Learning Revolution

Kevilina and Jaime are doing important work here. There are more than enough people and organizations around to galvanize a genuine worldwide revolution in school and education. But there is and always has been a disparity between us. Now though we have the tools to connect with each other. IncitEd will give us the opportunity to provide and access financial support to and from education models we believe in, and finally create some alternatives and competition in what has for too long been a stagnant educational marketplace. We will also have the means to scale other organizations models around the world e.g. if you wanted to open your own Sudbury school or Summerhill. Please have a look at the IncitEd website and if you can, donate a little. We have an opportunity to more effectively change people’s lives, and we shouldn’t waste it.

Cooperative Catalyst

My friend Alan Burnce is an experienced high school English teacher, having taught in inner New York City and rural Oregon for nearly a decade. Incidentally, he’s a graduate of Stanford and of Harvard’s school of education. In other words, he’s a well educated, experienced teacher, and he’s passionate about mentoring students. He’s the kind of educator all young people should have the opportunity to work with.

Last spring, Alan was laid off due to budget cuts. But he hasn’t given up the work he’s been doing with students. He learned of an innovative education model in Massachusetts called North Star: Self-Directed Learning for Teens and decided to replicate that model, has students ready to join, and is currently seeking funding.

A nonprofit called P:ear “builds positive relationships with homeless and transitional youth through education, art, and recreation.” For eleven years, they have worked respectfully to rebuild the whole person…

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The Difference Between Learning And Education – Inspired By Sudbury Valley School.

Education? There’s no such thing.

It’s a pleasant synonym for the indoctrination of children towards our own ends. Education is what happens when we raise kids because we want things from them. Learning is what happens when we raise kids because we want to give them something – the world.

How do we do that? What does it look like? What is our job if we want to give children the world, rather than use them for it? It’s very simple.

To give children the world, you love them, and protect them, no matter what, and you let them find their own way. Love them. Protect them. Listen to them. Empower them.

As I said, education is what happens when we want something from children – in the instance of standardized education, obedience and productivity at monotonous tasks. We give them an education so they can give us what we want. Education has not been a consistent mainstay of human progress; it has flitted in and out of cultures in different forms, as required. For nearly a hundred years the current form of education has been in place, and in a lot of ways, for much of that time; it has served us well. But it is no longer needed.

Standardized education no longer serves us as anything more than a free babysitting service, and an indoctrination into an obedient consumer culture that is no longer useful for anything other than propagating itself.

Learning on the other hand, has always existed and been pivotal to the survival and progress of the human race. Learning is not optional or institutional, and it will take place in any environment, from the bleakest to the brightest, no matter what. For example, in many of our schools now, in spite of the oppressive atmosphere, students manage to learn that their opinions and interests are not valued, that they are subordinate to their teachers, that they must sit down, shut up and do as their told, or suffer ridicule and punishment. These are just a few of the lessons that are compulsory in our backward curriculums. In a moment you will have the option of watching a video demonstrating a school that fosters learning, with no ‘education’ necessary to the process.

Sudbury Valley School inspired this post by showing me very plainly what learning is, and how to guarantee it will happen. Learning is guaranteed to happen when we love our children so that they learn to love, listen to them so that they learn to express, protect them so that they can safely explore until they’re old enough to protect themselves, and empower them with the things they need to pursue that exploration.

It can be difficult to do all this because many of us charged with cultivating such an environment have not yet learned to love, have not yet learned to listen, we have never felt safe enough, or empowered enough, to explore, and so we think it unsafe to do so. In these things, many of us must learn alongside these children we are entrusted with. And we’ll be better for it.

To summarize: Education is what we do to our children when we want the world from them. Learning is what our children do when we give them the world.

I hope you enjoy this video. That it inspires you like it inspired me.

If you like this post, please share it on and spread the word – It’s pointless if it’s not passed on. And of course, if you have anything to add, please leave a comment.

EduCoup Prompting Lively Debate

Some of the reaction to EduCoup has been very encouraging and it was great to see our post ‘The Flaws In Our Education System’ inspire such an involved and lengthy debate here on ‘The Learning Revolution’ Facebook page.

The discussion is captured below in screenshots using the handy ‘snippet tool’.

What’s your take on this? We’d love to hear it!

Charting A Map Of The Learning Revolution

Ushahidi is an open-source software platform that plots a set of particular incidents, submitted by people via cell phone text messages, onto an online map. Ushahidi, which means “testimony” in Swahili, was initially developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008. It has also been used in disaster relief in Pakistan and to map crime incidents in Atlanta.

What if we used this software to create an interactive online map of the learning revolution? It could be filled with the sites of important talks like Ken Robinson’s ‘Schools Kill Creativity‘, with the locations of alternatives to school such as Compass. with the towns of proud home-schoolers, with initiatives like Imagining Learning and their listening sessions, and with the locations of schools where students or teachers are unhappy and want change.

How amazing would that be? A map of the world where you can see the physical location of like-minded people, click on their links, see what they’ve done, contact them. Mental!

For a clearer idea of what Ushahidi is all about, take a look at the video below.

I think we could create an exciting and convincing visual to spread awareness both of the problems in education and the growing numbers of solutionaries working to overcome them.

What do you think?

Replacing Schools With Centres For Self-Directed Learning

Compass Teens | Centre for Self-Directed Learning.

Compass teens is an alternative to school – a physical base for learners to use as a springboard for their personalized education, be it through their own projects, internships, building portfolios or one-one-tutorials. Its a very simple idea and I believe that every community should have a Learning Hub like this. A place for all ages to go and share their questions and dreams with other, real, face-to-face people. Click on the link at the start of the post to check it out!

There is a lot to be said for, and gained from, online learning. But learning is a social endeavor and while I don’t believe attendance should be regular or compulsory, there is no available technology to replace the value of face-to-face interaction.

Compass is a wonderful example of a form this type of Learning Center could take. And it is important that the emphasis is on learning, which is something people do for themselves, because they want to, and education, which is something that is done to people.

This way’ education’ is much more fluid, it starts with and spreads out from the learner, and can be organized and adapted as it goes along. There would no longer be any need for oceans of red tape to be hacked through by lobbyists as though they were Sleeping Beauty’s prince hacking through the forest of thorns. After perhaps years of campaigning, to slay the dragon of the old curriculum, only to find something else was wrong, and would take another gargantuan bureaucratic battle.

This way there would be no need for a set in stone curriculum, rote learning, standardized tests, boring classrooms, force-fed learning or dogmatic teachers. This seems like a far more adequate proposition than High-School.

Students could make use of online resources as was required, people of all ages would learn together based on shared interests, what was in their hearts and minds rather than the date on their birth cert. Rather than taking ages to set up extensive internship and apprenticeship schemes these things could be organized on a basis. People could explore what interested them and learn skills as was necessary to continue their exploration.

There are some interesting points made here in the Compass FAQ, and I recommend taking a look.

It sounds good to me. How about you?

Education Reform – GOOD

Education Reform – GOOD.

This is a fantastic website, never mind for education, but for anyone with an idealistic bent. But for our purposes I’m sharing the education reform section. It has nearly 150 articles of creative, solutiony goodness. While the ideas might be somewhat disparate, its still a goldmine for anyone who is passionate about this stuff.

Marketing itself as a social network for people who give a damn, I’d recommend rowing in and giving ‘good.is’ a go.

Education Reform Continues To Go Round In Circles – But Is It Narrowing On A Point?

Should parents set up their own state schools? Discuss | Geraldine Bedell | Education | Education | The Observer.

In a long and winding story about the laborious battle for parents to take more control over their children’s education, one parent asserts that:

“Human beings were not meant just to get five GCSEs.”

While the author of the article interjects at one point with a relieving sentiment:

“Everyone wants local schools with a diverse mix of pupils who are able to explore and fulfill their potential.”

I should hope so.

Meanwhile in Ireland, this article shows there is some awareness of the need for educational reform, however, sound bytes such as “the need for a world-class education system” still plague this piece. At least in the sphere of education, world class, at the present time, does not entail a particularly high standard. There appears to be little public debate on the matter, a lot of Irish people who have little experience of their countries education system will still say things like “Sure don’t we have one of the best education systems in the world” based off placement on the PISA rankings from a few years ago. PISA is notorious for ranking nations based on standardized tests results where the standards vary from country to country,also leading to countries like India and China who slave drive their children into good grades and out of innovation, to top the rankings.

The article also notes that more reviews and reports from official bodies are in the pipeline, but at this rate an education that provides each individual with the means to grow, be happy, and fulfill their potential, is a pipe dream. The article calls for an honest discussion, perhaps we need a platform for this. Something to get teachers, educators, legislators, parents and students all in the same room and on equal footing.

One of the more encouraging resources I’ve found is this co-operative blog on education reform called ‘Cooperative Catalyst’. Its a hive of ideas and discussion, and the realization of what the article in the Irish Examiner was calling for – an open and honest conversation.

How do you guys think actual change can be implemented, or awareness of the issues effectively raised? What resources have you encountered? Please share!

Why I homeschool | Penelope Trunk Homeschooling

Why I homeschool | Penelope Trunk Homeschooling.

A simple, down to earth case for homeschooling. There is much in this that education, whether private or public, should be trying to mimic. While it’s not always practical (the point is made here that school is the worlds best babysitting service) for parents to home school, I know that raising kids is something I’m looking forward to in life, and something I want to do as well as possible. Point being, if I had kids who were old enough to go to school right now, I would see no local option that I’d consider good enough for them, and would absolutely be homeschooling them in the current climate, devoid as it is of more humane alternatives.

Also, a couple who are friends with my parents home-schooled their three kids and have raised three of the happiest, well-rounded and socially astute children I’ve ever had the pleasure of running around playing tag with! Yes that’s anecdotal, but this isn’t a court case, I’m merely recounting my personal experience.

The Education Strikes Back

Just posting to say that original content might be at a premium over the next few days as the education system has found a temporary way of stopping EduCoup in its tracks: A glut of assignments. I’ll still be posting something of value every day but it’ll be short and sweet. You see, I have three essays and a feature article due in for college over the next two weeks so I’m going to focus on getting those essays done as they’re hanging over me at the moment.

I won’t deny allegations of hypocrisy in my availing of a system I’m criticizing so much. However I will say that I did drop out of secondary school for six months to try to control my own learning, but I had absolutely no support and the usual teenage problems, and just found I couldn’t do it without the support of anyone around me, and having just begun using the internet, that wasn’t much of a help either.

College has had its pros though – meeting an amazing girlfriend and making great friends too, but its all been on the social side of things. Somehow I don’t think me meeting my girlfriend in college is a great argument for other people to pursue a degree, there are plenty of other groups and organizations one can use to socialize.

In analysing the value of college I would focus more on the fact that I have assignments now which are distracting me and preventing me from actual journalistic work that could help me make an impact and a wage – the two main ‘official’ reasons people go to college. If I could have found a way of living in a city and directing my own learning there without agreeing to go to college, I certainly would have. The essays I’ve been assigned are on arbitrary topics like ‘food in society’, which would be more interesting except that anything you say has to be backed up by a source and consequently you are not allowed say anything original. These essays are simply glorified and excessively large exercises in learning not to plagiarise/to reference. Which is indeed a useful skill when it doesn’t interfere with you doing your most bountiful work. Luckily I can write the feature article on whatever I want so that doesn’t get in the way.

Anyway, the point I would like to make is that doing a college course has only served to strengthen my belief that while college is not without merit, self directed learning has far more potential to tap the learner’s full potential. Unfortunately at the moment personally directed education does not have the independent framework, accreditation or cultural familiarity to be a seriously considered option for many. Including, for the moment, myself.

Thanks for all the comments, likes and support. I’m absolutely chuffed and love hearing from people and discussing ideas together.

The Flaws In Our Education System

Here’s a quick list of what I see as some of the main flaws in our education system. By ‘Our Education System’ I mean Ireland, China, the US, India and many others – there may be some differences but most education systems today and throughout the short history of public education, suffer from these shortcomings to some degree or another. Pardon the pun.

Some of our Education Systems most glaring flaws:

Standardized Testing: Life isn’t standardized. Does anyone care what Einsteins results were? No, because he dropped out when he was fifteen to go change the world. Do all the A grade college grads working in retail and bars care that their scores were so good when they’re not in the career they wanted? This is taking the joy out of learning and placing undue pressure on students at a time in their lives where they need to be given room to explore and experiment.
Excessive Rote Learning: The whole of human knowledge is a couple of clicks away, we need to be learning how to process and analyse all that info, not memorize so much of it when computers are so much more efficient at that. Even in Ireland where education has been as sleepy and out of touch as anywhere else, there is a growing awareness for the need to change, even in the political and educational establishments themselves.
Factory based education. Universal public education came about when adult factory workers became disgruntled with all the cheap labour children and teens taking their jobs. A compromise was made: An education system that would produce well-drilled, obedient factory workers was put in place. The workers got their jobs back, and the factory owners got a steady production line of unquestioning, reliable drones.
Teacher Training: While we all know wonderfully passionate and hardworking teachers, too often I or my friends were treated as obstacles to an end of week pay-cheque. Teacher training needs to change to shift the emphasis from one right answer, being obedient and memorizing, to asking questions, coming up with different ideas and viewpoints, and creating. Aswell as teachers loving the kids and wanting with all their hearts to help them succeed. For an example in the kinds of teachers we need, check out this post by Jamie Lee from Kids at SWiTCH