Big Think

Jeff Patten on September 3, 2008, 5:36 PM

I agree with some of Mr. Battelle's comments, particularly about the bureaucratic nature of school systems and the need to pay teachers a decent middle class wage. As a high school history teacher myself, I know that project based learning can be very powerful. However, I think that the logistics of mass education (lots of students per teacher, content standards to meet) make it very difficult to implement project oriented curricula. The key to the success of project based learning is student interest and motivation, which is most evident when the student actually designs his or her own problem to solve. The difficulty I see is in creating a system in which 20 (or 25, or 30) students in every class can effectively be guided in devising a series of interesting, individualized problems in the course of a year that will require them to access and understand most of the important information and ideas about key developments and concepts in history (or any other particular subject); as much as I want students to learn to think creatively, I also want them to have some grasp of basic factual information on which to base their creativity. Of course that's why many of those who can afford to send their children to private schools where they are in small classes and receive lots of personalized attention from teachers. So I think that one of the key questions is how, given the financial constraints faced by most school districts, can we create environments in which all public school students can access the type of academic challenge and support provided by elite private schools?

Jeff Patten on September 3, 2008, 9:36 PM

I agree with some of Mr. Battelle’s comments, particularly about the bureaucratic nature of school systems and the need to pay teachers a decent middle class wage. As a high school history teacher myself, I know that project based learning can be very powerful. However, I think that the logistics of mass education (lots of students per teacher, content standards to meet) make it very difficult to implement project oriented curricula. The key to the success of project based learning is student interest and motivation, which is most evident when the student actually designs his or her own problem to solve. The difficulty I see is in creating a system in which 20 (or 25, or 30) students in every class can effectively be guided in devising a series of interesting, individualized problems in the course of a year that will require them to access and understand most of the important information and ideas about key developments and concepts in history (or any other particular subject); as much as I want students to learn to think creatively, I also want them to have some grasp of basic factual information on which to base their creativity. Of course that’s why many of those who can afford to send their children to private schools where they are in small classes and receive lots of personalized attention from teachers. So I think that one of the key questions is how, given the financial constraints faced by most school districts, can we create environments in which all public school students can access the type of academic challenge and support provided by elite private schools?

Tim Ray on September 9, 2008, 10:37 AM

I think the big question is why is education costing more and we are getting worse results….why does college tuition triple, quadruple inflation?

Tim Ray on September 9, 2008, 2:37 PM

I think the big question is why is education costing more and we are getting worse results….why does college tuition triple, quadruple inflation?

Norman Maynard on September 16, 2008, 9:20 PM

Why does college cost so much? Many things in this country costs far more than they should because they are so far removed from their essential purpose. They’ve been “improved” to an excessive cost. Most grocery stores have prepared foods; vegetable sin individual wrappers/containers, etc. Houses are far, far beyond basic shelter, and colleges and private primary and secondary educational institutions are far beyond simple education, what with athletic programs, counseling, pre-school and after-school prgrams, summer programs, high tech accessories, etc. The high school where my daughter goes has a theater that would put most professional stages to shame. Same with the athletic field and locker rooms; the “smart boards” in every class, the programs to attend to career counseling, emotional counseling, learning disabilities, etc.
If all you want is a phone you plug into your wall and get a dial tone, you can’t get it. You can get one that does all kinds of other things, but it costs more. But you don’t have the choice for “simple,” because the ‘consumer" doesn’t want it.
If we could build small schools that just focused on education, we could do away with a lot of the bureaucracy and hard costs; we’d also have kids that were better educated. But would parents want it?

Joan Jaeckel on September 17, 2008, 1:33 PM

In my opinion, we will not move the educational system forward as long as we analyze the existing system for rights and wrongs. The core belief behind the existing system is “someone has to hold others accountable”. That’s medieval, reptilian-brain thinking. Higher order thinking says: “I hold myself accountable.” How can we design an educational system in which every participant lives that core belief?