He sets the context in his opening paragraph…
The time has come to change the way we educate children in our public schools. There are signs that a vast majority of students are not even coming close to achieving their potential. A 27 percent national dropout rate may be but the tip of an iceberg of students whose potential for success are not being met. Many students never get an A or a B on a report card. Most students are educated at a low, C or D level of understanding. This is disastrous for those who drop out of school and too often enter the prison population. It is equally tragic for those who stay in school to acquire knowledge at a low level. Even those who get high grades may be deficient in understanding the real life application of subject matter content. They often aim for high grades rather than genuine learning and soon forget the material after the tests are given. The sad fact is that we do not have a public education system that aims to help all students master the knowledge they will need to fulfill their lives.
I am right there with Lynn’s “problem statement” (as we say in the business analysis biz). We have an education system that is not meeting the needs of many of our young people, and could do much more to foster their development. Its conventional approach is compartmentalized academic instruction, based on a standardized curriculum crafted for, rather than by, the learner, not taking account of each person’s unique developmental path and advocating a one-size-fits-all educational path instead.
Lynn frames his holistic approach to learning under a rubric of seven “I”s…
IDENTITY – Help students discover and develop their unique talents and gifts and see a purpose for existing to be special contributors to society…
INQUIRY – Nurture curiosity and the ability to ask good questions…
INTERACTION – Help students develop the powers of love, human relationships, communication and cooperation…
INITIATIVE – Help students develop will power, self-discipline and intrinsic motivation… best achieved when parents and teachers serve as guides and mentors rather than “sages on the stage”…
IMAGINATION – Nurture the power of creativity in its many forms, including innovative problem-solving…
INTUITION – Help students develop the sixth sense — the power of the heart to perceive truth and develop emotional intelligence…
INTEGRITY – Teach the power of honesty and responsibility…
I agree with Lynn that these are all traits that are fostered by an enriched learning environment, and I particularly like when he talks about parents and teachers playing a more facilitative role as, “guides and mentors rather than ‘sages on the stage'”.
Where I have a significant difference with Lynn is when he presents such a broad vision for what schools should be expected to do. Says Lynn…
Every child can excel in school, if we change the system – if we trust and hold teachers accountable for nurturing positive human diversity rather than human uniformity… Schools should make provision for every child’s voice, their talents, gifts, interests and abilities, to be developed — and heard. Every Child Can Excel, if we nurture their positive distinctive differences.
First of all, as an aside, let me say that I have come to be uncomfortable with using the word “child” to cover all people under 18. I know it is grammatically correct, but calling a 17-year-old a “child” is in my thinking disrespectful. I have come to adopt the protocol practiced in my Unitarian-Universalist circles of calling young people under 10 “children” and those 10 to 17 “youth”.
Unlike Lynn, I don’t think it is realistic for schools to create an ideal environment for every learner. A school in my thinking is an artificial remedial learning environment for people who for whatever reason cannot move forward with learning on their own direction and schedule or don’t otherwise have the “enriched environment” necessary in the real world. My take is that each school or learning center should be more pragmatically focused on offering a specific “niche” path that is optimized for a certain segment of our young people. It should be acknowledged that some people (like myself and my own kids) can find a richer learning environment outside of school. By saying, “Every child can excel in school”, I feel that Lynn is putting too much pressure on school environments to be all things to all people, and perhaps inadvertently programming them for failure.
Finally, I see Lynn’s seven “I”s as being all about the teacher helping the learner achieve all these things. I would suggest he caveat this by saying that a teacher can provide assistance in these areas “if needed” or “if requested” by the student. Acknowledge that people are naturally capable of driving their own development and as the old saying goes, “When the student is ready”, and when they indicate that readiness, “The teacher will come”.
I acknowledge Lynn as a great teacher who champion’s his craft as a noble and highly skilled profession. I do caution him not to see that profession as the focal point of the educational process. My paradigm has moved away from that towards championing the learner and their natural inclination to learn as a more appropriate focal point.
A decade ago I was much more closely aligned with Lynn’s vision of progressive education as it existed as the alternative to the conventional standardized one-size-fits all instructional model. Due to my own experiences since then, I have moved toward a third, more libertarian, approach to education, still acknowledging that the holistic teacher-driven approach can work well for many young people.
As I have said many times, I am a great believer in “many educational paths”, including real-life paths that don’t necessarily involve school, or might involve it at one point in our development but not at another.
Given my disclaimer about the “C” word, I agree with Lynn that we should…
Help every child see his or her unlimited potential and reason for existing to be a special, one-of-a-kind, contributor to society.
Or at least to the extent that they truly need that assistance!
I acknowledge the path he champions and hope he would acknowledge a different path that I have come to advocate.