How many ways can you think of right now to pick up a paper clip?
A group of researchers did an experiment to ask a same group of kids this question over a number of years, and quite surprisingly, these kids come up with less and less answers as they grow older.
Is education stripping away our creativity?
Today in our social class, our teacher talked about an education reform that has been happening as a pilot project and may expand in Alberta in the near future called “Flex Schools”. High schools registered in the “Flex Schools” program will have 5 periods a day, 3 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon, with 2 core courses, 2 complimentary courses, and 1 “flex block”. During the flex block, students can do extensive researches on core programs, get extra help on assignments, or just work on something interesting-such as working in a bakery.
The pros of the flex period are obvious: it customizes education for students at different levels and with different interests. However, the cons cannot be ignored: half of the students skipped the flex period when a high school is put into this experiment.
Another major change is that one teacher of each core course form a learning community to teach the same group of students for 1 or 2 years. A lot of people say that it is “so junior high”, but it does form a stronger between teachers and students, and helps build connections between similar courses such as social and ELA.
There are many other changes being made such as making the core courses more project-based than tests-based, reducing the weighting of diploma, removing finals for Grade 10-11, etc. The main goal is to give the students more freedom with their education so that they can be more creative about it and be more ready for post-secondary.
However, still a lot of teachers are against it, saying that not every student is responsible for all that flexibility and moreover, most of the 10th Graders don’t really know what they are going to do in university. Also, how well do the quality of projects reflect the students’ true understanding and knowledge? Lots of issues are definitely present but they cannot stop the reform, as even though the education system right now is good, it does not mean it cannot change for the better.
What do you think about this type of educational reform? Do you think more creativity and freedom in the hands of students will make high school education a better experience or worse? Click here for a TED speech by Sir Ken Robinson on schools and creativity and leave a comment about what you think of the reform=)
