One of the first people I added to my PLN was Scott McLeod. He has a great web blog called Dangerously Irrelevant. (see the link below) Today he posted a little blurb about how the biggest barrier to changing schools is our mental model of schools. This is very timely because my own thinking has been leading me right down that same path.
In 2003, the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed on reentry into the atmosphere, tragically killing all 7 astronauts. The primary reason this happened was because a large piece of foam insulation on the External fuel tank broken off and put a hole in Columbia’s heat shield. The larger reason this happened though was a failure on NASA’s part to envision this could happen. Pieces of foam had fallen off for the last 100+ shuttle flights but had never caused a lot of damage. Therefore the engineers and managers accepted this as routine instead of asking what if. In fact they had been dodging a bullet each flight and it finally hit them.
This failure to envision things outside the norm is a big problem in any endeavor. The school system has many factors that are holding back innovation and this failure of vision is a big part of it. I also think that the bigger the risk to change, then the more we don’t want to see possible failure. If we try to change the school system with some massive government directed “one size fits all” approach, then we won’t be able to see the flaws coming.
What I think should happen is we setup lots of different kinds of schools (which is happening in some areas) and make sure the lessons learned get passed around to all educators. The school system need evolution, not revolution. That way not as much is at risk with each step and perhaps we will be able to see a little bit more down the road.
Our mental models are the biggest barrier to moving schools forward into a digital, global era – Dangerously Irrelevant
- What is the biggest barrier to moving schools forward into a technology-suffused, globally-interconnected era? Our mental models of what schooling should look like.
Andrew I think that what holds schools back from succeeding is justifying that everyone has to succeed. It sounds harsh, but I take a Bentham or Mills approach to education. Utilitarianism, or the greatest good for the greatest number of people looks at sacrificing some to benefit the masses. I'm not saying that we should forget about the students who don't want to learn but we should give them other avenues to pursue their future. Vocational training is not a bad thing. Some students would rather build a car or weld than learn mathematics. I think that the Judge said it best in Caddy Shack,"The World Needs Ditch Diggers Too!"
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I think that if we find another place for students who aren't as inclined to traditional learning to learn a trade the educational system might be able to get out of the way of real progress. The administrators would have to worry about test scores, and could focus on real education. That would be grand!
I agree with you Andrew, that schools need evolution to move forward. The only problem with that is the fact that to get that move we may need revolution to get the the giant to move. I believe change is happening in many places, but overall it's moving to slow. How many digital thinking students are we going to sacrifice before we realize it's time? That's what I'm worried about.
ReplyDeleteOn the idea of changing our mental models you're right. How many assumptions are made in education that are just plain wrong. We need to spend more time looking at why we do things.
wonderful post... I firmly believe that the challenge of school change is not a technology or training problem but sociology. It's discussed, in part, in Etienne Wenger's "Situated Learning," "Communities of practice" and "Cultivating communities of practice." The process of going from rookie teacher to veteran teacher has the tendency of shaking away any notion of innovation and change and reinforces the status quo. That's one reason why I always cringe when I heard teachers clamor that they don't change their practices to include more technology because they lack the training. Ack.
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