Author Description

If we look at how students are being taught in the typical K-12 classroom it would not look that much different from the way that Aristotle and Socrates taught over 2,000 years ago. We are in a cycle of trying to fix our educational system by placing the blame on one element of the system and then pretending that if we change or fix that element that everything will be all right. If we step inside the educational structure and start to look around, we would see that it is the structure itself that is the problem. We need to make two fundamental changes. The first is to move to a blended learning model where most of the learning content is delivered by a locally controlled but nationally run online learning system and combine this learning with the best of what face-to-face teaching has to offer. The second fundamental change is to remove the age/grade structure and its inherent limitations and move to an achievement based approach. We currently move students through the educational system based on the assumption that all students of the same age have the same capabilities and are at the same stage of development. By freeing students to progress based on their abilities and interests we can promote success, encourage life long learning, and move towards the development of expertise.