Paid Advertisement EMPTY THE SCHOOLS: THE IMPLOSION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION The current educational eco-system is iretrievably broken and has been imploding on itself, with one alienating step after another. And ironically, the pressures emanating from the COVID hysteria, have shone a light on the governance of the schools and the content of the curriculum, that has been iluminating in all the wrong ways. Parents have been appalled by the propaganda-ike subject matter, A few months before the pandemic was officially announced, I wrote a piece about the time having arrived to retire the public school system. Frankly, I thought the process would take some time; but I was wrong. Between clueless school boards, puzzied teachers, and a tyrannical union, a perfect storm of incompetence has boen created. Let's look at the components that have led to this juncture - The model that shapes our children's experience is, to be charitable, outmoded, outdated, and boring. It is mired in content transference in the midst of a post-information culture. Finding answers to problems is easy. Figuring out what the next problem will be, is the challenge. Confusing education with learning, has turned off many of our best and brightest young minds. Education is about transterring content. Learning is about expanding one's seltinformation. It's the diference between knowing everything about how your car works, and deciding where you need to go. A colleague who consults widely in Mexico, frames the difference pointedly: " The simple transfer of information no longer constihutes knowledge, nor is it a competence. Anyone can transfer information including junk information (Juan Carlos Erdozian Rivera) Our schools are controlled by the lowest risk people in our culture, and they teach our children to be compliant, unoriginal, unchallenging and contict avoidant. The teachers (and their union) trantically protect job security and the administrators, in abject cowardice, allow crazy helicopter parents to run the schools. When I'm delivering a presentation to large groups, I often ask people in the audience. to raise their hand if they have their current job guaranteed for the rest of their lives. No hands go up. I then tell them that their taxes support people who do. It's called tenure. And it protects educators from accountability, assessment, and termination. So what's the alternative? The best I'm aware of is called "learning pods." They are groups of families (involving 6- 10 children) who hire tree lancing teachers to toach both hard and soft skils, and reflect the core values of the families. They are not bound by a classroom, but instead, meet and learn in real ife environments- government offices, law enforcement milieux and businesses, for example. They hire teachers from among those leaving the profession in droves: totaly fed up with narcissistic colleagues and wimpy leaders. This is not a derivative of home schooling. This is mobile learning, using the human environment to give children an experience of the real world, which, unfortunately, neither their schools nor their families give them. And the learning is facilitated by the best and most creative teachers who have been hamstrung by the mind-numbing oducational bureaucracy. I was talking, recently. with an extraordinarily creative teacher and was struck by how she described her current diemma: 1 feel like I'm caught between two tyrants the school board and the union."We have the opportunity to create true learning experiences, but it will take all of our resolve to wrestle control of our children away from low-risk, fear-driven adults who have ittle faith and trust in our children. Morrie Shechtman Chairman Fifth Wave Leadership www.fithwaveleadership.com Paid Advertisement EMPTY THE SCHOOLS: THE IMPLOSION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION The current educational eco-system is iretrievably broken and has been imploding on itself, with one alienating step after another. And ironically, the pressures emanating from the COVID hysteria, have shone a light on the governance of the schools and the content of the curriculum, that has been iluminating in all the wrong ways. Parents have been appalled by the propaganda-ike subject matter, A few months before the pandemic was officially announced, I wrote a piece about the time having arrived to retire the public school system. Frankly, I thought the process would take some time; but I was wrong. Between clueless school boards, puzzied teachers, and a tyrannical union, a perfect storm of incompetence has boen created. Let's look at the components that have led to this juncture - The model that shapes our children's experience is, to be charitable, outmoded, outdated, and boring. It is mired in content transference in the midst of a post-information culture. Finding answers to problems is easy. Figuring out what the next problem will be, is the challenge. Confusing education with learning, has turned off many of our best and brightest young minds. Education is about transterring content. Learning is about expanding one's seltinformation. It's the diference between knowing everything about how your car works, and deciding where you need to go. A colleague who consults widely in Mexico, frames the difference pointedly: " The simple transfer of information no longer constihutes knowledge, nor is it a competence. Anyone can transfer information including junk information (Juan Carlos Erdozian Rivera) Our schools are controlled by the lowest risk people in our culture, and they teach our children to be compliant, unoriginal, unchallenging and contict avoidant. The teachers (and their union) trantically protect job security and the administrators, in abject cowardice, allow crazy helicopter parents to run the schools. When I'm delivering a presentation to large groups, I often ask people in the audience. to raise their hand if they have their current job guaranteed for the rest of their lives. No hands go up. I then tell them that their taxes support people who do. It's called tenure. And it protects educators from accountability, assessment, and termination. So what's the alternative? The best I'm aware of is called "learning pods." They are groups of families (involving 6- 10 children) who hire tree lancing teachers to toach both hard and soft skils, and reflect the core values of the families. They are not bound by a classroom, but instead, meet and learn in real ife environments- government offices, law enforcement milieux and businesses, for example. They hire teachers from among those leaving the profession in droves: totaly fed up with narcissistic colleagues and wimpy leaders. This is not a derivative of home schooling. This is mobile learning, using the human environment to give children an experience of the real world, which, unfortunately, neither their schools nor their families give them. And the learning is facilitated by the best and most creative teachers who have been hamstrung by the mind-numbing oducational bureaucracy. I was talking, recently. with an extraordinarily creative teacher and was struck by how she described her current diemma: 1 feel like I'm caught between two tyrants the school board and the union."We have the opportunity to create true learning experiences, but it will take all of our resolve to wrestle control of our children away from low-risk, fear-driven adults who have ittle faith and trust in our children. Morrie Shechtman Chairman Fifth Wave Leadership www.fithwaveleadership.com