Additional Assignment #3

Sir Ken Robinson enlightens us with his profound argument as to why our public education system is in need of reform, and not just in the United States.  If you look back at the history of the educational institution, it was developed to meet the specific needs of the country at that time.  I think one of the most important things to recognize here is that public education is not inherently bad, it just hasn't evolved with the rest of society.  At one time, school did guarantee a stable future.  In a way I feel in past years students had more freedom than they do now.  In generations past, it was not expected that every student attend college.  Now, each child is educated in a way that pushes them to colleges and universities.  Another problem I see is how there is virtually no pride in being educated for a trade.  If you can't make it in college like the rest of us, you are just a screw-up.

The injustice to our students starts very young.  I agree with Sir Robinson's view on ADHD.  I do not think ADHD is an epidemic.  I do however think that medicating kids has reached epidemic measures.  We live in a society where pills fix problems.  You don't like school, you can't get along with your spouse, you just feel down, take a pill and you are better in no time.  The benefit of this trend goes to the parents and educators.  Teachers most often would prefer their students to be medicated because then they do not have the behavioral issues.  Parents have an easier time at home and with the schools.  The problem now is that we don't have to adapt our schools to deal with the inattentiveness from the overstimulation we have created.  We just shut them down and move right along.

As we move along in this information age, some people are starting to get it and try to make adjustments for the injustices we see in the old system.  I can't say how the College of Education specifically aligns to Sir Robinson's beliefs, but I think most places are attempting to make a move to catch up.  Schools are recognizing that kids are different today than in the 1950's.  They are implementing programs that cater to different learning styles and training teachers to new technology and teaching strategies.  I think the best thing we can do to contribute is to be active in your local school system and push for new thoughts and ideas to be incorporated.  It will take the work of students, parents, and teachers to improve our system.

As for the presentation, the animation was incredible.  However,  I couldn't help but find that I was distracted from the message because I was studying the drawings!  I would like to investigate further how this type of presentation is compiled.  It really is captivating, even though I had to try extra  hard to focus on the audio!