To piggyback on his agricultural metaphor for education...Can you
picture what a diverse, wondrous garden this type of framework would produce?
What a dynamic, beautiful, and intriguing future to experience. If only each
individual could flourish through the discovery and embrace of their own unique
and distinctive God-given gifts. Unfortunately, those that find success in
their talents, usually identify their passions and gifts somewhere other than
school because the boxed curriculum, prevalent in today’s classroom, buries
most characteristics that offer individuality.
Like I stated in my previous post, if our education system only
fosters one type of intelligence, we are severely limiting the possible future
for our kids and their capabilities. It is already evident that our world is
transitioning into a time of innovation and creativity, while the industrial
days are long gone. If only our schools reflected this.
Ken Robinson (guy in the video) has a great mind for rethinking
the way we educate. In his book, The Element, Robinson suggests three
principles for an education that allows students to flourish while experiencing
their gifts: eliminate hierarchy of subjects (value every type of intelligence
equally), create transdisciplinary curriculum (don’t separate subjects), and
individualize education. This is a hard concept to visualize since the
schooling I’ve experienced didn’t involve any of these characteristics. I'm working on what this realistically looks like because our kids deserve it, plus the possibilities are exciting!