How did education get stuck in the 20th century? Students sitting at desks pretending to listen to didactic lectures should be the method of last resort – not the primary teaching strategy. I cannot think of a more unsuitable method of teaching males. This educational technique rewards subservience and the ability to follow instructions while running smack into emerging male aggressiveness and independence. Females could also be better served.
Even in the 1960s, when I was in elementary school, the techniques and tools existed to let every student learn at their own pace. There is no educational reason to group children by age, force them to attend a physical location, or the concept of a calendar-based “school year.” There may be other social reasons to force kids into one place: baby-sitting, train them to be 9-5 employees, to enforce peer-induced role models, or maybe to get them out of the control of brainwashing religious families, but these are not strictly education concerns.
Though not publically admitted, the Progressive/social-justice/Marxist crowd hates the idea of self-paced learning because it would immediately stratify society. The current method of schooling holds back the exceptional students to a great extent. If students were unfettered, many would finish High School before they were teenagers, and achieve advanced degrees before 20. Males would especially benefit because testosterone makes them competitive, even with themselves.
My personal experience with teachers is poor. Many were barely qualified to “teach” me anything. Learning for me and most of my peers was self-taught. In fact, I can honestly say that teachers held me back from achieving my full potential. However, I recognize that many students are benefited by teachers – self-paced learning certainly includes a “slow” pace. But even then, with modern interconnectivity and the Information Age, classes should use only the best pre-recorded lecturers, including interactive graphics to serve as memory & thought aids. A teacher in this environment would be more of a facilitator.
We seem to be stuck in a time-warp and the only explanation I can come up with is momentum, and as Teacher’s Unions have become more powerful, that momentum has become insurmountable. Luckily, technology is inexorably breaking the stranglehold of the educational establishment. Lead by prestigious schools like MIT, many of the major universities and colleges are starting to offer online courses and degrees. Within a decade, just the cost of a brick-and-mortar degree will force students to find other means. It cannot be too soon because it has already been too long.
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