Creating Passionate Users: Most classroom learning sucks
The most depressing result of Skyler’s transition to public school was when she came home one day a few weeks into her 7th grade, and said, “In real school, they don’t seem to like it when you question the teacher…” She was horrified to be labeled somewhat of a troublemaker, because she’d been treated for so many years as a thinking person, encouraged to challenge and question and not assume it was her fault if she didn’t understand something. Suddenly dropped into the US public school system, she quickly learned that it’s a very different world. She knew more about learning theory and the brain than most of her school’s administration, and her tolerance for poor/weak educational experiences was pretty low.
She did have some fabulous teachers throughout the rest of her public school days, but wouldn’t you know it–they were always the teachers getting into trouble with the school administration or even parent’s groups. In a later post I’ll tell you a shocking story about one of her teachers who made the national news, twice, for encouraging students to think–and act– for themselves. He was nearly fired during a witch hunt that both local and national media seized on (although most later offered apologies when it became obvious what was really going on).