Changing Education Paradigms

I found the Ted Talk, Changing Education Paradigms to be very interesting and thought provoking. Sir Ken Robinson raises some interesting points about our education system. This video stressed that we are educating our students for the future with a system that was conceived in a different time period. We are using old methods to engage our students in learning when our students are so much further along in their thinking. Subject matter, like math, is being taught under the assumption that our students need to learn math that involves linear thinking and results in one answer only. When Common Core Standards were introduced, educators panicked because it shifted their way of teaching. Educators could no longer pull out lessons where teachers taught in their traditional manner. It took educators out of their comfort zone and required them to produce lessons that were collaborative, creative, required communication and critical thinking. Common Core was developed with the premise that we are  building upon the best state standards, preparing our students on what they need to know and be able to do to be successful in college, career, and life. Teachers need to change their mindset on what their students can learn. They need to stop assuming that their students aren’t capable of mastering lessons that require rigorous thinking and can be substantiated by multiple answers. The part of the video that stood out for me was that our educational system is providing an education that is representative of a production line. We are teaching our students to conform and preparing them for a standardized education as measured by standardized testing. We need to encourage our students to be divergent thinkers, but in order to do this educators need to push themselves out of their comfort zone and embrace this shift and respect what our students are capable of producing.