After viewing Dan Brown's "An Open Letter to
Educators" I find myself completely agreeing with everything he says
throughout his venting blog. While I would never drop out of school (because my
family would look down upon it to say the least), I haven't decided if he is a
genius or just insane for his decision. I think that in having an opportunity
to go to school we have a golden ticket to open doors of anything we want. I
agree that the process of higher education is flawed in the way Dan describes,
but I believe that having an education is needed for any goal we set in life.
I recently have fell in love with the show "The
Walking Dead", and I truly have gotten paranoid over the idea of our world
being completely blown back into the stone ages. The show consists of the idea
that a virus spreads and takes over the earth, and only a handful of survivors
are constantly fighting for their lives. There is no electricity or running
water, and these people now have to rely on each other for survival. The
internet and all technology is extinct! Now while the concept of the show
doesn't scare me, it is the realization that without technology I don't think I
would survive in this scenario. Take away the flesh eating zombies and
substitute it with a natural disaster like the ones we have been having lately.
Technology can only save us from so much and it can only teach us so much. We
put an emphasis in the educational system of WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW, but what
happens if the whole world gets hit by a hurricane like New Orleans got hit by
Katrina. What good does it do to learn about technology and the internet when
most of us won't even know where to start in a situation like I've
mentioned. I can create an amazing powerpoint to assist my presentation
and I can write you an analysis on almost anything you want me to, but if the
power goes out there is no use for all this technology. Or is there?
The video you posted was a great call to action for all educators to see. He is absolutely right that our idea of education needs to be revolutionized. I too often have had the same experience in a college classroom as Dan Brown. There is no emphasis on critical thinking or real life skills. As much as I agree with his beliefs, I hit a wall when thinking about the changes that need to happen. Because all my experiences with education have been those of memorizing information, I fear that I will fall into a trap of modeling that behavior. And what would make what I have to say able to compete with what the internet can offer? Although I still have learning to do, I think that a class designed like this one, through blog and interactive conversation, is the first step into revising the way institutionalized education behaves.
ReplyDeleteI agree! The classes that have the greatest impact on my education are usually those that involve group discussions and a colllaboration of ideas versus a memorization of information which I forget the following semester. I think blogging is a great way to document the thought process of group discussions, but I miss the face time...
ReplyDeleteMaribel, based on your opinion of the video, can you help me understand how you would conduct your classroom?
ReplyDeleteMaribel,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this video! I found Dan Brown's video to be very accurate in many senses. For instance, many educators fail to make classes and course work engaging to students and rather than ensuring student understanding, comprehension, and mastery of a given topic they emphasize memorization. I feel that this exposes some of the main flaws of education and is a call to arms for educators. I feel that in many ways technology as well as more interactive lessons can assist in revamping our current educational system. Do you feel that through increased incorporation of technology students would be more engaged in the classroom and break away from sharing the the sentiments of Dan Brown?
Fellow Walking Dead fan, HI.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the loss of technology can be a nerve-wracking idea. It does so much, be it medical advances or simply being employed for entertainment purposes.
I think what must be done is, while we have technology, which may be forever, we have to use it to our students' advantage. Ignoring it based on a paranoid fear would not be doing them justice. However, we should try to make them less dysfunctionally codependent on some of it. Do you have any suggestions?