This is a critical question (both in the sense of being important and in the sense of implying criticism of our current school system).
Prince Ea asks this question in a YouTube video that was posted on the 3rd September 2018:
This is a powerful provocation - as evidenced by the nearly two and a half million views that the video clocked up in its first 8 days.
Prince Ea concludes by asking principals, teachers, advisors, students and parents to think about this question. That is a vital step in rethinking our education systems - though as I argued in a previous post it is only one element of what we need to do.
Prince Ea then goes on to suggest that schools should implement some of the ideas on the Innovation Playlist - and based on a quick scan of that site I think that is great advice - not withstanding having doubts about the extent to which you can achieve systemic change from the bottom up without change also being driven from the top down.
Other things we need to do are:
- share examples of successful innovation in education (with a focus on pedagogy rather than technology)
- develop ways of recognising and giving value to the things that we think are important (rather than the things that it is easy to measure), and
- apply pressure so that politicians and policy makers realise that the risks of not changing our education system are greater than the risk of doing so - how about Prince Ea spearheading a campaign on change.org?!
