February
6
Blog #59 – Reforming Education
You need to watch this twelve minute video in order to answer this blog.
Answer the following questions:
1.Where do you put yourself on Dr. Ken Robinson’s scale of “academic people” or “non-academic people”? Why?
2. Do you agree w/ Dr. Robinson that American kids are over-medicated w/ Ritalin, etc. in such a stimulating time period? Why or why not?
3. Discuss Dr. Robinson’s claim that American schools are based on an old industrialization model (production-line mentality).
4. Why does our “divergent thinking” ability decrease as we get more educated? Do you think your ability has decreased or increased? Why?
5. What changes would you make in our school calendar, classes, etc. after watching this video? Why?
1) I put myself on the side of the “academic people” on Dr. Ken Robinson’s scale of “academic or non academic people.” Mainly because I like to think (or have been taught to think) in a linear fashion. For example, I can do equations and algebra in a second, but have more trouble visualizing and predicting things in geometry.
2) I completely agree with Dr. Robinson that kids are being overmedicated. ADHD is a very real diagnosis and can make school extremely difficult, however we are living in an age where technological advances are happening everyday and medicine is avaliable to many. It can be very appealing to take a medication that will focus a student when they have class all day, sports after school, homework, home responsibilities and you have three tests tomorrow. Kids get the wrong impression that you have to take all honors and AP classes to get into college and the result is a mountain of work which will leave you up until midnight when you are at a crucial time in your life where you need sleep to grow and develop.
3)This was the most interesting part of the video, to me. I had never thought about our school systems as an industrial model. Combined with the fact that it was created during the time of the Enlightenment/Industrial Revolution and was never radically updated since means we are long over due for radical reform in our education system.
4)As I stated above in the first question, we are taught from a very young age to think in a linear fashion, where every question has one answer. Solve for x, multiple choice, and essay’s with a predetermined response. Schools are not often about thinking, they are about rote memorization.
5)If I were to make changes to our current school system, I would change the way we do standardized testing. It’s more about process of elimination and ways of thinking than a test of intelligence. I would make certain classes not mandatory, but optional. Students could take more classes that pertain to what they like and have more room in their schedule to try new things. Schools should discourage excess homework. Homework can be a beneficial learning tool, but a chapter to read or 10 math problems should be acceptable rather than 3 chapters and 40 problems.
This was a really cool video and my favorite blog. Thanks Mr. W
1.) I would put myself on the academic side of the scale, even though personally I don’t think I’m the sharpest crayon. I do believe that I am smart, it’s what I’ve been told and I prove it to myself with my grades even though I don’t get a A+ in every class, as long as I try my hardest I’m okay with the grade that I receive. But I don’t necessarily agree with the “you are smart” and “you aren’t smart”. As someone who has struggled in the past with classes, I don’t think its fair to say that if you don’t get this then you aren’t academic. Every subject comes easily to some but that’s not often. I would hate to be academically judged by a performance in one class without examining all of the other good grades that I received.
2.) Yes, I do agree with Dr. Robinson that American kids are over-medicated with Ritalin. I personally know a child who has ADHD and when that child doesn’t take their medication they are full of live and happy. When they take Ritalin, they aren’t the same. They are more sluggish, even though the drug is supposed to help you focus, I believe that we can find another way to help kids with ADHD focus more without drugs because overtime they can get addicted and have to depend on Ritalin. Which isn’t good for anyone. To live in an exhilarating time period and be taking medicine everyday that makes you feel sluggish, to me seems like you aren’t living life fully.
3.) The Doctor is correct; the American school system is based on the product line mentality. Some kids like me, are more into reading and writing. And those skills may trouble some people. We are separated by grade, which is separated by age. They put us through the education system without regarding the fact that we all develop at different rates and we each have different styles of learning.
4.) Our “divergent thinking” decreases as we get older because we learn there is black and white. That there is no grey, there is no in between. There are some questions that have one answer but everyone doesn’t think like that. We lose the ability to look at something and think of the multiple perspectives of it with the new knowledge we gain. I think my “divergent thinking” has decreased some but with certain classes that I have taken, I now have the ability to express myself creatively in ways that I didn’t know I could.
5.) After watching this video I would change classes. I’ve always wanted to be an author and there are a few writing classes at Groves but mostly for the junior and senior level. I would create more classes to the different interests of students for each grade, to let the student see if they really want to pursue that in life. I would change the times of school. I hate waking up early and I know my fellow classmates feel the same. So I would have school start at 9, and get out at 4 or 3:45. When school starts at 7:30, most of us are exhausted and I believe we would get more sleep and be more “awake” for class.
I really would like to say that I’m on the “academic” side of learning, because well look at me I’m in AP classes, I have a relatively good GPA, and I’m doing really well so far, but I can’t. I would consider myself to be a “not smart person” I say this because I can solve as many algebra equations as your heart desires but when it comes the logical, real-world applicable topics or problems I feel as though I struggle in using my mind in that way.
I have to agree with doctor Robison, I “have” ADHD and I do feel as though sometimes I am put into a box as far as applying topics goes. For example if I was learning how to solve a math problem, on my medication I would be more likely to learn the topic so I can pass the test. However if I wasn’t medicated then I might have more trouble figuring out, and needing more help. This would cause me to use my mind more and apply it to a real-world situation, this would cause me to further understand not only how to do said math problem but understand how and when I would use such, it turn causing me to not just memorize some e rule for a test but to understand the concept completely.
I feel like Dr. Robinson’s claim of schools being based on factories is more a comparison. I’m sure that in 1860, when public schools where mandated that they didn’t base the school system off factories that have not been invented. However I do think that the similarities between factories and the way that our school system is set up is vast. It isn’t fair that we (as in the current students) are treated as equal, as far as extra help and individual time. Our teacher thinks that we all learn the same way and can be taught the same, which isn’t true.
Our divergent thinking has decreased as we become more educated because we learn more about that world and reality so we find it more difficult to stray away from what we have learned. I like to think that my divergent thinking hasn’t decreased even thought I know it has. We find it more and more difficult think outside of the box when our whole world is based in one.
This video really opened my eyes to the faults in our education system. If I was in charge I would defiantly add more logical real-world thinking, and get rid of some of the less applicable topics. I also would add some more classes that would help you in the future regardless of your career of choice, such as a taxes class were you are tough to do tour taxes. Or a logical thinking classes, where they help you problem solve and teach you how to use your “divergent thinking” to come up with alternate solutions.
On Dr. Ken Robinson’s scale of “academic people” or “non-academic people”, I would say that I’m leaning more to the academic side. While some subjects in school haven’t always come easily to me, school has always been a very important part of my life that I enjoy most of the time and I always try to do well. I agree with Dr. Robinson that American kids are being over medicated. I understand that there are some people with ADD and ADHD who may actually need it but then I also think that these days these medications are way too easy to people to get ahold of, especially people who don’t actually need them but just take them because of all the stress they’re under or something. I completely agree with Dr. Robinson’s claim that American schools are based on an old industrialization model with the ringing bells and different classrooms for every subject and how kids are sorted by their age. I really don’t think that that is a very good method of education because everyday schools just teach kids things that will help them to do well on tests and get into college and find a job but what’s the point of taking all these required classes if it’s something that you’re not even interested in for your future? Like why take English if you’re planning on being a Engineer or something like that. I think education should step off the path of the production -line mentality and begin to prepare kids for things that they’ll actually need in their future. Our divergent thinking ability decreases as we get more educated because in schools we are taught things that come straight from a textbook or things that only have one specific, straightforward answer. While our divergent thinking ability is like the ability to think outside of the box and think that there is more than just one answer to things. Sadly, I think my ability has decreased through my years of education like many other people because all along I’ve been taught straightforward things and I’ve learned to use a textbook or Google as a source for when I need help finding an answer. If I was asked to find different uses of a paperclip I really don’t think I’d be able to come up with that many. After watching this video I would make many changes to the education system. The main one would be what was taught in the classroom, it wouldn’t necessarily be straightforward things like solving an equation. But things that will help to not only get good grades and get into a good college and find a job but to help you be successful throughout your whole life and prepare you for situations you may face in the future.
According to Dr. Robinson’s scale, I would put myself as educated. This does not mean I’m the definition of a smart, intelligent, person, but rather that I could be way smarter than I originally thought. Iv’e gone through school all the way up until now, which is what many people wish that they could have in which some people just don’t have. Having education definitely helps when finding a job and becoming a successful person, but there is always people that are already extremely smart that may not need as much education as other people. I do believe that kids are being over-medicated for reasons that aren’t completely proven yet. ADHD, in my opinion, does exist and that medication is only slowing down the people affected by it, rather than actually helping them overcome it. A lot of people today think that medication can solve almost any problem that you can have with yourself, even though there isn’t any garuntee. Most of the people suffering from ADHD are just like us. We sit in school for MANY hours every day in which we just memorize, think, sit, and comprehend everything that we learn. This would cause people to want to move around and do something rather than sit and do nothing. I think Dr. Robinson was correct about how schools are like an assembly line. Each day, we come to school, go to class, eat lunch, and go home. We are put in different sections depending on how “smart” we are, such as being put in an AP class when other people are organized into other sections depending on grade level and age. Doing the same thing every day would cause some people to be frustrated. Some people are ready to move up to advanced classes while others are just ready to go home. Our divergent thinking ability decreases as we get older because we are taught divergent thinking is a form of thought that is wrong. As we learn more, we lose sparks of creativity and ideas that were so common when we were smaller. Because society lives up to certain standards, the mode of divergent thinking is beat back by laws and ideas of society until much of what we thought has vanished. I (sadly) agree that my divergent thinking has pieces that have been removed from my mind, but the more I can exercise my brain, the better I can become at thinking of more creative ideas. When it comes to actual reform, I would place people not according to age, but by how much they can learn so that everyone would be right where they need to be. People would study only what they would need to and not what isn’t needed according to what job they might want to get. I also would put real life challenges, and creations into learning to increase the amount of creativity and innovation in people’s minds. This might lead to a better future of where people would be ahead when it comes to education, medicine, technology, etc. To start something great and new, you have to start at the beginning; this would create a better future for people in everyday life.
When it comes to the scale of “academic people” I don’t know exactly where I fall. I lean towards the more academic side, but that’s just based on my grades. I’ve always carried high grades, even currently when I’m missing large portions of school due to sickness. But my ability to basically just regurgitate whatever information I’m taught doesn’t make me a “smart” student it just makes me a student able to pass a test. I’ve always had a high GPA but ask me to apply anything I learned to real life and I’m screwed. The video also mentioned deductive reasoning and knowledge of the classics as the “intelligent” model, which a. I suck at deductive reasoning and b. I have little to no interest in the classics.
I don’t agree with Dr. Robinson that American kids are over-medicated with Ritalin and other ADD/ADHD medications. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know about either disorders all that well, and can’t make a knowledgeable statement about any of this. But in all the personal cases I know of from friends and family, medication while not always well liked is effective.
Sure, there’s been an influx of diagnoses but there’s been increase of children entering the education system and even Dr. Ken Robinson said, an increase in standardizing testing. Kids are being forced into things that need more attention, like school, which is often where things like ADHD and learning deficiencies are discovered. Kids might be being misdiagnosed I don’t know I’m not a good person to ask. But Dr. Ken Robinson is overgeneralizing something that’s very real and very personal and thats not fair.
He states that its based on an old industrialization model because we have ringing bells, separate facilities and subjects which creates a very generic common education for our students. Much like the production lines that make cars and other such products . Which works really well, just not with people.
Our divergent thinking ability decreases as we get more educated because we’re taught that there’s often only one correct answer and often only a few ways to arrive at that answer. Honestly I think my divergent thinking ability has decreased. I just want to do good on homework and tests and thinking divergently isn’t the direct or “correct” way to get the right answer on the test. It’s to the point when it comes to thinking outside of school, I often have anxiety over doing things “the wrong way” and won’t do anything at all in.
If at all possibly some changes I’d like to make would be making school a more personal experience. I’d make it possible for kids to not attend class 5 days a week. This is mostly because currently I’m suffering from mono and the obnoxious amount of fatigue it brings me and want a way to do well in school but not have to sit there for 7 hours a day when my mental capacity is only for about 3 hours. Mono aside, it would increase ability to self motivate and self awareness, along with things such as divergent thinking. It would also allow kids to get a more hands-on real world experience with things like jobs and other activities.
1. On Dr. Ken Robinson’s scale of academic and non-academic people, I would place myself at moderately academic. This is because I have always obtained exceptional grades and viewed grades as the most important part of a class. But I would not say that I fit the mold of a respected member of society, as I do focus on things other than school, and many people with less impressive grades probably take away more from any certain class than I
2. I agree with Dr. Ken Robinson when he states that children are overmedicated in such a stimulating world. I believe this because with the exposure of new technology and experiences to newer generations, children are becoming more distracted by more glamorous forms of experience, which could be compared to a charismatic performer or teacher. This, consequently, takes younger children’s’ minds off of what they are “supposed” to be doing at that moment, which is generally learning in a comparatively bland school environment, which is more akin to a dead dog priest from the 1600’s. In a vain attempt to control children and help them keep their mind on the aforementioned bland school environment, children have been drugged up the wall with over the counter drugs that are supposed to improve focus. The problem is that these drugs suppress the distracting thoughts, and an idea that has been forcibly suppressed is substantially harder to suppress than a free idea, then what is the accepted solution when the drugs don’t work? STRONGER AND MORE NUMEROUS DRUGS!!!! Which in turn, has the opposite effect.
3. Dr. Robinson stated that America takes a cookie cutter approach to educating students. In many ways he is correct. American schools seem to have a general disregard for the many different ways students learn and their many areas of expertise. In most schools, all students have to take exactly the same classes for graduation and do roughly the same general things to achieve the commonly perceived definition of a bright future.
4. Our divergent thinking ability progressively decreases because when we are young, we are all in our own little worlds, each with a different sense of reality. But as we grow and go to school, we are exposed and eventually assimilated into society’s singular view of reality and what is real and what isn’t. I believe my ability has decreased for reasons that I imagine a lot of others have for losing their abilities, w, as a whole, have had all concepts of individual and alternate realities beaten out of us by the massive cookie cutter that is society.
5. After watching this video, I believe that schools should have longer summer vacations, to give students more time to unwind. School days should start later, to ensure that students are at their peak and less people are too tired to learn. There should be shorter classes, but more classes in a day, to give students an opportunity to take a wider variety of classes. Lastly, classes should be more interactive; in order to stimulate the creative part of the brain and keep the students engaged.
Dr. Ken Robinson had some very interesting ideas as to educational reform, but I found them very idealistic and unachievable, at least for the time period we are in. Yes, I do believe education can be improved, but no I do not think a complete reform is necessary. There is a saying “The world needs ditch diggers too,” I personally find that saying awful and degrading to those like myself who don’t do well easily in academics, but it is partly true. It is true in the way that we can’t all be geniuses and all get all As in every class, but the world doesn’t only need doctors and ditch diggers; the world needs business managers and dental assistants and everything in between. It’s not as if there are only two places, the academic and the none academic, because there is a spot in the world for every combination, and I resent the fact that just because academics don’t come easy to me there isn’t a spot in today’s social and academic society where I can have a successful future. However, if I had to classify myself based on his theory of ho the school system is divided, I would say non academic, because school isn’t as easy for me as for most others I know.
One thing I do agree with Dr. Robinson on is the fact that we are over medicating children so that they can fit into the box society has laid out for them. I believe in the over diagnosis of ADHD and that that may stifle and end the creative period that the young of the country has been striving on. One thing I do feel education needs to change is the fact that if kids are becoming so bored they need to be medicated to take an elementary school class, maybe teachers should make adjustments to the way they are teaching.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the old fashioned, production line style of education is wrong, because I personally find that the well organized method of teaching that has been developed is successful and effective. Although it is not without flaws, considering classes like American literature or US history are taken way more seriously than business classes or life skills classes. (No offense!! I do think both of these classes are important, but maybe not quite as important as every day life skills we will need when we are older).
Another flaw that is highlighted in our school systems is the discouragement of divergent thinking. In elementary school, pretty much every question we were asked had a simple answer, or a formula, or a model for each essay we wrote. Even the creative program we had that was meant to encourage and improve divergent thinking always had strict guidelines and ways of thinking. I feel that if schools are going to create programs such as that, they should be different, as there is no real guideline on how to be creative.
I think schools are encouraging creativity in all of the wrong ways. Schools claim to support extra curricular activities, but allow teachers in non-honors or advanced placement classes to give homework everyday and tests every week. On top of that, our school plans on taking away our X block times where students can either do homework, meet with teachers, or catch up on sleep; they say sleeping during these is abusing our free study time, but how are teenagers supposed to get the appropriate amount of sleep with all of the homework? I am personally dreading next year, as I am a student athlete for a basically year round sport for the school, and have gone in for all but two X Blocks this entire year. In an attempt to encourage creativity and thinking differently, schools have completely separated themselves from all religions, which I find to do the opposite. Religions and myths are all about creativity and thinking differently, whoever had the ability to think of people in the sky, controlling us all, they weren’t thinking inside the box. I just don’t see why we have to be completely politically correct and ignore our personal cultures and religions in school, rather than celebrate everyone’s beliefs. I don’t think that schools need a complete reform, or even much change, but they are definitely not perfect.
I would put myself on the on the academic side of Dr. Robinson’s scale. Even though I’ve always had middle of the line grades ive proven to myself that if I actually study for maybe 10 minutes I could get an A on a test it comes somewhat natural to me. I have been taught in all my years in school that grades are the only thing that matters and that’s how you are judged as a person. It seems wrong to say that but we have been taught that so much that it has actually been put into our thoughts and that’s how we see ourselves and others now based off of our grades.
I would not agree that kids are being over medicated. I myself have ADHD and believe that if I do not take my medication I am not able to concentrate at the same level that I would be able too if I did. Now some may say that oh its just a placebo effect, No it is not as you Mr.Wickersham know there is a huge difference in my behavior when I do and/or do not take my medication. So no I do not believe that kids are being over medicated I find it a rash decision that he would claim that as his opinion without even hesitating to look into the studies of medication before claiming that.
Well I do agree with him in this decision that it is a product line. If you look at it you learn the basics and then add those basics into new advanced problems. Also n the product line option shows by the progress through elementary school to middle h\then high then college.
Our divergent thinking abiliuty decreases as we get older through the educational system we are brainwashed to think a certain way.
I would not make any changes to the schedule except maybe one or two weeks more of summer just to give us a chance to let us regroup and get our minds set before we return to school for another year
I think that on Dr. Ken Robinson’s scale of “academic people” or “non-academic people” I would put myself on the “academic people” not because I think I’m smart, but because according to his scale anyone can be good in school if you have the mindset that you can achieve more than just the typical lazy and sleepy feelings. And I do think that the scale is very unfair because you can be the dumbest kid out there like not even to know your times tables, but still be a really good in school. You cannot be able to read and still be really good in school. And the scale is based on how far above or below you go from the average grade. I do think that kids are over medicated with Ritalin and other ADHD drugs. I think that because in this time kids have a hunger for knowledge and ask lots of questions that might not make sense but it only because they want to know so much to keep them occupied, but if you use drugs then it just makes kids not interested in what they are learning and the hunger for knowledge would be reduced or even just not there putting them in the “non-academic people” because they see school and learning as a waste of time. Dr. Robinson claims the American schools are based on an old industrialization model because in the 19th century is when public schools became a revolutionary idea where schools are still operate on factory lines such as ringing bells and separate buildings and different subjects that people can excel in such as math, science, social studies, and English/ language. We still educate children by batches and the only thing the kids would have in common is how old they are and the graduating class they are in such as the class of 2016 which I am currently in. But there could be kids that better at different times of the day or they are very smart for their age group. Our divergent thinking ability decreases as we get older because we have become more educated and we have been thought that there is only one answer and it’s at the back of the book and don’t look at it because that is cheating but outside of school it is collaboration. For my I would say that I have increased because even though I am more educated I can think of tons of creative things just as well as a kindergartener but I have that knowledge that I’ve learned to help me give logical answers. I can also say that it has decreased because you can take a simple question and turn it into a really complex one just because you decided to think about what the question is being applied to whether than just thinking of it as super easy. I would take out most of our breaks like spring and midwinter breaks because I feel like you as forget lots of the material that they covered in class and we shouldn’t have finals because if you are failing a class final is worth 20% of your grade so it can boost you or drop you even further and if you are very good it can drop you a little. And it can stress you out a lot. We should also make trimester longer so that way we have more time to go over what we learned in the beginning and be able to recall and understand what we learn every day. We should also have classes to teach us useful life skills like how to pay taxes.
1. Based on Dr. Robinson’s scale of academic and non-academic people, I would classify myself as being academic. I do not mean that I would classify myself as being smart, but that I focus greatly on my education.
2. I agree with Dr. Robinson that American kids are over-medicated on Ritalin and other drugs. In the video, he says that it is easy for kids to be distracted from the “boring stuff” when we live in the most intensely stimulating period in history. The distraction of kids leads them to being diagnosed with ADHD and being prescribed medicine, and they might not even have it. This medication is shutting kids’ sense off, instead of waking them up.
3. According to Dr. Robinson, the current system of education was designed & conceived for a different age; it was created in the intellectual culture of the enlightenment and in the economic circumstances of the Industrial Revolution. The education system was modeled on the interests of industrialization and in the image of it. The system today is still very similar to that of a factory line due to the fact that there are still bells that indicate the beginning and end of certain time periods, there are separate facilities, separate subjects, and the education is grouped based on age. The system today is very different in that it is much more diverse with the people being educated, and how they learn.
4. Our “divergent thinking” ability decreases as we get more educated because the education system pretty much suppresses it. At a young age, we are taught to use our imagination and our unique thinking to find possible answers to questions, but as we get older, it becomes reinforced in our brain that almost every question has only one correct answer. I think my ability has definitely decreased because I approach questions thinking that there is only one solution and I have to find the correct one.
5. After watching this video, there are many different changes that I would make to the school system. One thing that I would try to do is to try and group people based on their academic ability instead of their age. I would also have it so that evaluation was on more of a group basis. Many very smart people might not have a good memory, so they don’t do well on tests. In a group setting, teachers can evaluate more of what the student knows, not just their memory. I would also try to have a learning environment that was more interesting, so people would pay attention more, and therefore not having to rely on drugs such as Ritalin.
1. On Dr. Robinson’s scale, I would place myself as an Academic Person. I do believe I am smart biased on the scale of grades. I manage to achieve high scores. I also believe the scale is very unfair because it ingrains into the minds of students that being at the top of the scale is the achievement of success. I am not free of that mindset myself. The scale is not fair because you are judged off of very specific ways of completing a task. One of these scenarios would be time limits for taking tests. While some students thrive, some students feel more stress and go faster than they would which creates a greater margin for error. The student is then marked lower for what may be something as simple as miss reading a question. There are also some things certain people are better at. When a student does not perfect at something they are not very good at, it can cause the student to feel like a failure when in reality they are not.
2. In today’s society people are being over stimulated by media and things of the sort. To counter act this kids are being given powerful drugs to help them focus. I agree with Dr. Robinson that kids are being given too much. While the drugs do help kids focus on work over time it may cause them to develop a dependency on them. In a sense everyone has ADHD in varying degrees. In today’s society struggling to focus is common some people have a harder time than others. Giving very powerful potentially dangerous drugs is not the answer. A better way would be limiting the exposure.
3. The way school works; you start with one topic in a subject and move on the next and then the next. It moves at a fairly fast pace and students are expected to learn certain material in a certain time frame. If you fall behind it is increasing harder to catch up. The students are cobbled together based on age. The problem with this is some kids are better or more mature because they are a bit older.
4. Our ability to use divergent thinking decreases as we age because as we age we learn how things work. As a child we are usually much more imaginative which allows us to easily think divergently. As we age we become a little close minded in the sense we usually only see how to do something the way it is commonly done. I believe my ability to think divergently has decreased slightly, but not too much. I read a lot of fiction, which can make me think differently in some situations. I also do theatre, which helps me think out of the box.
5. If I could change something about school, I would make the start time a little later because not everyone functions well in the morning, which can inhibit learning. I would also make more opportunity for students to take classes that interest them, which they cannot take because of all the required courses.
1. In a sense, I would consider myself to be less on the academic side of the current design of education, though I’m able to function moderately well under the circumstances designed. What I mean to say is that I believe if the system was oriented more around the basis of divergent thinking and collaboration, I would exceed normal expectations, especially in comparison to the definitive, or as I like to call, “regurgitation of information” system of education.
2. Yes, I completely agree. Not just with Ritalin, but with other forms of medication as well. In the past century, as media levels have increased tenfold, so did the science of medication, and we use both as they are both readily accessible, cheap, and effective. I agree that Ritalin is dangerous, as it is in fact related to a mental disorder caused by overdose, by which suicide, anger issues, and overall depression is prevalent. On an UNRELATED note, I personally fear the development of bacteria (natural selection against antibiotics) to the point where our medication cannot withstand them anymore. We are living in a world where natural selection is being eliminated, and we’ve replaced it with OUR OWN form of (un)natural selection, by which humans are judged for their success based upon a new, standardized form of an ILLUSIONARY system that we all unquestioningly abide by.
3. I believe that the given model/ description of the current academic system is completely accurate for several reasons. Although American education advocates the “no child left behind” cause, it becomes increasingly apparent to me that this couldn’t be further from the truth. The system is designed as a production line; equipping Americans with the basic tools and skills and deductive reasoning to use in career choices and the way they will shape the world around them, however, the scale by which they use to judge students is warped, as stated in the video, with how students will normally be exposed to the prospect of collaboration in the real world, but when used in a school setting, it is cheating. The system is based off of STANDARDIZED intelligence, rather than DIVERGENT intelligence. Both systems have their flaws and perks, but overall, I feel that the process as a whole should include a vast new assortment of styles of learning, but why do we avoid it? Because it’s easy, cheap, and consistent to remain with the system we’ve been using since the creation of America.
4. I personally believe that I stand on the teetering point of becoming either better or worse at divergent thinking, as on one side, I feel somewhat drugged and mechanized by the American process of learning, but the truth of the matter is that I feel like I’m becoming increasingly aware of this process. In such a way, that I reason with a form of divergent thinking, of reasons why such things occur, and solutions for these problems. So altogether, I feel like I’m not beyond the point of saving, though should I continue to fulfill the “American formula for success”, that I too will just become another part of the majority statistic.
5. To be completely honest, I believe that the school system should involve many more interest collaboration groups, in the sense that a class from the day be removed, and replaced with a “free course” involving such ways of thinking, where interests could be individually pursued, philosophies such as the one in this video be discussed, or collaboration for other classes be performed. The main reason why I feel that there seems to be more of an educational reform now than since the progressive era is that the technology around us is developing faster than humans as a whole are. I feel that if we took time to look at the world around us more often, we’d be provided with both a valuable form of insight to carry us on throughout life as well as a refreshing variation from the dull routines of ordinary schoolwork.
I would probably rate myself as academic thus far, having taken tough classes. But then, I also hope for an innovative career future that balances innovation with logic, a mentally stimulating career. In today’s society such careers are few and far between, and innovation is often associated with non-academic views. Increasingly our idea of success is becoming more conformed, more like a factory mold. We press kids to join a successful group of a limited group of careers –medicine or law– to which society states are the best ways to make a stable income. Beyond that, students are told to go to college, get a degree, and achieve success, but as Dr. Robinson said, a degree doesn’t always mean economic survival. Many people have extremely long training in college and find themselves in a position of unemployment. It’s saddening. One tries so hard to achieve a goal that doesn’t pay off in the end, so why even try? Not only does this create a lack in motivation, the lack of motivation is then punished. Those who do not strive to learn are shoved aside as outcasts or unusable to the machine of the economy. It’s a vicious cycle that leaves many deprived while a few benefit. Schools will isolate a student to see their individual success, when it is in fact collaboration where minds grow and learn. The education system is “standardizing,” comparing a student to the “trend” or “average” in subjects we see today as necessity, namely math. If one were to do less than average in this topic, they would be seen as less valuable than someone who did better in that necessity under the eye of the system, even if that excelled in something else, per say literature. A human being cannot excel in everything. We do not all learn the same or need the same classes. Forcing a student to take a certain amount of required classes to graduate is hogwash. Why take a class that is useless to your future? Why have all students to take requireds for the sake of “standardization,” ensuring that all students completed many of the same classes. We are not all “standard.” We should not all be judged off of a “standard.” Each individual learns differently, does better in different things, and thinks differently. Pressing conformity cuts off one’s ability to think in their own way because they are being taught to think in a standard way. As children, we are unrestricted by the system, free from standards. We can think as we please, an asset many entrepreneurs would benefit from. As we grow older, education teaches us to think more conformed. Like a factory, every year, schools ship out their annual supply of standard students, molded to the standard. Standardization is uninteresting to those who wish to delve beyond. Many students find themselves bored because society’s mold doesn’t fit them. They want to learn their own way and think divergently. What is the response? Drug them. Give them pills so that they no longer have to think their own way. Muffle the potentially great ideas or perfect way of learning for that individual so that they can sit and listen to the standard way if thinking. Let them grow into their skin, adapt to their way of learning and fully benefit from that. After watching this video, my eyes were opened to today’s reality. I would have education embrace the different styles of learning, embrace an innovative way of thinking, and have fewer required classes. If society took a step away from the standard, more students would find themselves fitting in easier, and reaping the full benefits of an education. Conformity is a reality that not only is growing in education, but in everyday life. The perfect home, family, career, car — all standards that society wants to strive for. After hearing of the despicable insults hurled at the Cheerios commercial featuring a biracial family, I saw society’s standardization in action. The mold that a perfect family is of but one race, the mold that the perfect couple has to consist of one man and one woman, and many more exist in our everyday lives. If the world broke the view of conformity, accepting people for their view and beliefs, we could achieve happier lives and a more accepting and willingly collaborative world.
I would classify myself as both academic and non-academic. I say this because while there are some subjects I take great interest in and have a strong desire to learn more about, there are other subjects that I see as purely useless. It is important to understand why your country is the way it is and what events and people of the past influenced the future to make your country the way it is. It is important to know how to properly compose a structured and grammatically correct essay. It is important to know how to tell the difference between H2O, H2O2 and H2SO4, two are deadly, one is not and all are clear liquids. On the reverse side, a rather large and overwhelming percent of people will never need to know how to find the missing angle measure of a scalene triangle, what the pythagorean theorem is how to find the equation for a line in three different formats, of how to do calculus. The first three, History/Social Studies, English, and Science are helpful to a vast majority of people. The last one, math, is only useful to the extent of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, unless you are a chemist, physicist, architect, mathematician, etc.
American children are vastly overmedicated, this applies to every field of medication, but most specifically to children who use Adderall, Ritalin, and other drugs of those kinds. I know multiple children who are told by licensed physicians to take these drugs and its really all just a big money making sham. Things can be done to naturally improve a students academic performance. A change in diet is a major factor, if a child’s parents allow him/her to eat whatever they please, then your child will suffer academically. A more natural diet of fruits, vegetables, protein, grains, and dairy are essential in assisting a student to perform better in school. The sad part is that this is the same crap that we’ve all been hearing for years, but we just don’t care because pills offer a quick fix to little Jimmy or Billy, or Sally, or Jane’s focus issues. A second natural fix is less time with multi-media such as video games. Given, there are some children that require these medications for legitimate reasons. Pills don’t fix everything.
What is this crap about because Billy and Jimmy are both 15 years old, they are both equally prepared and ready for 10th grade. As it turns out, Billy has a 4.2 GPA and is taking Calculus, AP U.S. History, Honors English, and Honors Chem, and is bound for college and a good job. Jimmy does not have a 4.2, he has an 8th grade reading level, is in 3 Tri Geometry, is in regular U.S. History, and is in Intro to Chem and wants to work for Great Lakes Steel in the Mill. These two students are not the same kid. We are improperly bracketing students based on their age. We need to bracket students based on academic ability. If there is a 17 year old who is the equivalent of a 7th grader, then they should be in with an academically normal kid who actually does belong in 7th grade.
Schools kill a child’s creativity. A teacher asks kindergarteners to come up with uses for a pencil, and them might say anything from a thing to write with to a magic wand. As people get older, the schools limit creativity. The same teacher asks a group of Juniors in high school the same question. Every student thinks of things from writing utensil to prison shank, except one. One students asks, can the pencil be 36 ft. tall and be made of water resistant treated neoprene. The teacher will most likely
say, “No, it’s just a wooden pencil.” This kills imagination. Schools kill imagination. There is an unwritten standard for students that by a certain age, they think what is considered rational by modern society. People who think outside the box are not praised in society. You can make the argument for famous painters, but the truth is, they weren’t accepted until after they were dead. My divergent thinking has decreased, but less than it could have because I like thinking of solutions outside the box. I will explore different options to some one problem, even though there might be a quick and easy way to do that thing.
School grade levels would not be based upon one’s age, rather their mental ability. If Bill doesn’t care about school and he thinks its a waste of time, then he can stay in the 4th grade where he can be entertained and the school matches his mental ability until a set, specific age when he is eligible to drop out of school. Classes would not conform to the slowest of the class. The saying, “A team is only as good as its worst player,” really applies here. The entire class with be held up by this student. Therefore, you have lower classes in that grade level, until the point when even the most remedial class does not suit that student’s needs, to which the student is slotted into the next grade level beneath his or her current one. On a final note, just because a student is in a certain grade, does not mean that should be able to take all the classes associated with that grade. He/she may be in 10th grade, and take 10th grade math, science, and history, but they also take 9th Grade English. They are still in 10th grade, but the regularly report to 9th Grade English.
When Dr. Robinson talked about academic vs. non-academic people, I think that I am mostly on the academic side of the scale. I think that I am an academic person because I don’t just get by because I just go with the flow in school, but I enjoy coming to the most part coming to school and learning except for the part where I have to get up early. I especially enjoy learning in subject areas that I enjoy such as social studies and science, and I tend to do well in these classes because I enjoy them, so I listen better and have more of an ability to think outside the box in these classes. But I am mostly academic because I enjoy learning new things and I strive to get good grades and be the best I can be. When it comes to medication and ADHD and that type of stuff, I absolutely couldn’t agree more with him. I believe that kids these days have grown up with access to many electronics and other distractions at such a young age where they become a large part of a child’s daily routine. The kids attend school and learn about boring stuff that doesn’t appeal to them, and they get distracted. Parents and doctors call it ADHD to come up with an explanation for why their kids may not be listening in school, but the truth is that in a time period of major changes in daily life, education in many schools is lagging behind. Many classes of others and mine do things like talk from a PowerPoint the whole hour or give out packets everyday. I find it easy in APUSH to concentrate because I enjoy the subject matter, but in other classes that I don’t enjoy I find it easy to daydream or tune out because I am very bored. I don’t have ADHD, but lack of stimulation in some classes. Teachers need to find ways to stimulate kids and get them to participate in ways such as Socratic seminars, debates, or even finding ways to incorporate technology such as doing problems on Promethean boards. I think that Robinson’s claim about industrial-like schools is spot on. The school functions like a factory, where we listen for bells throughout the day, we each go to specific classes and have a routine like a factory, and every grade goes through the same thing. The schools need to allow kids to excel in certain areas so school is more like a refining place then a production line. I believe that our divergent thinking has decreased because we simply loose our imagination and broad thinking ability as we get older and school becomes more standardized. For classes like math, it is an everyday occurrence where we have specific problems from a textbook to do and we have to then check our answers online, and then study for a quiz. This does not encourage outside the box thinking. More real-world examples should be used and classes should work towards developing individual or “divergent” thinking in a student to prepare them as they move on to getting jobs. After watching this video, I would not change the school year or length, but I would start school later because the amount of homework kids have is a lot, and early starts make kids slow and groggy in the morning. The classes should definitely involve more thinking and “hands-on” activities, rather then standardized text-book stuff in order to develop advanced thinking in kids.
I believe that I am an academic. I like learning and problem solving and reading and writing. I also love learning in a classroom setting where you get to view the ideas of others and learn from your peers as well as an instructor. Even before watching the video I believe that ADHD is extremely over diagnosed. I think that in some cases it exists but in most the student is just misunderstood intellectually. You must grab their attention through different ways and analyze the way that they learn and try to reach them through that method. Not long ago ADHD didn’t even exists meaning as the world evolves so do our minds and we may learn differently now and because of the new technologies and distractions in life it may be harder for us to focus but this doesn’t mean we’re incapable of doing so. I think that the system can be compared to a production line because no matter how different we are intellectually we are all put through the same processes and get pushed through the system. We are grouped by age and not interests or intellect level and we go from grade to grade like in an assembly line. We are looked at as one generic mass of students instead of individual people with individual learning capabilities and minds. As we get more educated we are taught different things that can sometimes hinder our ability to think for ourselves or to imagine and have new revolutionary ideas. Going through the production line education system can hinder creativity and individualism which are key components of being a successful “divergent thinker”. I would group us based on interests and likes and dislikes. We would do more team assignments and activities and maybe even choose a field of study and then help build our own curriculum and decide how we want to intake the information.
I’m both academic and “not-academic”. I conform pretty well in a classroom when I put my mind to it, I can get the work teacher’s want me to do done. I don’t think like that though. It’s not what comes naturally. I am a slow reader, I often have to reread sentences 3-5 times before I can focus on what they are saying, I don’t have a long enough attention span to listen to a teacher for a whole period, I zone out a lot come back to myself some ten minutes later and then berate myself for not focusing, and I have trouble following other peoples narrated trains of thought. In other words, if for instance a group is collaborating to solve a problem, I’m often a few long minutes away from how they got from point A to point B. I know it sounds like I’m really putting myself down there, but I’m not. Like I just said, I’m not always “academic”, that doesn’t mean I’m not smart or don’t have other good qualities. Somehow I get good grades, mostly because I can usually make myself sit down and work. Not always though, which is where my “not-academic” self makes a strong appearance because sometimes I wonder if there is really a reason for me to be doing work I don’t like to do. Like your calendar said, “Procrastination: hard work often pays off after time but laziness always pays off now.”
I completely agree with Dr. Robinson on the ADHD over diagnoses and the heavy handed administration of medication that follows. Whenever the topic of ADHD comes up, at least three or four kids in my classes say they have it, and there are probably more who don’t say but have been diagnosed with it. To be honest I have trouble believing most of them. I think there is a border between high-energy people and those who actually just do not have the ability to pay attention and doctors blur that line way too easily. Not just doctors though, I think there is a lot of pressure coming from parents for the doctor to figure out what’s “wrong” with their kid when the kid doesn’t pay attention in class. I also agree with the idea of school being a production line assembly, for the most part. There is a little freedom to spend time learning about personal interests.
Education teaches us answers, a common sense. Divergent thinking is not necessarily nonsensical thinking, but I think it entails some extra thought that a “common sense” answer simply doesn’t have. My divergent thinking ability has gone down. I think so because my head sticks on the same thoughts longer, repeats them, and doesn’t introduce new ideas as often without outside inspiration. I see this in my thinking, my art, my writing, and other medias.
The last question you ask us on the blog, I actually remember my class brainstorming it in 3rd grade. Ideas included a swimming pool in each locker, being allowed to have class outside all the time, and of course less school. I still would like to have less school, but if you are asking me how would I make school more productive for the people who go through it, not just what changes I would make, than I would like a few things. First, I would like to be able to take classes I might be interested in without them being added to my GPA, it would make me less worried to explore. Second, and this is way out there, I think it would be cool if school ran all day and all night with different teachers changing shifts. A huge problem with school is that if you ask any student at any given time, they will probably say they are tired. Most of us go to school with all the makings of an excellent zombie. I think it would help if there was a mandatory amount of sleep people needed to at least have before they woke up and went to school . I’m really not sure how the details of that would work (or not work), but it would be something different at least.
I think that almost anyone in these classes can agree that they are an academic person, otherwise, why would they push themselves and take the hard road in a system clearly not designed for them? The academic person shines at least a little bit in anyone who answers “yes” if they are asked whether grades are important. This is also due to the fact that the system pushes students along this route, and tends to cookie-cut, so to speak, students into this frame of mind, but some students become far more invested than others. I believe I am very personally invested to the point that I am far on the track of the “academic person” and it seems to be working for me.
I agree that kids are over-medicated with Ritalin. This is due to what he mentioned, the fact that in order to fit in with the norm of education, you must be a docile information recipient, but is also due to a lack of responsibility of parents and children. Instead of teaching a child good morals, instilling good values, and getting them to understand a basic sense of right and wrong, when they discover that their child does not quickly grasp these things, they opt out, make their child docile through medication, and say they have ADHD, thus making neither they, nor the child, responsible for their behavior (this isn’t true in all cases, but with the staggering amount of new diagnoses, this is becoming more prevalent). However, to agree with Dr. Robinson, the fact that more and more kids must be calmed-down and numbed to be able to learn is proof that the methods of learning are starting to curdle in society today.
Dr. Robinson’s claim that schools are based off an industrialized learning style seems to make sense, especially when you see the value of the old model in its time. The industrial style fit in perfectly with the industrial era, because that was what people were used to. Children worked in factories, and had to deal with the hard times of that era, and school was no different. Now, in an age where the standard of living is far higher, kids are used to an insane amount of stimulation. It now seems to make more kids successful, it’s necessary to cater more, so to speak, to how children learn.
Our “divergent thinking” ability decreases as we become more educated because we are taught less divergent thinking, given less time for divergent thinking, and are often taught its opposite, linear thinking. My ability has most probably decreased, since I have not had much opportunity to be truly creative and think of creative things, however, I have instead been learning much linear information.
I would primarily, change school to a 3 day all year calendar and integrate far more popular culture into the curriculum. The schedule change would be to give a more consistent learning schedule, so that it lessens periods of catch-up without being to taxing on students, and at the same time, allows them much more free time to explore for themselves. The integration of popular culture is a way of trying to relate more with students and cater to their learning style. This makes learning more fun, relatable, and easier to remember when you are constantly reminded of it, and students can also apply their learning to the real world.
Dr. Ken Robinson claims that there are two types of people on the academic scale- academic and non-academic. To rephrase, smart people and not-smart people. When putting myself on the scale, I’d plot myself more towards the academic side of the spectrum. The first reason why that comes to mind would be the fact that I am in APUSH, Advanced placement U.S. History. Not every high school student is required to take the class, and because it can potentially be formed into a college credit it can be looked at a class for the academic. You usually do not see a struggling student in an APUSH class. To be blunt, you have to have some intelligence to be in the class, which I would claim to have. A side note Robinson stated was that the people within the academic side of the spectrum tend to often find themselves feeling unintelligent. I frequently find myself feeling this way. It isn’t because I am not knowledgeable, but more because, as Robinson stated, I have been “judged against this particular view of the mind”. This means that there are only two ways I can move on this spectrum, and if I am not above just one individual, I personally shove myself into the non-academic crowd.
Kids, Dr. Robinson claims, are extremely over-medicated. By giving children medicine to calm them down, assuming ADHD is an actual disorder, it gives them more of a chance to be able to concentrate and work on school related tasks that otherwise would be extremely more difficult to achieve. Unfortunately, we live in a world where energetic and playful kids need to be able to focus in order to get work finished. Since we live in such a world, I don’t believe children are being over-medicated. Once the world changes into one that will not force kids to sit down and use all of their power to focus in on a subject, then I’d agree with Robinson’s over-medicated claim.
Schools are based on an old industrialization model. Kids start the assembly line process once they enter kindergarten. By age, a child moves further into the factory of education until they eventually leave through college, assuming they made it all the way through the assembly line. However, Robinson challenges the idea of how these “assembly lines” we call schools are run. Should age be how an individual advances through school or should the quality of the individual (educational wise) be measured in another way?
Children freely say what they think, not worrying about being judged or being afraid that an idea is stupid. This “what will other people think of me for saying this” switch is always turned off. However, as we grow older, we are disciplined not only to refrain from speaking freely, but also are put into a school system that doesn’t look for such ideas. For example, divergent thinking is not needed in math class. When we don’t exercise our divergent thinking muscle, it will not grow. Although I like to think of myself as a divergent thinker, I would not be surprised if I was one of the children in the test Robinson mentioned that became less of a divergent thinker with age. I would blame my decreased divergent thinking on the fact that I do not exercise this “muscle” as much as I should be.
After watching the video, I understand Robinson’s claims that the school system needs to be altered. However, with every change comes another problem. For example, if our schooling system began to have children go through school not by age but by academic capabilities, how would these capabilities truly be measured? Of course children could take final-like exams for every subject, but would that accurately measure an individual? Thus, although the current schooling system has it’s flaws, with change comes other problems. Ultimately, I would not make any changes to the way schools are run.
I would put myself on the academic side of Dr. Robinson’s scale. My parents have stressed academic excellence since I was a kid and I would say that, in doing that, I have been exposed to a more learning centered education form. School has always come pretty easily to me and I have always done very well in my classes, which just reaffirms my original choice of where I sit on the scale.
I do agree with doctor Robinson that American kids are getting overmedicated in a stimulating time period, there seems to be a prescription solution to every problem. Personally, I do not see the necessity of them, but at the same time I don’t think that I have the adequate knowledge to question them since I don’t have very much experience with them. Your brain is developing at the ages you are going through general education and taking pills do have an effect on you at this developing stage in your life. Maybe it is a good thing, with better concentration people would have less wasted potential, since the medication generally improves performance. At the same time, it could also be limiting you to a more toned down version of yourself. As I do not have adequate knowledge on the subject to form a supported opinion, but I think that I have enough to say that this over medication could be harmful and have adverse side effects, while also limiting the range of creativity of a person. But even if people are getting overmedicated, they still performing better and there hasn’t been anything else that is all around more effective, so the benefits outweigh the disadvantages in some people’s minds, at the moment.
Dr. Robinson claimed that the academic system is based on the old industrialization model. I agree with that sentiment, as the system is very results oriented, which is seen in the constant flow of standardized testing. I honestly agree with him, but I do not necessarily think that that is a bad thing. There are some bad parts of it, like production line mentality, but I think that it is the best way we have to get the scope of a persons knowledge. We do not have the resources to a cater a test to every single individual person. Dr. Robinson says that it demotes creativity, but to be truly divergent, as he so earnestly wants, we would have to be adept at this form of learning as well. As you get further up in education, a majority of subject areas require a standard base of knowledge. You can meet that base and be creative at the same time. I think that he is seeing this situation in a black and white way, but that is the difference between theory and application, when you do something in real life it is not always one way or the other. You can be academic AND creative, which would make you truly divergent. Ii think that people are missing the point of this system. There are flaws, it is not a perfect system, and it should not be judged that way. Sure, you run the risk of mass producing the same thing over and over again, but that is not a certainty of this system, it is just one of the potential risks. If we could change it to something better, we would, but the system right now is the most effective in helping people become successful.
Our divergent thinking ability decreases as we become more educated because our learning becomes more structured and standardized, you have less of an opinion on what the answer is, you become more practical. Before you may have colored yellow grapes, but then learned that there are, normally, just green and purple. You wont see the grape as yellow, you will visually see it as green and purple. I think that that is the danger with standardizing education, but at the same time I think you need that standardization of knowledge in certain aspects of your life, while still promoting creativity in others. Like math, you have to follow careful and practical theories in math or you wont succeed, but on the basis of English, after learning the rules, you can take more liberties. We should promote creativity in some aspects of our life, but not all. I think that my creative ability has increased because I know when to stimulate my creativity and which aspects of my life to apply it too, and when to apply it as well. I am generally a very creative person, but I choose where to outlet my creativity and save practicality for certain school situations.
To be honest, I would not make very many changes, but in the instance of balancing practicality and innovation, I think that it would be helpful to have creativity classes/seminars where kids could have an outlet from practicality to find their creative individual, making them more creatively rounded without taking away the necessary knowledge that you get through practicality.
I would say I’m an academic person. I’m not calling myself smart or trying to flaunt my grades or anything, but I’m just naturally good at school. I have a great memory, and a great ability to memorize things and that’s how I make my way through school. That, and a combination of working hard, and you get a good GPA. I have no idea if Dr. Robinson is right or not in terms of whether ADHD exists or not, but he is right when he says kids are snowed under with drugs to combat a disorder that we can’t even confirm exists. I’ve heard kids say that they’ve had bad grades because of their ADHD, and then were put on Ritalin to settle it and their grades got better. Maybe that’s true. But for all we know, they could have been put on a placebo and just paid better attention in class. Moreover, I’ve heard several more kids complain about the medicine they take, and twice as many kids blame medicine for making them drowsy. So I’m not totally sold on Ritalin making ADHD “all better”, because from what I hear it makes things worse. Dr. Robinson also put something new on my mind- the educational assembly line theory. The more I think about it, the more true it is. The best assembled cars are sent to the dealership to be sold- the best students are sent to prestigious colleges. The cars that need more work might be sent back to a certain stage of the line, while skids that need a little more work are sent back to repeat a grade. That stood out to me, and I never realized that it was true- our grade is a manufactured product of Birmingham Public Schools, off to provide their service in the world as they were assembled in factories like Berkshire, Beverly, West Maple, etc. Our divergent thinking ability begins to decrease because as we are educated more and more, we begin to think more logically, and see the world through what it is, and not what it can be. It’s like that AT&T commercial with the kids and that guy in a suit asking them questions. They come up with things that make me die laughing because they’re just so ludicrous and illogical. But they do so because they’re less educated, and have a wider view of what things COULD be, rather than what they actually are. Finally, I’d make classes a little more active than they currently are. Sitting in a desk for 72 minutes straight-up taking notes will not interest me. Coming up with an activity, like a debate, that will allow me to share my thoughts, does interest me. I will stay wide awake for that and learn much better than I ever would writing stuff in my notebook.
Nathan L.
1. On Dr. Ken Robinson’s Scale, I would put myself on the “academic” end because I value education and take school seriously. I think it is important to try your best in school and not get stuck going through the motions like the average student. Even if you don’t get an “A” every time, students need to realize that it’s not the end of the world. They need to pick themselves up and try harder next time. I don’t hate school or homework even though it can be stressful at times. I just try to keep a positive mindset and not let a bad grade or something drag me down. We are really lucky to have access to a great education system, and it is shameful that some people choose not to take advantage of that opportunity that many people don’t have.
2. I agree with Robinson that American kids are over-medicated in such a stimulating time period. There might actually be some kids who truly have ADHD or something along those lines, but I think the majority of kids that claim they have ADHD really don’t. People shouldn’t need medication to help them not get distracted with social media and all of our modern technology. These kids are probably not putting forth enough effort in academics and they are giving excuses being “helped” through school when the other students are fine on their own.
3. I really like Dr. Robinson’s claim that American schools are based on an old industrialization model and they function like production lines. I never thought of school like that before, but this metaphor makes perfect sense: We function around the ring of the bell, each class is in a different room, bathrooms are separated by gender, and students are taught in batches. Each year, students gain more knowledge than the previous and at the end of their four years, they are packaged up and sent off to go about their lives.
4. Our divergent thinking ability decreases as we get more educate because we are being taught and influenced so much by our teachers telling us that there is only one right answer and one way to get it. When we were little, our mind were innocent and fresh. We created our own ways of doing things and figured them out for ourselves. I definitely think my ability of divergent thinking has decreased because I always say that I am not creative anymore because I am used to one right way. It makes sense now and it is noticeable to me how this ability has faded in many students.
5. If I could make changes to our school calendar, I would have school start earlier and end sooner. That way, there is more useful time in the day and more time for homework. I would also make the class periods shorter, but have there be more class periods in a day. That way students would be able to take all of the required classes and have more room for ones that interest them. Also I think it would be a good idea to have a smaller amount of required classes for certain subjects. For example if someone is interested in the science field, they would be able to take less of the English classes and load up their schedule with science classes.
1. I would put myself on the academic side. If we’re defining “academic” according to the wold wide known, standardized definition, arent we all? We are all taught to memorize and reciprocate education back to our instructors. This is how education is currently working. If academic capability is being measured on how well i reciprocate this information, I would say I fall on the academic side. My ability to reproduce this information is fairly well, which can be seen in my relatively good gpa.
2. Yes, I do agree. ADHD has become a fairly common disorder throughout the world. Now that medication has come about for this, many more kids are consuming this medication to cure their disorder. However, before medication, everyone with ADHD was coping well without. It was thought that this deficit disorder could be cured with hours of steady activity that would teach them to focus. I believe that with these new medication, it is only encouraging doctors to diagnose kids with adhd and for kids and parents to claim adhd.
3. I think that his ideas of Americas school ideas are based on the older education system is completely correct. We still carry the mentality that if you can receive good education, you will be able to get a good job. However, we know now that the latter of that statement isnt true, we still believe that if you can get good enough grades, you will be more successful than someone whose grades are worse. Which, I believe is completely incorrect. We have made it a common belief, especially among Americans, that your education is based on your ability to reciprocate information you’re taught. Your education is based on the standardize testing and how well you do. In reality, there is a fine distinction between education and intelligence. We are taught to be educated. Truthfully, mostly all of us are intelligent.
4. Our divergent thinking increases as we get older bc all we are taught is black and white, nothing in between. we are taught answers, and nothing else. I believe our abilities has increased bc this mind set is becoming more common. Like now, at groves since so many snow days, we are now being taughts strictly answers theyre being thrust upon us. Not truly taught.
5. After watching this video, i would want to change edu cation from being so standarized to being more participation based so we actually learn.
1. I would say I am an academic person merely because I am “good” at school. Over time I have learned to do well in the game of school, how to get good grades because of the way school is structured. However, this does not necessarily make me smart. They say, “if you judge a fish by it’s ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life thinking its dumb.” I am considered intelligent only because I can excel at school, but my ability to memorize facts or understand certain concepts, does not mean I am people smart, creative, or any other as impressive forms of intelligence. Many of my friends do not recieve similar grades to me, but I would consider them miles smarter than myself, and despite my good grades, I detest that other people are made to feel less superior just because society doesn’t acknowledge their talents.
2. Although I do believe ADHD is likely overdiagnosed, and the medicine does have anaesthetic side effects, I reject the premise that it is entirely a fake and a waste. Drugs for the disorder help not only to focus on things like school, but subjects that would fall under the category of art. Being anaesthetic may be a bad side effect, however I think as in any case when taking any medication, you have to weigh the risks and the benefits. Without the medication, many people not only lose focus, but motivation, and that includes the motivation to do just about anything.
3. I agree that for the most part school runs like an assembly line, with everyone having to take the same classes and work in the same way despite the fact that we all learn very differently. In Groves, this has been countered by the extensive selection of electives we can take, and the honors vs. regular classes. This helps to negate the assembly line process by letting kids take harder classes in subjects their interested in, and easier ones in subjects they are less so. Groves also offers the Excel option for students who learn better with projects, rather than lectures.
4. Our divergent thinking decreases as we become more educated because we are taught to learn in a linear fashion with a single right answer. Even in english that is supposed to have more than one right answer, we are taught to structure essays in a singular fashion. However this has merit because it teaches you the most effective way to write an essay. My divergent thinking has likely decreased because my I can’t think of many different ways to use a paper clip, and also statistics would show that it’s most likely.
5. I think simply offering increased variation in types of classes offered would help solve the “industrial line” problem.
I consider myself an academic but since I started algebra in 8th grade it had been cast into doubt due to the nature of the way math is taught I still think I am an academic but I am not certain what I do know is that I do not fit the model for success at school I find that the old model of an industrial school fits but in more ways then what he mentioned the school in order to teach us has us churn out examinant amounts of work that are never relevant again once done similar to the way a factory makes product then the product disappears form the worker these assignments are not interesting in the least and provide no motivation completing them other than a number in schools these numbers are a grade in factories they are the amount of money you get but the proses of making these numbers is not very interesting leaving us bored and detached causing the learner beginning to fail similar to my math class. This lack of interest is only heightened by any add/adhd medication prescribed in my experience all the medication had done is lessen interest in everything so now rather than being distracted by the poster on the wall your interest was never picked up in the first place when you manage to pick it up it won’t leave but it also doesn’t think about it as hard as it would have if you weren’t on the medication. This lack of though in the subject not only decreases caring but also the mentioned divergent though the lack of caring causes us to just spew out answers that we were given rather than think about the topic for ourselves. One thing I noticed is that when taking a math test on day that I didn’t have any medication I would often read a word problem when given read through it all analyze it all and then from there calculate a few things that had nothing to do with the formula given but did with the circumstance, from there I wouldn’t have had the chance to use the long formulas but that also meant I couldn’t get the formula wrong or do any silly math areas do to the way the formula is written. On the days that I would take the medication all I would do on tests is spew what I was given allowing for more room for mistakes in the way the formula is written. If I were do design the school day I would have made both the school year and the school day longer but have more in the way of breaks every 6 weeks of break there be a 2 to 3 week break then during the school day I would have it start at 10 when the brain actually fully wakes up according to surveys and studies. The after every class there would be a 20 minute break with a hour and a half break for lunch. Within all the classes they would be skilled tiered only at the high school level there would be no advanced math and college prep math in middle school or lower. Once in high school all classes would be that way with minimized testing instead focusing on learning the task along with crucially how it interacts with the rest of the world a how it is important rather than these optional one time snippets of how it is important.
1) I believe that I am on the “academic” side of the scale. I believe this because I have fully given myself into the though that I need good grades to go to a good school and then to get a good job in life and be happy and the end. Because I have fully given myself to this idea, I achieve high grades in most of my classes but this does not make me a “smart” person. Saying that I got a 100% on my history test doesn’t mean anything. Maybe that just means I can remember the information, but did I really learn it? If I did only memorize the information, does that make me smarter then someone who got a 90%? 80%?
2) I do agree with Dr. Robinson that kids these days are being over-prescribed medication. Just because someone cannot pay attention in class does not mean they have ADHD or ADD. If you see a boring tv add, do you watch it? No, of course not. You skip to the next channel to see if their is something you like. This does not differentiate from school. If the teacher is writing on the board about something that doesn’t interest us, or that bores us to death, is it not surprising that we don’t pay attention? I would call it human nature that we seek something that is interesting to us.
3) I find this concept to be very interesting, and do think it has some truth in it, but not in all situations. When we are younger in school, like elementary and middle school, I agree that it is much like an assembly line. You go every year to new classes that you didn’t get to pick. It was already made for you that you were going to go to those next classes. I disagree with this concept because once you get into College and higher levels of education, you are able to pick your own courses and set a schedule that pertains to you, without any prior knowledge of what your classes were going to be.
4) I think that our divergent thinking ability decreases as we get older because we are taught not to have those radical, irrational ideas. We are taught and have it infused into our minds that we need to think rational thoughts, things that make sense. We are also taught that there is only one answer for most things, not all, but most. I think that my divergent thinking abilities have decreased because I feel I have lost some of my creativity. I am not able to always think of new, original ideas that some may even call childish.
5) Some of the changes I would make is that you can always pick your classes. We should not be forced into anything that we are not interested in or that we aren’t good in. From a young age we should be able to excel and learn in subjects and areas that interest and excite us, not boring areas of education that we may not even be good at. Another change I would make is I would change the time we go to school during the day. Some people aren’t morning people, and some just are. We cant help those kinds of things.
On Dr. Ken Robinson’s scale of “academic people” and “non-academic people” I would put myself somewhere in the middle. I see myself as someone who does well in school but mainly because I feel like it’s something that’s required of me and something I have to do, I don’t enjoy school or the way the education system is set up, it doesn’t work for me but I have to do what I have to do to give myself the best opportunity at a decent future.
I do believe that some children are over medicated in the sense that I think too many children who don’t have any problems are being put on these drugs. Obviously if you need it, then you need it and take as much as you see fit but I personally know people who abuse these drugs and take advantage of them, so maybe the kids aren’t over medicated but some are abusing a drug that some really do need in order to go about their day without an trouble.
I completely agree with Dr. Robinson’s statements that American schools are based on an old industrialization model. We are forced into school, through different grades and classes and at the end either you succeeded and go on to college and get a job or you’re tossed to the side into the reject pile. The system is set up in a way that if we are not above average than we are not good enough and it really makes you feel crappy about yourself. Also everything is so standardized, theres no quality control on the production line and even if you feel your not ready to go to the next step you get shoved into calculus just because your 17.
I think our divergent thinking ability decreases as we get more educated because as we get older we are taught that there is one way to do things and if you do it that one way you will get the correct answer. I definitely know that mine has decreased because even if I think of a better way to do something I just keep it to myself and do it how the teacher wants me to because that way I know I’ll get the answer that they want and then I can get an A.
I would definitely make the school year shorter because I know that by the beginning of the third trimester I have given up and will be doing the bare minimum to get by. I would limit the required classes because it’s required that I take all of these math classes but I know that I’m not good at math and at this point I probably won’t be good at math and my gpa is suffering because of the standardized curriculum.