The end of failure in education

[Streck-Fu]

Just remove standards completely. LINK

According to school officials, students who attend the school will not be graded, nor will they be tested or separated into classrooms. There will be no mandated curriculum. Instead students will engage in “self-directed learning,” and will vote on what they want to do each day.

There will also be no summer vacations. Students must only attend the state-required 180 days and 900 hours of learning time – but that is just about the only rule at the school.

“There is no real teaching… all the learning comes from the intrinsic motivation of the children,” said Newman.

[BryanK]

Originally Posted by Streck-Fu

Just remove standards completely. LINK

Reminds me of that movie "Accepted" . No separation of age groups? That'll work out great I'm sure. Will the diplomas be finger painted by the 5 year olds? Oh well, to each his own. If parents want to pay for their children to f*** off all day that's their prerogative. I'll bet the POTUS of the 2040's will have "graduated" from this school.

ETA: Apparently this is not a new method. Alternative education was attempted before several times. I agree with Pete though, how do you measure progress? Historically, Alt Ed has been for the more troubled students who don't excel or meet the standards at a regular school, but how/why would a 5 year old need to be comingled with people twice or three times their age?

U of CA paper

U of MN paper

Snip from first link:

In order to support this claim, I wish to offer the following argument. The public school system which began to take shape in the 1840s has developed systematically as a standardized and bureaucratic system so as to allow business leaders to control the socialization process of the nation's children. Those interested in opposing this process created alternative schools. The goals, methodology and decision making process of alternative schools are in direct opposition to the goals, methodology and decision making process of the public school system. This resistance emerged as soon as the effects of the new public school system began to be felt. The resistance, however, was allowed to expand during two periods. Historians have labeled these periods as the Progressive Movement (1890-1940) and the Free School Movement (1960-75). During these two periods, business leaders, instead of attacking alternative schools, provided a small amount of structural support (funding networking, publicity and studies). It is this support which explains the actual growth of alternative schools during the Progressive Movement and the Sixties. Corporate foundations and business-led school boards provided support during these periods in response to the pressure brought by larger social movements at the time, as well as in response to the evident failures of the public school system (manifested by truancy, insubordination and dropping out). Corporate funding was withdrawn from alternative schools and a media attack was launched against them when business leaders became disappointed with the results of their support, or when they perceived the experimental schools as oppositional rather than alternative (Shapiro, 1990).

[JHD]

This is just too bizarre. Touchy feely west coast BS. I predict no engineers, physicists, or other scientists graduate from this school. But I bet it produces some not-so- good lawyers and politicians, not that there are currently any good politicians.

The children that go to school there will have a rough go of it in the real world.

[Pete]

May work well for some.

The problem is how do you measure the children's progress?

[Streck-Fu]

I can see encouraging kids curiosity and letting them pursue interests but knowledge has to be has to be verified and goals have to be set all within standards for progress.

[JHD]

Originally Posted by Streck-Fu

I can see encouraging kids curiosity and letting them pursue interests but knowledge has to be has to be verified and goals have to be set all within standards for progress.

I have seen it work successfully where the kids are allowed to pick a project, figure out what goals they want and figure out how to get there. But it is within a structured time frame, and they focus on core curriculum the remainder of the time.

Mixing ages is a bad idea too. It might benefit, to a degree, the younger kids, but it would seem to be detrimental to the older kids.

And as mentioned above, how do you know if your child has basic math and reading skills to function even at a minimal level in society if there are no set standards or goals.

[Ret10Echo]

Originally Posted by Streck-Fu

I can see encouraging kids curiosity and letting them pursue interests but knowledge has to be has to be verified and goals have to be set all within standards for progress.

Exactly.

Free-flow no "wrong" doesn't help you pass an ABET certifcation exam.


Overall, this makes zero sense as the lament of how America is falling behind in STEM proficiency.

[longrange1947]

My question is, since there are no grades nor curriculum, how will a college or university look at their 'Non-transcript"???

[Richard]

This is nothing new, and just because there are no "grades" does not mean there will be no "standards" or "evaluation" of one's learning. Such a concept is well known amongst educators and based upon the pre-industrial revolutionary society education model. Ask yourself how it worked for the likes of a Thomas Jefferson and his peers...who never received grades as we know them today - either numerical or alphabetical.

There are many small private schools and public school districts throughout the country that use a common campus and shared spaces for students in grades 1-12. We did that and it worked exceptionally well by creating a more 'familial' atmosphere as the younger students looked up to the older students as role models and the older students worked with the younger students as student mentors.

As far as admission to schools of higher education, demonstrated performance (e.g., submission of work for evaluation), recommendations, interviews, and required admissions testing by the accepting institutions will remain the determinants just as they are now.

IOW - meh.

Richard

[Streck-Fu]

I remember such schools being attempted in the 70s and remember them closing or converting to conventional schools in rather short order.

I know a sample of exactly 4 people that attended different schools that attempted this at the elementary level and all state that they abandoned the model after only a few years of trying.

If the quote in the article is correct that there will be no curriculum, how can there be standards or evaluations?

[Richard]

Originally Posted by Streck-Fu

If the quote in the article is correct that there will be no curriculum, how can there be standards or evaluations?

No set curriculum does not mean there won't be innumerable curricular choices for the students based upon individual student and familial desires, strengths, weaknesses, and desired outcomes. Why don't you contact and ask them that question instead of relying on an article produced by an industry you so often decry as being inaccurate, at best, and, more often, misleading in its reports.

Richard

[spherojon]

Originally Posted by BryanK

Reminds me of that movie "Accepted" . No separation of age groups? That'll work out great I'm sure. Will the diplomas be finger painted by the 5 year olds? Oh well, to each his own. If parents want to pay for their children to f*** off all day that's their prerogative.

And to take a quote author Alvin Toffler, "the key literacy skill of the 21st century is the ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn." I think the basic idea here is the freedom of information available on the internet in this "hyper-connected" society that we have (thanks Thomas Friedman). Dont get me wrong, I think school is very important and an idea like an "Accepted" movie type atmosphere will be counter-productive for the most part. However, something needs to be done with the education system in this country. Now if we could only motivate the kids to go out an take the initiative like this kid and his google searching skills.

"In an interview with the BBC, Jack said the idea for his pancreatic cancer test came to him while he was in biology class at North County High School, drawing on the class lesson about antibodies and the article on analytical methods using carbon nanotubes he was surreptitiously reading in class at the time. Afterward, he followed up with more research using Google Search on nanotubes and cancer biochemistry, [COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]aided by free online scientific journals[/COLOR]."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq4x8C6Dcf8
http://www.bradaronson.com/jack-andraka/

[Trapper John]

Originally Posted by DocIllinois

During freshman year of high school I got to know a Japanese exchange student who always had outstanding grades. Mine, at the time, were all over the range. I asked what his secret to consistently high grades was and he replied that there is no secret, only a technique.

His technique was to be unconcerned about grades, and to just put very hard work into learning the stuff. He'd lag behind every once in a while because his learning curve didn't exactly match a teacher's lesson plan, but overall, great grades followed.

Perhaps we should move more toward a process driven academic culture.

EXACTLY, Doc! Reminds me of my early education as a Veteran and some 6-7 years older than my classmates. Everyone was pre-med and all they worried about was the grade. I tried to explain that the secret was to learn the material, understand it, and be able to apply the concepts. Grades would follow. I said that we are here to learn not to get grades. Grades were the metric of the understanding. They never quite got the concept.

One final point about the self-directed educational programs: BS! The Mother of a good education is Repetition and the Father of a good education is Discipline - primary and secondary education in general and these programs in particular lack both IMO.

[BryanK]

Originally Posted by spherojon

And to take a quote author Alvin Toffler, "the key literacy skill of the 21st century is the ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn." I think the basic idea here is the freedom of information available on the internet in this "hyper-connected" society that we have (thanks Thomas Friedman). Dont get me wrong, I think school is very important and an idea like an "Accepted" movie type atmosphere will be counter-productive for the most part. However, something needs to be done with the education system in this country. Now if we could only motivate the kids to go out an take the initiative like this kid and his google searching skills.

Awesome story, thanks for posting. Now, this kid is the exception, not the rule. I'm not sure the average student who is left to their own devices will excel the way he did, but anything's possible. I like the point Richard brought up about the fact that school hasn't always been "graded" so to speak, rather they were/are evaluated on a general merit system. You have to have teachers that pay individual attention to the students in order for that to happen though, as opposed to being herded like cattle.

After perusing the website of the school, I noticed they must have some sort of curriculum, and I'm assuming they leave it up to the kids to decide what and when they want to learn, but only time will tell. I also agree with you on the need for something different. Personally I feel there should just be smaller schools (and more of them) with a dash of that "familial" environment Richard was referring to. Here's a snip from the school website:

The founders of the Joan Rubin School promise the students:

• the freedom to engage in self-initiated learning and to set out on an individualized path;
• the time and space to discover their own interests and talents;
• the tools and staff to help facilitate their goals and objectives;
• an environment and governance structure that demands personal responsibility;
• an age-mixed community built on knowledge sharing, mutual respect, and trust.