graduate and become nice, decent productive citizens. Secondly, no one wants to gamble their kid's future on some unproven, untried teaching scheme.
So what's the solution? As lacking in humility as anyone else, I too have ideas for possible solutions. But, I keep them to myself because I know they're untested. People who know me would know better to entrust their kids' future to my harebrained ideas, as great as they may be.
But I do have a suggestion for finding the solution to the education problem. In order to implement my suggestion, we all have to agree on some ground rules. We need to agree how to measure success. Obviously, we can't expect every student to end up as CEOs or rock-star surgeons or genuine presidential contenders. But without common agreements, there will be no way to evaluate my or any other competing solutions.
What is our desire for our children? I don't have any children of my own, but if I did, I would want that after they're grown up and moved out on their own, that they would be self-sufficient. I wouldn't want them to live in despair. I don't want them to be needing a handout or rely on parents or others for survival. I'm not being cruel: of course I would help out in times of need. Yet, I'm sure all parents would prefer that their children can survive and thrive on their own. I want them to live a long and happy life and pass away long after I do. In short, we all want our children to be better off than we are.
Notice that this metric, as vague as it might sound, has never been used by our current education system. Indeed, the long-term measure of happiness and success is expressedly avoided at all costs. In my high school years, only one class taught anything remotely related to the long-term view of being an adult, and it barely glossed over those topics. My undergraduate experience had one elective course that also just tangentially broached the topic, and terribly mis-taught it. My graduate education dealt with nothing of the sort and just assumed that someone else already taught those subjects to perfection.
My suggestion is to have a top-down approach to developing a winning education reform. My suggestion is called the "Six More Months" approach. We begin with the graduating college seniors. We provide a six-month "finishing school" training for graduating seniors to prepare, coach and advise them for life outside school. We teach them what employers want for employees "right out of the starting blocks". Rather than teaching more academic abstract nonsense, we ground these graduates with very down-to-earth knowledge that will give them an edge over their peers.
What exactly are these down-to-earth knowledge? That's not hard to determine. We get that with a wet finger in the air and see the immediate results. Once we learn what we need to teach, then we push back that six months to prep students so that when they do graduate, they will possess the same knowledge and assets that those who got the extra six months training got.
We keep pushing this back, stopping only to ensure what we've done meets the measurables and achieves our goals. It may take a few years to push back a block of six months. No problem. After a few more years, we'll learn that that some of the old things we've taught are completely unnecessary. We'll learn to trim useless courses and replace them with pertinent courses: those courses that will prep them for the following six months, which are needed for the subsequent six months and so on, all leading to a polished, prepared graduate.
The model applies to any sort of post-college life, whether it's in tech or marketing or athletics or the creative arts. The role of the educator is more of a coach and trainer with a heavy dose of sagacity to provide the graduate with real world knowledge. Some of those real-world knowledge could be taught earlier in the education-life of the student, so we would.
By following this method, parents, students and teachers all know they are working towards the same results and goals: testable, proven goals that have been shown by the previous graduates to be the successful route.
So what's the solution? As lacking in humility as anyone else, I too have ideas for possible solutions. But, I keep them to myself because I know they're untested. People who know me would know better to entrust their kids' future to my harebrained ideas, as great as they may be.
But I do have a suggestion for finding the solution to the education problem. In order to implement my suggestion, we all have to agree on some ground rules. We need to agree how to measure success. Obviously, we can't expect every student to end up as CEOs or rock-star surgeons or genuine presidential contenders. But without common agreements, there will be no way to evaluate my or any other competing solutions.
What is our desire for our children? I don't have any children of my own, but if I did, I would want that after they're grown up and moved out on their own, that they would be self-sufficient. I wouldn't want them to live in despair. I don't want them to be needing a handout or rely on parents or others for survival. I'm not being cruel: of course I would help out in times of need. Yet, I'm sure all parents would prefer that their children can survive and thrive on their own. I want them to live a long and happy life and pass away long after I do. In short, we all want our children to be better off than we are.
Notice that this metric, as vague as it might sound, has never been used by our current education system. Indeed, the long-term measure of happiness and success is expressedly avoided at all costs. In my high school years, only one class taught anything remotely related to the long-term view of being an adult, and it barely glossed over those topics. My undergraduate experience had one elective course that also just tangentially broached the topic, and terribly mis-taught it. My graduate education dealt with nothing of the sort and just assumed that someone else already taught those subjects to perfection.
My suggestion is to have a top-down approach to developing a winning education reform. My suggestion is called the "Six More Months" approach. We begin with the graduating college seniors. We provide a six-month "finishing school" training for graduating seniors to prepare, coach and advise them for life outside school. We teach them what employers want for employees "right out of the starting blocks". Rather than teaching more academic abstract nonsense, we ground these graduates with very down-to-earth knowledge that will give them an edge over their peers.
What exactly are these down-to-earth knowledge? That's not hard to determine. We get that with a wet finger in the air and see the immediate results. Once we learn what we need to teach, then we push back that six months to prep students so that when they do graduate, they will possess the same knowledge and assets that those who got the extra six months training got.
We keep pushing this back, stopping only to ensure what we've done meets the measurables and achieves our goals. It may take a few years to push back a block of six months. No problem. After a few more years, we'll learn that that some of the old things we've taught are completely unnecessary. We'll learn to trim useless courses and replace them with pertinent courses: those courses that will prep them for the following six months, which are needed for the subsequent six months and so on, all leading to a polished, prepared graduate.
The model applies to any sort of post-college life, whether it's in tech or marketing or athletics or the creative arts. The role of the educator is more of a coach and trainer with a heavy dose of sagacity to provide the graduate with real world knowledge. Some of those real-world knowledge could be taught earlier in the education-life of the student, so we would.
By following this method, parents, students and teachers all know they are working towards the same results and goals: testable, proven goals that have been shown by the previous graduates to be the successful route.