Edutopia - June/July 2008 - (Page 34)

I 34 EDUTOPIA JUNE/JULY 2008 give presentations to educators at every level, all around the world. All of the teachers are earnestly trying to adapt their educational system to the twenty-⇒rst century. During my talks, however, I typically look out at oceans of white hair. Never— I can’t even say rarely—is a kid in sight or invited to the party. It is a measure of the malaise of our educational system that these old folk—smart and experienced as they may be—think they can, by themselves and without the input of the people they’re trying to teach, design the future of education. One of the strangest things in this age of young people’s empowerment is how little input our students have into their own education and its future. Kids who out of school control large sums of money and have huge choices on how they spend it have almost no choices at all about how they are educated— they are, for the most part, just herded into classrooms and told what to do and when to do it. Unlike in the corporate world, where businesses spend tens of millions researching what their consumers really want, when it comes to how we structure and organize our kids’ education, we generally don’t make the slightest attempt to listen to, or even care, what students think about how they are taught. This is unacceptable and untenable. It’s also dangerous. We treat our students the way we treated women before suffrage— their opinions have no weight. But just as we now insist that women have an equal voice in politics, work, and other domains, we will, I predict, begin accepting and insisting that students have an equal voice in their own education. Or else our students will drop out (as they are doing), shoot at us (ditto), sue us, riot, or worse. So, whenever and wherever I speak, I do my best to bring my own students to the meetings. I ask my hosts to select a panel of a half-dozen or so kids of different grade levels, genders, and abilities to talk with me and the audience. I ask only that the students be articulate and willing to speak their minds in front of an audience of educators. Some groups embrace the idea enthusiastically; others are wary. A few tell me they “just can’t ⇒nd” kids—and this, from teachers—or cite some rule that prevents kids from being there. Nonetheless, I persist, both hoping for an effective panel and believing that the group will provide a model for integrating student input about their education into schooling and planning. What do I ⇒nd? Almost all the groups are pleased and surprised by the result. In fact, the student panels are generally the highlight of my appearances. This comment after a discussion in front of the Virginia Department of Education is typical: “It was the best thing we’ve ever done.” By design, I typically don’t meet the students until just before I speak, and my only instructions are to “tell the truth as much as you feel comfortable.” I never know what the kids are going to say. One colleague told me “That’s really brave.” I don’t see it that way. I see the panels as an opportunity to hear what the students think—whatever that may be. Listening to our students is always interesting and worthwhile, whether the kids are speaking their own minds (almost always the case) or whether they are channeling careful coaching they have received in advance from their teachers and parents (which happens occasionally, and is always quite obvious). My approach, when conducting these panels, is to ⇒rst ask the students a few setup questions: • What experiences in school really engaged you? • How do you use technology in school as opposed to outside of school? • What are your pet peeves? The kids are allowed to pass if they don’t want to answer, which takes some of the pressure off, and the audience is invited to join in later. Every one of these panels is unique, but certain common threads emerge: The students typically express a variety of feelings—gratitude for the good teachers they have, and frustration with the greater number they ⇒nd not so good. They are full of ideas but often skeptical that things are going to change much.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Edutopia - June/July 2008

Edutopia - June/July 2008 Contents UpFront Feedback Dispatches Sage Advice Ask Ellen Head of Class Cool Schools Design Young Minds, Fast Times Wii Love Learning No More Pencils, No More Books Tech Without Support All the Right Moves Room to Learn Heart & Soul Pop Quiz: Jeff Corwin

Edutopia - June/July 2008

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