It's Nice to Share

Remember being told that "it's nice to share" about a bazillion times when you were little? Remember telling your own off-spring, siblings, neighbors, etc. the same thing about a bazillion times?
I've found myself saying that to various schools all morning; it's an idea that I think might just save a lot of kids from being doomed to failure.
Over the past century, school after school after school has been nurturing people to live and work in isolation. We hide our papers; we don't collaborate on projects because how do we split up the grade; we partition ourselves from one another in the library and learn through reading in silence. Who's idea WAS this?
Earlier today I enjoyed lunch with a delightful table of people who were strangers this morning and are fast becoming vision-sharing friends. The age-old conversation comes up time and again--we don't have money, we don't have resources, we don't have people who want to become involved. I have an idea; let's just solve those problems once and for all and then we don't have to waste valuable time on those wheel spinning perplexities.
We don't have money--so what? We have brains, we have Internet resources, we have high school kids who want to be teachers, we have churches and libraries even in the smallest of towns. All of these resources can be used and it takes very little revenue. We use our brains to think so far outside the box that we can't even FIND the box. We use our Internet resources to network--our kids that live in the country, in the inner city, in the burbs can go virtually and visit with the person that's in the process of climbing Everest, swimming the English Channel, or in the lab discovering the next thing that's going to save the quality of our lives. We give those high school kids that chance to try out their dreams by helping them learn how to tutor kids, and, in turn, giving those little ones the chance to have a positive role model that doesn't come on a Wheaties box resulting in a much more attainable goal for the kiddo someday to return the favor to the next generation. We go into our churches and libraries and barbershops and coffee shops and ask them to post websites for the school, to host community meetings, to share resources and people power.
How did we ever get so far away from such simple solutions? It makes me wonder. Physical isolation doesn't need to mean emotional isolation--we're human--we need one another.
Let's start being community once again.
Have a fine day.

Evolution in Education: Custom Fit

I made it almost through to the month of September before having to write a blog entry on education. I think I could've held off even longer, but I read an excellent article this morning in the Atlantic entitled "The Littlest Schoolhouse" by Ta-Nehisi Coates. I then read an article in The Futurist entitled "Youth At Risk: A New Plan for Saving the World's Most Precious Resource" by Gene Stephens. Both have different approaches on how to get kids back into being active learners; both are excellent. I invite you to read either (or both) the articles; I'm guessing some Googling would bring this to your screens.
To summarize the articles, two things need to be in place for all kids to learn. First you need to make sure that the child's learning style is understood and utilized; we don't all learn the same way. We can't all be taught the same way. It's okay to diversify and let some kids just plop on the headphones and work away at the laptop...they're just wired that way.
Second, we need to have community involvement. Not the type of involvement that sits in judgment of and waits for students to fail; this is the type of involvement that pulls in smart people with futuristic ideas about how kids as adults will be able to be successful in their lives. This takes mentoring, this takes patience, and this takes a sharp learning curve of those involved so they can be helpful. You put all this together and guess what...it works.
We're going to have a tough time helping people get through change on the education front. It's going to be challenging in the least. With added pressures of "making the grade" on a national level, it's going to be sometimes downright frustrating. BUT...it can be done when people think of the future and they think of the individual, not the group.
I see an exciting future...have a fine day.