Agree: Pick a significant statement that Ken Robinson makes in the speech that you strongly agree with.

[Leslie Raffelson]

Discuss why you think the statement you picked has a significant impact on our educational system as we know it, our school, your classroom or the students you teach. 

 

Discussion is more valuable when you post your thoughts and then respond to other teachers. Please reply to 2 to 3 others who contributed their opinions. 

[Megan]

You have to have a degree…but this is not a guarantee for a job.

This statement is true when it comes to today’s students. We tell them they must go to college if they want to get a good paying job. However, many students also learn that there are many great paying jobs out there with just a high school diploma. What do we as an education system need to do to show kids that a college degree is always better for success when this isn’t always the case?

[Michael E Forster]

I loved this comment as well, especially for the fact that it shows there are other options.  A 4 year degree is not for every student, that's why I love CTE.  Students need to be shown that success is not based on a piece of paper but rather on their ability to succeed.  I have always been an advocate for the blue collar worker and tell students that it those jobs that make up the backbone of society.  We could not function without those jobs, electricians, plumbers, the trash man, just some examples.  Whats wrong with being a trash man?  Nothing, thats what.  We have created a society that looks down their noses at these people, who by the way, are successful.  We have created our problem.  We have made it not okay or a travesty that a student go to a trade school or apprenticeship in order to start their career rather than attending a 4 year College.  Does not every kid growing up want to be successful and have a career?  Why do we have to label what is a successful or fulfilling job for a student?  If we have not experienced it how can we make that judgement for our students?  I think it is our job to create the experiences so our students can find out for themselves!!

[maria roberts]

Actually, I disagree, Mike.  I think we have been telling kids that a college degree is a travesty.  I hear all the time about all the money spent on college and all the unemployed graduates.  Look at our graduates over the past 5 years.  I could be wrong, but I think most of them have gone to 2-year programs or completed 2 of 4.

[Michael E Forster]

That is why I love Peetz!  As a school and community we seem to be the exception not the rule.  I still feel that we need to realize that not all students are going to choose a career path that needs a bachelors degree or higher and embrace their goals to help them achieve it.  Perfect example is a senior from two years ago, he left our building to attend classes that were based on his interests.  Have we done that since, or before?  I am still the youngest in the building so I don't know what happened before I arrived.  The unfortunate thing is we see the trend of declining college enrollment but we also see a declining number of workforce ready students as well. 

 

I couldn't miss a chance to excited over pumping up the Blue collar folks anyway!!

[DeAnn VanHouten]

I also like this particular quote from Ron.  College is not for every person out there. We have those students that struggle with your sciences, math, English or history classes and just can not get it, but are great with working with their hands fixing things (the electricians, plumbers, etc.).  So why not let them go to a trade school that teaches them just what they need not all the extra stuff. 

 

Success is not measured by how big of a degree you have or how much money you make!!

[Tammy Fehringer]

I agree with DeAnn in that college is not for everyone out there, and personally I would not want college to be for every person out there.  There are jobs we need done as a society that do not require any education.  I encourage the students to find something they think they will enjoy doing and that pays a salary that makes them comforable.

[Rebekah Lyons]

Well said on the encouraging college vs. "other options" discussion, Mr. Forster...I think we emphasize college to a point that kids are going in debt to earn degrees in something that won't get them a job just to say they went to college....

[Evelyn Gardiner]

Keeping kids grouped by age was what caught my attention and how it brought back the discussion about education of the past (the one-room schoolhouse) where eight grades were in one room, exposed to every level of instruction. Grouping children by age is an outgrowth of what was thought to be efficiency in education--larger schools can educate better.

[DeAnn VanHouten]

The elementary have had lots of discussions about grouping kids age vs. level.  We are trying to get our reading program up and going to were it is grouped according to levels not ages.  There will be lots of road blocks a long the way but I think we all realize that it is what is best for the kids.  I have tried to do some grouping in my math classes forseeing that math will be the next subject that we ability group. I have had several struggles with it myself, but the big picture is I think those students that went down a level or even up a level have had tremendous growth.  Letting them work with others at their same level and pace has really paid off now I only wish that I was not teaching the same material to all three groups. I think it could benefit the students even more if I was able to have a full period for each group instead of the 25 minutes I currently spend with them.

[Michael E Forster]

"The Arts are the victim of this Mentality"

 

I agree with this statement not how it is written above but how the true victim is Aesthetic Learning.  Teaching what I do allows so much for aesthetic learning and I am very fortunate to keep that alive.  I see first hand what it means to have students engaged beyond intense listening, but actvie participation.  Too many of our classroms have become a place of boredom for our students, they lack engagement because of either instruction or content.  I know that I have plenty of days where because of my instruction or the topic of the lesson I am not being an effective teacher and it seems inevitably that I can easily point the finger in a different direction, namely students for the reason.  Yet those days that learning is engaging and fun for the students are the days that I myself have been engaged to my students needs.  I really feel that our students now are as aesthetic as they ever have been.  They are overloaded, actually no, they are not overloaded.  Kids have the ability to absorb so much of what is going on around them and presented to them through videos and games and radio and all types of media that when they sit in our classrooms and we put that fast paced world on hold; inturn our kids shutdown as well.  We have shut off everything that stimulates them to the point they no longer tune in.  We struggle to engage the "whole" student.  I will quit rambling and ask a question.  Can you engage just the mind?  Is this still our mentality as teachers?

[Sara Nicklas]

Why would you just want to engage "just the mind?"  It is research proven that to get the mind engaged in the first place, sensory activity has to occur.  I can sit in a lecture hall or classroom and not learn a darn thing unless I can see something, or touch something that will inspire me to try and learn something.  I agree with your comment that we shut off everything when we expect them to learn when we just stand in front of them and talk, or toss a text book or worksheet at them.

[Tammy Fehringer]

Schools are organized in factory lines.  Examples: bell systems, hours of the day, days of the week, and when students are allowed to get a drink of water and use the restroom.  It is not just the kids that are on the rigorous and constant schedule however. Many jobs/careers cannot and/or do not allow for much flexibility in one's schedule either however.