In preparation for the visit to Fresno Pacific University by Bernie Trilling, I am reading 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times. I expect that I will be sharing some of the key passages with you all as I go through the book.
Here’s the first one:
One of the Chinese delegates, Mr. Zheng, appeared increasingly excited the more he saw and heard [at Napa's New Technology High School]. By the time we gathered to recap the day’s experiences, he just couldn’t wait to speak any longer.
He held up the school’s curriculum guide and asked, in English, “Where in here do you teach creativity and innovation? I want to know how you teach this! We need our students to learn how to do this!”
The school’s curriculum director, Paul, took a deep breath, collected his thoughts, smiled, and answered slowly, “I have some not-so-good news…and some good news.
“The not-so-good news is…it isn’t in the curriculum guide.
“It’s more in the air we breathe — or maybe the water we drink; the history of our country — Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Benjamin Franklin; it’s in our business culture, our entrepreneurs, our willingness to try new ideas; the tinkering and inventing in our garages, the challenge of tackling tough problems and the excitement of creating something new; in being rewarded for our new ideas, taking risks, failing, and trying again.”
Paul is very poetic… and full of hogwash. Virtually every school is designed to repress creativity and innovation. Regimentation is of prime importance: bells, rules, grades, government-approved textbooks with government-approved “truth,” assignment formats; the list goes on and on. The entire system is designed to train the student to subjugate their individuality, submit to the system, and support the organization: class, school, team, and state.
Clearly, you have never been to this school. It is unique in that it does not do that. But, yes, there are other schools that certainly do.