Rethinking education in a technological world

This chapter was all about rethinking how our education system is set up.  We need to rethink what learning is, what is important to learn, how to motivate students, the role of government, students’ future careers, and how to prepare them for the future.  Learning is becoming life-long and we need to teach students how to continuously find new information.  This is important because information is changing so much lately and as soon as we teach a topic, many aspects will probably be changed already.  This brings up the topic of what is important to teach.  I feel that it is important to teach students the basic subjects, but the way, in which, we teach them should be altered.  We should have students solve large problems or complete projects that involve them learning about the various subjects.  This information should be integrated into the project so that the students are learning how to apply this knowledge, instead of just memorizing it.  I think this would also be helpful in motivating students.  Kids will be more excited to solve these meaningful tasks, instead of completely boring worksheets.  I also feel that by completing these large projects, educators can grade students differently.  Instead, of the usual grades, we could begin to use written assessments or some other form that is geared away from grades.  This would help remove the competition between students and help them focus on competing with themselves.  They can work on beating personal goals and improving their own knowledge.  This would increase their motivation too because, not only do students like to obtain goals, but their learning would become more intrinsic. Students often get stressed out about earning high grades and their interest in learning the material decreases.  When students learn to just learn they will be more rewarded.

                As a future teacher, I will put this knowledge and rethinking into consideration.  I will create lesson plans that allow for problem-based learning.  Although, I can create great lessons, I can’t necessarily avoid grading.  The government has a big part in education and schools have to comply in order to obtain support and money.  This is the topic on rethinking government in education.  Even though, it may be nice for education to regain power from the state, the government is gaining more and more of a power hold on schools.  They can help provide equal opportunities for all students by providing this public institution and supplying technologies, along with other necessities.  Not everyone may be able to finance individualized education or afford to stay home and home school.  The school system is important to provide social interactions, along with all the extracurricular activities it can offer.  I feel that the foundation of the educational system that was formed years back is a strong platform.  We just need to reform some of the bricks that can help the educational system become the most effective.