8 Things We Must Change

The inertia of a broken system often defaults to a reason for apathy, despair and inaction. At every crossroad, every junction and every pathway that leads to the future, we have a choice to be opposed by the thousands that guard the past or to push through, take action and create our own future.

Creating this future requires that;

1. We change our attitude. By suspending our biases and disassociating with the way things have always been done, we can break free of the apathy and excuses bred of a broken system.
2. We change the idea that one school should be just like another. Schools should be unique, not uniform. The system then exists not to strengthen itself, or to instruct others on what to do, but to strengthen the courage of the individual school in making itself a place of distinct identity.
3. We change the notion that the school is a closed institution by breaking down it’s walls and having it come into direct contact with people. Real people. This includes parents so that we can all move beyond the thought of school as a place where children obey and memorize.
4. We change our attitude towards the child. We are all teachers and all learners.
5. We change the concept of having to cover the curriculum. A curriculum isn’t something that you pick up off the shelf and rigidly enforce or impose on kids. The value of any curriculum is as a framework for creating memorable learning experiences that are real, relevant and authentic. This changes our obsession with trying to assess everything. We don’t need to.
6. We change school discipline ideas so that it gives place to self-discipline.
7. We change the belief that the senior years of school are more important and that the teachers of older students are superior teachers. Every single year of education is important. None more so than another. This will be increasingly true as formal education models will morph and change in response to societal and environmental factors.
8. We be confident in our “product” and not bow to external pressures whether they be real or perceived.

A difficult but not impossible task.