Most people think it's a good think it's a good thing to get rid of things that don't work and keep that things that do. Yet our school system has a hard time picking up on that fact. Why should they? The public educational environment provides no reward to free thinking and innovation. Take this article from the NYTimes:
Of course, it is my responsibility as a teacher to engage the students in these classics so they can understand, analyze and appreciate the writings of our greatest thinkers. But I cannot. I have tried strategy after strategy, sought advice upon advice, and still, I am unable to spark sustainable interest in the vast majority of my students. Few students do the readings and even fewer seriously consider the ideas or themes presented in these writings. The class discussions are disgracefully unanimated and the student essays are dull, tedious and impersonal. For most students in my class, the months dedicated to the canons of Western literature are a dreadful waste of time. And yes, I know, this failure is mostly my fault.
This absolute uninterest in the classics is in direct contrast to the students’ reactions to books they are better able to relate to and understand. When my literature class reads great books like “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, “A Long Way Gone”, “Our America”, “Random Family”, “Push”, “The Outsiders”, “Smoke Signals”, “The Color Purple”, “Mama”, “There Are No Children Here”, etc. the students are actually vying for the privilege to read in class. The class discussions are dynamic and cover tremendous ground. (There is nothing as satisfying as when a class discussion becomes so intellectually and emotionally charged that a security guard enters to make sure everything is okay.) The students’ writings are more thoughtful, perhaps revelatory. Miraculously, some students even do their homework. A lot of the students are fully engaged, and learning actually occurs as we analyze the ideas, themes, and literary techniques presented in the aforementioned books.
Get the full version here
--This type of thinking is what people like to call "a good idea." Yet somehow I doubt the people running our school will pick up on it.
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