One of the blogs I read regulary is Seth Godin’s blog where I read about topics such as creativity, goal-setting and marketing among other things educational and informative. So tonight after I wasted a fair amount of time on skype and facebook I set about clearing out my google reader and enjoyed reading this post from Mr. Godin.
The question recently raised and discussed on the blog was ‘What is school for?’ and here is ‘a starter’ list that was posted.
The purpose of school is to:
- Become an informed citizen
- Be able to read for pleasure
- Be trained in the rudimentary skills necessary for employment
- Do well on standardized tests
- Homogenize society, at least a bit
- Pasteurize out the dangerous ideas
- Give kids something to do while parents work
- Teach future citizens how to conform
- Teach future consumers how to desire
- Build a social fabric
- Create leaders who help us compete on a world stage
- Generate future scientists who will advance medicine and technology
- Learn for the sake of learning
- Help people become interesting and productive
- Defang the proletariat
- Establish a floor below which a typical person is unlikely to fall
- Find and celebrate prodigies, geniuses and the gifted
- Make sure kids learn to exercise, eat right and avoid common health problems
- Teach future citizens to obey authority
- Teach future employees to do the same
- Increase appreciation for art and culture
- Teach creativity and problem solving
- Minimize public spelling mistakes
- Increase emotional intelligence
- Decrease crime by teaching civics and ethics
- Increase understanding of a life well lived
- Make sure the sports teams have enough players
So my students of 2009 and ‘grown-ups’ of the future…let’s get a little clever and have a think about this list.
What would you add, change or remove? I don’t want you to obsess about some of the ones that you don’t understand or don’t ‘speak’ to you but something must jump out at you as right, wrong or crazy.
Post on your own blog by Friday the 6th of June under the heading “I think school is for…”
the barefoot librarian 