We have a pandemic and our education system is sick

 PC: THIS IS THE SEASON TO==LEARN, LEARN, LEARN

The pandemic has disrupted education.  Thanks captain obvious.  Now what  do we do?   So...post corona where do we go?  Back seems like a completely  absurd direction.  our current education systems at all levels were developed  for the industrial  age. In recent years our youth have been funneled into “no Child” and Common Core” barrels that absolutely guarantee mediocre levels of knowledge and thinking in a widely accepted majority promoted seat of ideas that students and teachers are not permitted to bend, staple, or mutilate into anything that might be useful for a changing world.  The task of teaching everything to all students has been thrust upon the classroom teacher along with the need to teach discipline and human relations.  The pandemic  has exposed that classroom teaching is the best arena to accomplish these things and yet we as a culture don’t spend enough resources to come close to making this a reasonable expectation.  We are also discovering that our schools are not equipped to create “distance” alternatives that are efficient.  What  may be worse is that we are finding out that parents and those providing primary care for children regardless of familial relationships have not been taught anything  about learning styles and teaching their children.  Talk about crimes against humanity and it’s no game.

Why so harsh?

We  have a whole generation of learners who are social media competent  and students are using this social media  at remarkable rates.  Most boomers” never  watched a “how-to” video in their life while this generation is constantly tuned in.  Still we have done. Almost no teaching about how to teach so we are missing a golden oppportunity to take advantage of peer to peer learning and teaching.  This is the societal equivalent of giving everyone a car but teaching no one how to drive or giving everyone a gun and teaching no one how to shoot or who to shoot at.  

At The Very Least...

Post Corona  we should have learned that it is important to recognize that students thrive. Using various identifiable learning styles regardless of the socially approved materials they are  shoveled using the label of common core.  We should also learn that teachers have to come from outside the school—that means  in the home and family—and those teaching should be given the tools to create materials and routines that work for those they  must teach.  In short this pandemic has shown us that our culture  knows very little and shares less when it comes to learning how to  learn and teaching  how to teach.  

In short we need to learn how to learn, learn how to teach, and teach how to teach in order to move ahead at this point.  

Oh and how about  higher ed?  

Due to the rising cost of higher education and the reduced  mobility the average college degree affords to recent graduates we are in essence creating a debt-controlled wage slavery system.  The job tasks that graduates must complete upon graduation are largely beyond or grossly beneath the level of their training.  Students who attend higher ranked university options are often linked into mentor  networks before or during college years, however,others see the jobs they hoped for as they graduated high school change to a point where thy are no longer  available or recognizable as they cross the stage five years later.  Some students learn critical thinking skills in higher education and some students experience cutting edge  skill training yet rarely do these two things meet.  Students. Living on or around campus do get to do a lot in terms of identity development and that is very important.  On the other hand things like “my major” and what I’m going to be when I graduate” have far lesss relevance than ever before.  

What is the biggest rip off?  

Students are being rewarded for gathering and presenting.  Information.  This is so,[;u not adequate for the best minds or for any mind.  The key to Post Corona growth is making the effort to encourage students to gather  information to form interesting questions and then being able to form  project groups who can be solution-generating machines.  

Okay... I have dragged this about far enough for one entry thus here’s the summary...

Learning how to learn and teaching how to teach are critical.  Understanding  that we  only really teach information. Seeking and presentation in higher education when we might. Be training people as curiousity machines. 

Seeing peace and joy means working together and doing so in ways that require learning and teaching and questioning... we have to learn about the limits of our current  ways and do more right now for this is the season to learn, learn, learn..

And Yes. There will be more in the conversation between Jesus and Buddha

That will be the next entry....