Blog post 12

How to Escape Education’s Death Valley

Sir Ken Robinson delivers a very powerful speech on YouTube called How to Escape Education’s Death Valley. The video focuses on what the United States' educational system is doing wrong and informs us of ways that it can be fixed. To start, Mr. Robinson believes that education is going in the wrong direction. The No Child Left Behind Act is actually leave millions of children behind. Children are dropping out of school because they are disengaged when it comes to learning. Most teachers are focusing on teaching standards and giving tests than actually teaching students so that they can learn. Mr. Robinson believes that the role of the teacher is to facilitate learning and not focus so much on testing. Teachers should be focusing on awakening students' creativity instead of a culture of standardized tests. He does a great job comparing Finland’s educational system to the United States'. Finland’s educational system is different from our system because they do not focus on standardized tests. Instead they focus on teaching and students' learning. They engage students and invest in professional development. They also give the schools control of education, not the government. Mr. Robinson makes a good point about alternative schools in America. He speaks about how alternative schools are personalized, linked to the community, and the teachers have a strong support system. He believes that we should make all schools like this. The last thing he speaks about is a place called Death Valley where nothing would grow, until one year it rained and flowers began to grow there. He believes that if we change the way education is being taught, then students can grow. Mr. Robinson taught me that students can and will learn if given the chance. We should focus more on teaching the students than teaching material for a test. Students want to be engaged and it is our job as educators to engage them. Our government has a lot of control over our schools. I wonder if the government will ever give complete control back over to the schools?