School Reform Proposal
Mood:
quizzical
Topic: special needs
Make the Primary School the only School
The modern media has expelled the need for travelling to a central school for further education. Trouble is no government has realised it. A sense of identity and responsibility to the local community (for all students) could be achieved by this radical plan, alongside a more stable environment for special needs children.
Mead!
.... The last seemed to be stressing an assertion that special needs should integrate with regular classes. This doesn't work and is a recipe for bullying and despair.
Personally, I think it is nonsense for up to 30 children to sit in a class listening to an often poorly motivated teacher drone on. If online learning is good enough for the mature student, then it's good enough for schoolchildren - with the induction of online video lectures given by the best teachers in the world. It is time to revolutionise the classroom. With video and TV online, it is possible to make learning fun for even the least motivated child.
The BBC do excellent 'learning zone' programmes. I feel this is the way to go.
BRIAN
Brian
I certainly agree with you that it is time to drag education into the 21st century. Education should move to having the best instructors in the world on T.V. or a web site and then having teaching assistants to help those who need assistance as the lessons advance. By the way, M.I.T., in America is in the process of putting all their undergraduate courses online. I am currently doing a course in Linear Algebra( vectors, matrices, etc.) All the lectures are free for download and you can take the mid-term and final exam and then grade your work with ideal solutions posted on line. I bought the used book for $20.
See MIT link below.
http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html
Knowledge is no longer the exclusive domain of the rich and powerful.
But our schools continue to function like it is. They are, in fact,
antiquated relics of a time gone by. Today, anyone who wants to learn can do so at very little cost. In many cases, top notch courses are free!
Take care and continue to think, write, and share your exciting ideas!
MEAD
Hi Mead! Of course, any reform comes down to funding. But the reform (we both agree needs to be done) can be enhanced AND funded here in Britain by this radical plan:
At present, there is the Primary School for children up to the age of 11. They then move on to a High School (Secondary, Comprehensive) up to the maximum age of 18. From here, a student will move on to University or College.
My proposal is this:
Keep the Primary Schools and equip them with IT and TV technology (including laptops for the pupils). Expand these schools sufficiently to accommodate pupils of all ages within the local area. Encourage senior pupils to assume a level of responsibility toward the junior pupils AND toward the local area itself. Parents will have a better chance to get involved and monitor their child's behaviour and progress. Children will not be plunged into that 11+ experience of being 'another brick in the wall' where misbehaviour, bullying, isolation and a sense of difference can cause all sorts of problems within the High School environment. These schools need not be closed once day pupils have gone home. Mature students and extra keen schoolchidren can continue to use the facilities in the evening.
The funding to develop the Primary Schools will come from:
The massive saving on school transport.
Example: students in a village will not have to travel miles to get to their nearest high school. In many cases the student will spend their entire student life making a two minute walk to school.
The closure and sale of the vast majority of High Schools and an option to close and sell many universities and colleges.
This may seem horrendously radical, but performance and behaviour has suffered under present structures. My proposal seeks to introduce the close-knit 'family' into education. It will replace the present system of competitive facelessness.
BRIAN
Posted by buskerbrian
at 1:30 PM BST
