Web Review: Changing Educational Paradigms by Sir Ken Robinson

http://sirkenrobinson.com/skr/rsa-animate-changing-education-paradigms

Major Points:
Our education system is flawed in the sense that we still use an outdated production model to educate our students
The rise of ADD/ADHD correlates with the rise of standardized testing
The social sciences suffer from the rise and importance of standardized testing

My Agreements:
Our education system is flawed in the sense that we still use an outdated production model to educate our students
The rise of ADD/ADHD correlates with the rise of standardized testing
The social sciences suffer from the rise and importance of standardized testing

My Disagreements:
Our education system is flawed in the sense that we still use an outdated production model to educate our students

Thoughts:
I would like to start with the one point that appears in both my AGREEMENTS and DISAGREEMENTS section which is: Our education system is flawed in the sense that we still use an outdated production model to educate our students. I agree wholeheartedly that it is an outdated system that is flawed, but it in a sense it is all we have.  Please do not get me wrong in defending our education system but it IS all we have and at least for the present time ALL we can muster.  We have to produce students in batches, we have to dumb down curricula, and we certainly have to bore our students in order to teach them what is going to be on a test.  Believe me..it is not a pleasurable thing to do day in and day out, but it's what we have to do.  We have to operate within the parameters in which we are governed, and will continue to so long as the current educational paradigms are in existence. 

That being said, Sir Robinson's notion is completely true.  We have got to tear down these ideas that education has to be a certain way.  Somewhere, someone must get it in their mind that tests are not the answer.  There is no magic bullet to show a student has learned.  We need to instill in our students the love of ascetic learning and learning for the sake of learning.  Before I go further, I must say that good teachers do this daily..they do..come to my school, and you will see it.  On this point I would go a step further than Sir Robinson and say that a problem with the current paradigm is that teachers, who tend to be intrinsic learners, end up teaching many student that see no value in education. Obviously teachers see the value in education otherwise they would not go get HUGE amounts of education to turn right back around and spend 20 or 30 years mixing it up with students who increasingly younger than they are.

The third and final point I want to comes from the point of view of a social science teacher.  We are, in every sense of the word, forgotten or a the very least ignored.  My school system has decided to buy into the idea of STEM education, primarily due to funding provided by the state in which we are located.  STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.  Nowhere does Social Sciences, English, Foreign Language, Physical Education, or any other branch of education fit into that paradigm.  I hold, that if we want to change paradigm as Sir Robinson suggests the first thing is to get rid of STEM education and focus on liberal education.