Age-based grade levels, rows of desks with uncomfortable chairs, designated lunch times, walking in a straight line with no sounds. These are some things we may think about when we think about schooling in the U.S. Things have been this way for decades, and not much has changed in terms of structure. Personally, I hated this about school when I was a student, but now as a teacher, I am the one enforcing it.
It was fascinating to hear what essentially are the origins of the structure of U.S. schools. I was aware before watching A Short History of Public Schooling that education exists the way it does in this country in order to produce more workers. But I did not know that it was based off the Prussian model of education. This was all initially used to produce more workers during the Industrial Revolution, grouping kids by their ages, getting them used to a strict schedule, creating obedience, and so on. This should not be our goal anymore. The U.S. is experiencing a fall in the literacy crisis, and many students are far below the "standard" for math. We are not working to accommodate for the needs of all our learners. Mann saw this as something that could bring about more equitable education, but it is clear that the current model is increasing barriers rather than breaking them down.
The excerpt from Khan's book, The One World Schoolhouse dove deeper into the issues within the current education system. The whole system was built on efficiency, not how children learn best. But we continue these cycles because it becomes a part of our life, we view it as our only option because it is just the way that things are and how we were taught to function. Khan writes, "For all its flaws, however, the standard model has one huge advantage over all other possible education methods: It's there. It's in place. It has tenure. The tendency is to believe that it has to be there."(pg. 65). We have become comfortable with what we are used to, creating something new is not easy. Imagining a new way of education is scary, and it can be easy to think you are powerless in the process of creating change.
The video and reading made me think about a video essayist whose content I enjoy, Andrewism. In We Need To Rethink School, he proposes that learning is community based. Dialogue is important from all parties that are involved, which means educators should not be the ones who are doing all the talking, we need to let our students speak too. Rather than basing grade levels off of age, we need to use community based learning networks that help all learners where they are at, not where we think they should be based off of some random scores. Khan's work reminded me of this video since both authors share that we do not need to separate the subjects and create testing that requires rote memorization.
It is important to think about our students. Our current system was built to create workers and to exploit. In order to address the school to prison pipeline, falling literacy rates, and the huge opportunity gap that exists for students of color and students living in poverty. We need to find out what our students need and how we can enact change, even if they are small changes in our routines. It is important we do not measure success by what we are told is the standard. Education can open up so many opportunities and allowing student's to truly receive an education can dismantle oppressive systems.
