The effusive Mr. Brown tells a story we are hearing louder and louder: 1. that the university was interfering with his education and 2. Information is losing it's value. It's a compelling message, provoking commentary pro and con on his youtube channel, as well as many video responses. Boing! =another social network exists, right there on every youtube channel.
Is hearing this message from a student more resonant than hearing it from an educators?
Dang! So I went to Prescott College in the year 1983. There were just under 100 students at the school. Total. Classes of six, or nine. We went outside. A lot. To schools, to lakes, to the park, to conferences. We portfolioized like crazy. We contributed to the class goals and objectives. It was different than what we saw at other schools. And we went to other schools, to spy...
ReplyDeleteThough Prescott College has grown, it is still small. It ain't a big money maker. Probably never will be. And maybe that is what Mr. Brown really experienced in Nebraska. He experienced what happens when the vision of large scale social education gets combined with the need to make money.
It is a really challenging situation we face with numbers we have. Is the vision to make us all remember the same facts, at the same time, so we will all know the same thing? How can we tell who knows what if we can't test it? Who is in charge of all this learning stuff anyway? Maybe like Mr. Brown realizes, I am.
Yep. My Dad always told us, What you learn is not up to any teacher; its up to you." Personally, I know that I learn because I want to learn.
ReplyDeleteTo me, an educational institution is the place to inspire, question, seek so that those attending can come to their own understanding of what 'learning' is.