Why Corporations Want Control of Public Education
After reading an essay by Alfie Kohn, entitled, “Turning Learning Into Business”, from his book, “What Does It Mean To Be Well Educated?” I got curious if the essay he had written might possibly have been exaggerated. I started my own research to verify what he had written. The results I found out were straight out of the movie “Pelican Brief.”
Our story starts in 2017, with an Internet site called Executive Paywatch, which reported that the CEO’s of the Standards & Poor (S&P) 500 index made $13.98 Million dollars of compensation. S&P are known for their marketing intelligence. The information they gather benefits their clients who are willing to pay for it.
[FLASH BACK] In 1992, I took an in depth course in becoming an Info-Broker. The type of clients I worked for needed information that was current, like today, and would benefit their company tomorrow morning. I found out that information could be bought, sold or traded. I remembered that employees from the RAND corporation were also taking the same course. They were learning how to gather information for their clients too! High profiling clients that were heading for the Olympics in Spain. Safety and security for those clients was paramount, and they required information that was current to the hour.
[BACK TO STORY] What about S&P clients, who are they? They range from corporations to schools. Regarding schools, the S&P was the first to tabulate, organize, and package education information from test scores that were eventually sold back to states who were interested in what was happening in their own schools. Who could benefit from knowing student scores? Maybe your parent company to start with. Guess who is the parent company of S & P? McGraw-Hill, the same company that makes school textbooks. Interesting huh?
Seponnet: https://bit.ly/2DO7CRm
Standardized testing is a machine that collects valuable data that can be organized into information. This is why corporations are not interested in the Arts, because the Arts can’t be standardized. If they can’t be formed into standardized data they are worthless. The Arts are subjective, whereas math, science and English are objective and can be tabulated. So explains the push to downsize and remove the Arts and promote math, science and English scores.
While schools play into the illusion of which school is the best, the real gold is being mined in the classroom as schools compete with each other. Who supports the efforts of these testing and reporting companies? Business Week has printed the top business schools, as well as the top STEM schools in the nation. Business week writers gather their evidence from test scores. By the way, did I forget to tell you who is the parent company of Business Week? If you guessed McGraw-Hill you’re getting ahead. But hang on, the plot takes some interesting turns.
Oh yes, the more I dug, the more shadows seemed to appear behind dark corridors. I could envision Dan Brown writing a novel concerning a global conspiracy to control schools. To control the minds of students and their futures. Of course, to make such a novel you would probably need the Church and several key corporate head characters, who were all Masons, all sitting around key educational school boards around the country. All being controlled by one silent and cryptic person. Then you would have a good novel right? Well,–that’s another story.
Some business corporations have intertwined so skillfully into education that the public only perceives a mask representing education. We have already discovered a couple of the corporations who already control the $20 billion to $30 billion dollar a year textbook and standardized testing industry, and this doesn’t even count the online, apps, and other electronic media that has surfaced like an enemy sub off the coast.
Picture from Hypertextbook.com https://hypertextbook.com/eworld/choice/
For example, Apple computers; Lest we forget they make and sell computers–and schools are their best customers. Another company that seems safe is Proctor and Gamble. Did you know they have their own G&P School where they send their products in the form of lesson plans to teachers all across the country? Sounds nice until you realize they are paving the way for future customers by presenting their product in a very clever and hidden bias.
Gateway to College Students take their Math final exam at Lake Washington Technical College, Kirkland WA
So where does this leave us? The majority of schools throughout the United States have mission statements that generally cover these three basic common goals for the 21st Century: (1) To develop creative thinkers; (2) to develop productive global citizens and leaders; and (3) to develop lifelong learners.
If big business controls the curriculum and standardized testing how can we develop creative thinkers. If we want students to become productive global citizens and leaders students must be taught how to ask the right questions–not how to answer the correct multiple choice question. Finally, if we want lifelong learners, education must be stimulating not stagnant.
The only way to change this, I believe, is to allow teachers to teach. I remember several years ago, I met with a school board made up of businessmen. One was a podiatrist. I remember discussing with him a biodegradable suture thread I had read about and strongly suggested he consider using it. He told me that it had some benefits but couldn’t be used in every case. I strongly suggested it could. He replied, “I’ve been a surgeon for 25 years and I think I know my business better than you.” I retorted, ” I’ve been in my field for 30 years, and I think I know my business as good as you do yours.” He responded, “Good come back. I get it!” Corporations really don’t understand what is going on in the classroom. That’s why professional educators are hired, but it is the silent business partner who seems to have a say into what is important to teach and how it is to be taught. Teaching to the standardized test was not developed by educators.
Wikipedia Image: creative connections
No standardized test would complete without a scantron sheet and a #2 pencil. It’s the “Scantron” company that makes the millions of scantrons students from elementary to university use. Their parent company is M&F Worldwide whose Scantron Division provides data management solutions and related services, including testing and assessment solutions, patient information collection and tracking, and survey services to educational, commercial, healthcare, and governmental entities.. The parent company of M&F Worldwide is MacAndrews and Forbes. Finally, MacAndrews and Forbes is owned wholly by the billionaire investor Ronald Perelman. It’s amazing where these trails end up.
For the past 20 years, the corporate business world has put down educators and told the world they can produce a better student. In those 20 years, the government and corporate world has invested $60 billion dollars into technology and Internet infrastructure. State laws have been influenced to incorporating standardized testing and assessments, the business world has had more influence and input into school curriculum development. However, the results published by PISA (Programme International Student Assessment) has shown that in those same years the ROI in grades for 15 year old students has remained average or below average in the United States. Out of 71 countries the U.S. ranks 19th in science, 30th in math, and 27th in reading.
This past weekend, Superbowl LIII, sponsors invested $5.25 million dollars for a 30-second spot. Was that money down the drain? Of course not. Yes, it does seem like a David and Golliath scenario, and I am only one voice, but I’ll say it anyway, “It’s time to return the class over to those trained to teach, and remove business out of classroom.”
Has Technology Infused into the Classroom Helped or Hindered Student Learning?
A 2019 Typical Classroom: Creative Commons 2019
Walk into any classroom today and remove the technology from the classroom and you will find that the layout hasn’t changed much in the past 200 years. Classrooms may have more comfortable student desks and some classrooms have even replaced desks for tables. Dusty chalkboards have been replaced with whiteboards and even Smart Boards that have Internet connections. Overhead light projectors have been replaced with digital overheads and projectors. Projectors and filmstrips have been replaced with online Internet images and video streaming. Teachers use their smartphones or tablets to deliver their notes, and student textbooks are now available on iPads, tablets, and even Smartphones via WIFI connections available in the classroom.
School bells still ring or even play music to indicate that a new class period is beginning or has just ended. Students still have assigned seats. It is the teacher that still delivers the questions with the responsibility of the student to respond with the correct answer. There is more testing than in the past though, students get pre-tested on subject matters, then they are given quizzes and tests to see how well they have memorized their assignments. Post-assessments indicate what material was covered and the percentage of students that got it right! School districts, States, and the Federal government all have their tests and assessments, and you would think, with the infusion of all this technology student learning is at an all-time high, but it isn’t. In fact in general, student polls indicate students are both bored and confused. Bored with the instructional presentations and confused as to how the system operates and who really operates it.
Artwork by Villemard (1910) Public Domain
In 1910 electrical inventions were all the rage. In this same time period, a French artist by the name of Villemard envisioned the learning classroom in the year 2000. The picture above shows a teacher putting textbooks into an electronic machine while a student cranks the books through the machine. The machine is electrical sending via copper wires the book’s knowledge to awaiting students in their seats. Note that the students have no need for paper or any kind of writing instrument since the knowledge is going straight into their brains. Instant learning? Or is it? A machine can possess knowledge but that doesn’t make it intelligent, and humans are not machines. In order to develop critical thinking skills, which only a human can do, the student must build on the information gained and hands-on experience in order to make the connection in either solving a problem or developing a new solution that addresses the problem.
21st Century classroom envisioned in 1957. Public Domain
In 1957 the Russians launched Sputnik, the first orbiting satellite. In the same year, the United States government enacted the National Defense Education Act. The purpose of the legislation was to transform schools and encourage high school graduation and college entrance. The comparison of what Russian students were accomplishing compared to their American counterparts made the United States rethink the importance of education as a defense towards future Communistic control. The picture above shows how futurists then viewed the year 2000. Students would still be in a stereotype classroom setting, now with electronic equipment on their desks with screens and buttons used to input data. Note that the teacher still is dressed in 1950 attire but no longer in the classroom. Television was developing technology in the 1950s and most futurists in this time period saw this form of media as a possible educational platform in the future. Again, it was thought that technology would solve the goals set by the government. Interesting enough, it was Giambattiar Vico, back in the 17th Century, who realized the problem when the public accepts science and technology as the messiah of education and believing it alone will create the results expected, and then it doesn’t.
It was Isaac Asimov, a science fiction writer, who in 1947 coined the word robot from the Russian word Robota meaning serf or slave labor. The word caught on in the ’50s and was quite popular by the 1960s.
21st Century classroom envisioned (1965) Public Domain
The 1965 comic strip above shows a group of 21st Century students learning math from a robot. Even though you can’t see the seats the students are sitting on you can pretty much envision the classroom layout. The bookcase in the background holds reel-to-reel tapes, which was pretty much 1960 technology.
Modern 21st Century classroom Creative Commons
Today’s classrooms can be more colorful. Modern classrooms are carpeted with temperature controls to keep a comfortable working environment. When technology, in the form of computers, was introduced back in the 1980’s students were curious about what technology was all about; however, today a computer or iPad in the classroom brings no more interest than a light switch on the wall. Teachers are in the classroom but are sometimes replaced by a video presentation or a computer program that students access either through a desktop computer or laptop. YouTube is probably one of today’s students’ favorite platforms to get tutored. Students are encouraged to work independently to match their processing speeds and learning styles. Electronic tests and quizzes are given but students can retake them until they pass at the mark they desire. But in reflection, is this any different than the 1910 picture of students being fed knowledge and data? What is missing in ensuring students are learning? If technology can’t create curiosity and learning then what can?
So that this blog article doesn’t become a novel let’s cut to the chase. 21st Century technology has succeeded in storing and delivering knowledge at incredible speeds. There are many tools that can be used today to call up, present, and package knowledge. But now we come to the question of this article, has technology helped or hindered active learning?
Student collaboration (adobe licensed)
I propose technology has hindered active learning. In the K-8th grade levels, students best learn through metaphors, analogies, and storytelling. Teaching like this helps grow student imagination and understanding. Students need to learn about identifying patterns and making connections to other similar patterns.
Students need to learn collaboration skills when doing problem-solving. It is amazing how simple tools like pencils, crayons, and paper can help students transfer imagination into reality. Students need to learn early on how to adapt and become flexible when working in small groups. These soft skills when developed early help students succeed in more complex projects later along their path of learning. Students need to understand how to ask a question especially when they are searching the Net using a search engine. Young students must learn early that technology is a tool and how to choose the right technology (tool) in developing a new solution.
It is the teacher’s job to make sure the students are clear on concept definition and applications. Teachers can act as guides or mentors helping students to stay on track and monitor their progress. Finally, students must learn the value of seven key soft skills:
- communication (verbal and written),
- adaptability (bringing in new people, working with limited resources),
- flexibility (the ability to change direction),
- project management, problem-solving, thinking outside the box, and storytelling (being able to deliver difficult concepts into a story format).
In my next article, I will go over the changes that need to be made with K-12, the three major paths students should have access to, and the assessments that will help guide students’ strengths and talents towards careers in fields that will increase their productivity, inventiveness, and success. The Academy of Leonardo’s Apprentice is developing a working model of a 21st Century educational program that will launch this summer. The focus will be on students demonstrating an interest in the fields of engineering and science. For students who can’t afford the summer tuition, we will be setting up a fund for donations to bring in such students.
Peter Romero, M.Ed. Academy of LeonardosApprentice.org. ALA is a 501(c) educational foundation dedicated to improving student education and teacher development. All donations are tax-deductible under the 501(c) status.
First Steps to Education Transformation
1933 Chicago World’s Fair | Public Domain
The motto of the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago was “Science Finds, Industry Applies, and Man Conforms.” The word conform can mean to equalize, uniform, or standardized. Both public and private schools have over the last 60 years moved towards conformity through standardization. The concept, which is quite simple is to teach, test, and assess students equally. At the same time, reformers have demanded to increase the educational content workload, demand more testing and assessments not only for students but for teachers as well. Most reformers are not educators.
Frustrated student | Creative Commons
The pressure has also been on parents to obtain tutors for their children so that they can pass not only school curriculum but also state testing. All of this to move every student into college with the promise of a better career and lifestyle. However, according to current statistics, 44% of the college graduates that get jobs today don’t require a degree. 2 out of 5 graduates will not be working in the field they studied and paid for. According to College Atlas, 70% of Americans will study at a four-year college, but less than two-thirds will graduate with a degree, and 30% of first-year students drop out after their first year of school.
On the other hand, those students who ventured into entrepreneurial careers and have developed the right skills are demonstrating more success than their college degree counterparts. A college degree position has a salary cap, whereas an entrepreneur’s salary and growth is only limited to the knowledge, skills, and calculated risks the entrepreneur is willing to take. Today’s entrepreneurs range from Bill Gates ($81.8 Billion dollars) to young millionaires under 25 years of age.
So should schools be preparing their students for college or teaching them the entrepreneur skills to compete and survive? And, if the schools were to take this transformation what major change needs to be made? For this answer, I would like to take a look at the dimensions of one of history’s greatest entrepreneurs–Leonardo da Vinci!
500th Anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci. Do you think you know him? Click the image
This is the 500th anniversary of this great Renaissance entrepreneur’s passing. He has had the titles of an engineer, inventor, scientist, cartographer, graphic artist, biologist, astronomer, architect, sculpturist, musician, paleontologist, geologist, and even military strategist. One of the most prolific inventors in history, Leonardo dreamed up inventions and made notes on how technology in his time could be innovated to work. Whether designing weapons of war, flying machines, water systems, or new work tools, da Vinci was never afraid to look beyond traditional thinking and move into the world of dreams.
What skills did Leonardo possess that gave him the ability to take on and tackle so many different trade problems that would demand unique innovations or new inventions? With the ability to walk into a new trade with the confidence to identify a problem and the assurance to rectify the problem with a unique solution.
At the core of this genius was an artist. An artist who learned how to see, study, copy, and then invent or innovate. An artist whose brain searched for patterns and then made the connections. But his greatest attribute was his unquenchable thirst in curiosity. A curiosity that always started with a question. A question that had a story to tell, to learn, to grow. Curiosity was the catalyst and art was the skill.
Natural child curiosity | Creative Commons
Children are born with a natural curiosity and school systems do a great job of killing it. It was Sir Isaac Newton who said, “Live your life as an Exclamation rather than an Explanation.” I know Leonardo da Vinci did so. The Arts train the mind to perceive problems from different perspectives. The Arts also train the mind how to imagine and then evolve from thought to invention. Our modern system has placed the Arts in the extracurricular box meaning not important, while it has put the “T” for technology in STEM equal to the other academic components, and yet, technology doesn’t have a learning outcome. Art does!
The Academy of Leonardo’s Apprentice came into existence to teach engineering and science through the Arts. The learning outcomes would give a student those entrepreneur skills now required in our fast-moving 21st Century world. A world that is no longer confined by borders thanks to the Internet, a global community where ideas and problems can be shared and solved by those with the skills to make it happen.
As I write, the plans in initiating such an innovative program are in the works. Its purpose is to rekindle the curiosity of a young mind as well as teaching the skills of entrepreneurship while working on real problems requiring either innovation or invention. It is like no other course taught today. It is about becoming an apprentice of da Vinci. If this sounds like a program you would like support to please like this article, visit our website (LeonardosApprentice.org), or give a donation towards the building of this program. We are a 501(c) nonprofit educational foundation dedicated to searching and supporting today’s students that will become tomorrow’s visionaries.
Now in hindsight, maybe the new motto for the 21st Century might be, “Science finds, Entrepreneurs Apply, and Man Transforms”
http://Leonardosapprentice.org 501(c) nonprofit educational foundation Peter Romero M.Ed. Executive Director
It’s Time To Transform Not Reform!
It was in Natalie Wexler’s Forbes (April 9, 2018) article, “Three Mistakes We Need to Fix If We Want Education Reform To Succeed,” that caught my attention in how corporate America still doesn’t get it. Below, I have quoted each of her points as they were written.
- The real problems begin at the high school level. In fact, the problems that manifest themselves in high school have their roots in elementary school, which reformers have long seen—mistakenly—as the bright spot in education. When students arrive in ninth grade reading several years below grade level, as is often the case in high-poverty schools, the answer is not simply to demand that they graduate within four years, come hell or high water. We need to give students more time to catch up if they need it—and we need to start looking critically at what is happening before high school that leaves students so unprepared.
It was Sir Ken Robinson (International education speaker and writer) who remarked, “The fact is that given the challenges we face, education doesn’t need to be reformed–it needs to be transformed.” Where the Academy of Leonardo’s Apprentice has laid its course of action is at the secondary level because the elementary starts out fine but over time student engagement and motivation are drained by the time students reach high school.
Why are students needing more time to catch up? Reformers have already increased the classroom workload, extended school days making for shorter summer vacations, and have added more technology infrastructure including computers, notebooks, and iPad\tablets. The reformers still don’t get it. Reforming the old system just puts bandages on the old system. It’s now time for transformation not reformation. So, what is missing?
Curiosity is the fuel for exploration, discovery, inquiry, and learning. It was Walt Disney who pointed out, “Ideas come from curiosity.” Children are born with a natural curiosity about the world around them. Curiosity naturally manifests itself with questions seeking understanding and answers. But instead of feeding the fire of curiosity, the system slowly creates an environment of silence leading to death for long term learning. Students are guided away from exploration and inquiry and replaced with pre-assessments, tests, and post-assessments. The grade becomes more important than how the student learns. Standardization has become a machine-like system similar to Pink Floyd’s 1979 song, “Another Brick in the Wall.”
Interesting enough, elementary students already walk in with strong curiosity and motivation. The question is how is our educational system slowly puts out the fire by the time that child reaches high school. More content, testing, and technology is not the answer–that has already been proven. When more becomes less than expected the next step is to blame the teacher.
- The most important factor in educational achievement is a highly effective teacher. It’s true that teachers are hugely important, but reformers have judged teachers’ effectiveness by how much they boost students’ test scores and whether they’re seen to be employing the right kind of classroom “moves.” What reformers have paid little or no attention to is what teachers are being asked to teach. There’s increasing evidence that the best way to improve teachers’ performance is to provide them with high-quality instructional materials and specific training in how to use them.
A team discusses their potential solutions to global issues during the Global Problem Solving Competition held in STEPS on Friday, Nov. 7, 2014. Teams were given one hour to create a presentation.
According to the U.S. Department of Education statistics, 50% of new teachers will leave their profession within their first 5 years. These are qualified educators who are hired as effective teachers. Why are they leaving? Who are the reformers who “judge” a teacher’s effectiveness? The Forbes writer sites increasing evidence that to improve teacher performance, reformers need to provide high-quality instructional materials and teach them (the teachers) how to use it.
Corporate America has changed the classroom environment to mimic their own. Teachers are referred to as classroom managers. Superintendents are administrators, students are clients, content and curriculum have become business production, grades are paychecks. Finally, government and state assessments are not based on what the curriculum demands but where they think the client should be by age and grade. The same standardization that made manufactures and businesses work has been applied to human learning–and it isn’t working!
When District and State assessments cut into the learning process to measure what they feel students should know, the so-called high-quality materials are no longer important. Teachers earn a Master’s in their course of study, they must go through two years of training before they are accepted with certification. The majority of educational businesses are run by individuals who lack both classroom experience and education, and these are the people who are responsible for reforming teachers. Holding an MBA or Ph.D. in a business field does not give a person the training to teach young children or teenagers.
One reformer says, “Remove paper textbooks and give students digital tablets to read from–this will improve their reading skills.” Of course, it won’t. Reformers are rarely educators. They are business people who sell and market their products or services promising to improve learning, increase student motivation, and a host of other snakebite medicine benefits. Since 1996, over $80 billion dollars has been invested in internet infrastructure, computers, and digital equipment. These technologies are only tools. Teachers are given the technology and told to incorporate it into their curriculums. Training is rare, and when given it is only introductory at best. Tech companies always state their products are hands-on intuitive. Technologies are generally designed and programmed for only one or two learning styles, subject matter, or limited content. Most of the elementary tech tools are no more than electronic rote memory devices. Students wanting to explore beyond what is programmed is not available.
Ask the question who are these “Reformers?” From Horace Mann in the 19th Century to the business world today with their acronym of S.T.E.M. education. Reformers have not in the past 50 years focused on student needs, that has been graded by organizations like P.I.S.A. (Programme International Student Assessment), which for the past 20 years has shown American 15-year old students are still average in science and math and below average in reading. However, corporate America is not interested in what goes on in the classroom but their business ledgers, stock prices, and marketing agendas. It’s time to give the classrooms back to the educators to transform the status quo into the 21st Century educational journey.
- Education needs to be data-driven. What this means in practice is two-fold. First, teachers and schools are held accountable at least partly on the basis of students’ end-of-year scores on math and reading tests. In addition, teachers give students tests throughout the year that are supposed to predict performance on end-of-year tests, and they base their instruction on the results. At least when it comes to reading tests, this approach is actually counterproductive.
Here the article returns not to education but the corporate world. Equating business mechanics with organic learning. Because this final suggestion is the biggest problem facing our educational system today–data-driven assessment. The data-driven assessment has not only forced teachers to teach to the test, in order to keep their jobs but has also been one of the reasons many teachers are leaving their vocation.
Anyone who is a teacher knows that teaching a group of students cannot be accomplished by only one mode of learning. Not all students learn the same way. This is why a student’s curiosity is important because it lends a helping hand to a professional educator on how a student processes information.
Leonardo da Vinci wrote, “To have a complete mind: Study the science of art, and the Art of science. Learn how to see. Realize everything connects to everything else. Leonardo also wrote, “Every action needs to be prompted by a motive.” That motive is curiosity.
We start by rekindling the fire of curiosity at the high school level. This is the end product and where the problem blows-up. Address and fix this by building the support and mentoring elements that encourage student-directed learning and then we will be able to move down the ranks to elementary where curiosity walks in fresh and ready. This is the goal of the Academy of Leonardo’s Apprentice. Leonardo’s Apprentice is an educational nonprofit foundation started by an educator to support student growth, learning, and leadership by encouraging creativity and innovation in solving problems that affect our global community.
Back in the 1970s, the business world stepped in and said they could produce a better product (student). 50 years later, we are losing more teachers and students who are not performing enough or motivated enough to move on to the engineering and science fields this country needs. The United States has become a country of consumers and app builders. The high power invention machine that was so powerful in the 19th and early 20th centuries has lapsed into a state accepting mediocrity. If you feel real changes need to be taken, help support the Academy of Leonardo’s Apprentice, check out our website, and help us as we help engage and motivate our youth in reigniting the fire of curiosity.
Check out also our site at https://LeonardosApprentice.org
From Reform to Transform
It was in Natalie Wexler’s Forbes (April 9, 2018) article, “Three
Mistakes We Need to Fix If We Want Education Reform To Succeed,” that caught my attention in how corporate America still doesn’t get it. Below, I have quoted each of her points as they were written.
- The real problems begin at the high school level. In fact, the problems that manifest themselves in high school have their roots in elementary school, which reformers have long seen—mistakenly—as the bright spot in education. When students arrive in ninth grade reading several years below grade level, as is often the case in high-poverty schools, the answer is not simply to demand that they graduate within four years, come hell or high water. We need to give students more time to catch up if they need it—and we need to start looking critically at what is happening before high school that leaves students so unprepared.
It was Sir Ken Robinson (International education speaker and writer) who remarked, “The fact is that given the challenges we face, education doesn’t need to be reformed–it needs to be transformed.” Where the Academy of Leonardo’s Apprentice has laid its course of action is at the secondary level because the elementary starts out fine but over time student engagement and motivation are drained by the time students reach high school.
Why are students needing more time to catch up? Reformers have already increased the classroom workload, extended school days making for shorter summer vacations, and have added more technology infrastructure including computers, notebooks, and iPad\tablets. So, what is missing?
A team discusses their potential solutions to global issues during the Global Problem Solving Competition held in STEPS on Friday, Nov. 7, 2014. Teams were given one hour to create a presentation.
Curiosity is the fuel for exploration, discovery, inquiry, and learning. It was Walt Disney who pointed out, “Ideas come from curiosity.” Children are born with a natural curiosity about the world around them. Curiosity naturally manifests itself with questions seeking understanding and answers. But instead of feeding the fire of curiosity, the system slowly creates an environment of silence leading to death for long term learning. Students are guided away from exploration and inquiry and replaced with pre-assessments, tests, and post-assessments. The grade becomes more important than how the student learns. Standardization has become a machine-like system similar to Pink Floyd’s 1979 song, “Another Brick in the Wall.”
Interesting enough, elementary students already walk in with strong curiosity and motivation. The question is how is our educational system slowly puts out the fire by the time that child reaches high school. More content, testing, and technology is not the answer–that has already been proven. When more becomes less than expected the next step is to blame the teacher.
- The most important factor in educational achievement is a highly effective teacher. It’s true that teachers are hugely important, but reformers have judged teachers’ effectiveness by how much they boost students’ test scores and whether they’re seen to be employing the right kind of classroom “moves.” What reformers have paid little or no attention to is what teachers are being asked to teach. There’s increasing evidence that the best way to improve teachers’ performance is to provide them with high-quality instructional materials and specific training in how to use them.
According to the U.S. Department of Education statistics, 50% of new teachers will leave their profession within their first 5 years. These are qualified educators who are hired as effective teachers. Why are they leaving? Who are the reformers who “judge” a teacher’s effectiveness? The Forbes writer sites increasing evidence that to improve teacher performance, reformers need to provide high-quality instructional materials and teach them (the teachers) how to use it.
Corporate America has changed the classroom environment to mimic their own. Teachers are referred to as classroom managers. Superintendents are administrators, students are clients, content and curriculum have become business production, grades are paychecks. Finally, government and state assessments are not based on what the curriculum demands but where they think the client should be by age and grade. The same standardization that made manufactures and businesses work has been applied to human learning–and it isn’t working!
When District and State assessments cut into the learning process to measure what they feel students should know, the so-called high-quality materials are no longer important. Teachers earn a Master’s in their course of study, they must go through two years of training before they are accepted with certification. The majority of educational businesses are run by individuals who lack both classroom experience and education, and these are the people who are responsible for reforming teachers. Holding an MBA or Ph.D. in a business field does not give a person the training to teach young children or teenagers.
One reformer says, “Remove paper textbooks and give students digital tablets to read from–this will improve their reading skills.” Of course, it won’t. Reformers are rarely educators. They are business people who sell and market their products or services promising to improve learning, increase student motivation, and a host of other snakebite medicine benefits. Since 1996, over $80 billion dollars has been invested in internet infrastructure, computers, and digital equipment. These technologies are only tools. Teachers are given the technology and told to incorporate it into their curriculums. Training is rare, and when given it is only introductory at best. Tech companies always state their products are hands-on intuitive. Technologies are generally designed and programmed for only one or two learning styles, subject matter, or limited content. Most of the elementary tech tools are no more than electronic rote memory devices. Students wanting to explore beyond what is programmed is not available.
Ask the question who are these “Reformers?” From Horace Mann in the 19th Century to the business world today with their acronym of S.T.E.M. education. Reformers have not in the past 50 years focused on student needs, that has been graded by organizations like P.I.S.A. (Programme International Student Assessment), which for the past 20 years has shown American 15-year old students are still average in science and math and below average in reading. However, corporate America is not interested in what goes on in the classroom but their business ledgers, stock prices, and marketing agendas. It’s time to give the classrooms back to the educators to transform the status quo into a 21st Century educational journey.
- Education needs to be data-driven. What this means in practice is two-fold. First, teachers and schools are held accountable at least partly on the basis of students’ end-of-year scores on math and reading tests. In addition, teachers give students tests throughout the year that are supposed to predict performance on end-of-year tests, and they base their instruction on the results. At least when it comes to reading tests, this approach is actually counterproductive.
Here the article returns not to education but the corporate world. Equating business mechanics with organic learning. Because this final suggestion is the biggest problem facing our educational system today–data-driven assessment. The data-driven assessment has not only forced teachers to teach to the test, in order to keep their jobs but has also been one of the reasons many teachers are leaving their vocation.
Anyone who is a teacher knows that teaching a group of students cannot be accomplished by only one mode of learning. Not all students learn the same way. This is why a student’s curiosity is important because it lends a helping hand to a professional educator on how a student processes information.
Leonardo da Vinci wrote, “To have a complete mind: Study the science of art, and the Art of science. Learn how to see. Realize everything connects to everything else. Leonardo also wrote, “Every action needs to be prompted by a motive.” That motive is curiosity.
We start by rekindling the fire of curiosity at the high school level. This is the end product and where the problem blows-up. Address and fix this by building the support and mentoring elements that encourage student-directed learning and then we will be able to move down the ranks to elementary where curiosity walks in fresh and ready. This is the goal of the Academy of Leonardo’s Apprentice. Leonardo’s Apprentice is an educational nonprofit foundation started by an educator to support student growth, learning, and leadership by encouraging creativity and innovation in solving problems that affect our global community.
Back in the 1970s, the business world stepped in and said they could produce a better product (student). 50 years later, we are losing more teachers and students who are not performing enough or motivated enough to move on to the engineering and science fields this country needs. The United States has become a country of consumers and app builders. The high power invention machine that was so powerful in the 19th and early 20th centuries has lapsed into a state accepting mediocrity. If you feel real changes need to be taken, help support the Academy of Leonardo’s Apprentice, check out our website, and help us as we help engage and motivate our youth in reigniting the fire of curiosity.
Different Point of View
What if you could sit down in an interview with Leonardo da Vinci and ask him what he considered his title should be. I believe his answer would surprise you. He would not claim to be an inventor, engineer, scientist, cartographer, architect, military engineer, nor a mathematician. He would say he was an artist. Those other titles were only a byproduct of his trade.
If you were to ask what drove him, he would simply say, “Curiosity.” All you need to do is learn how to study what is around you. Leonardo wrote, “To have a complete mind, study the science of art, and the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything is connected to everything else.”
When you stop to really study the sketches and drawings of Leonardo, you realize every line the master drew. Every line of shading, every curve, was drawn only once. He did not use a pencil, it wasn’t to be invented for another 250 years. There were no erasers, CTRL Z to undo, no whiteout liquid to cover up an unwanted line. He used quill pens and inks that he had to make himself. The inks were made with bits of iron, which would have given a darker brown or black ink. Over the years, the iron oxides reacted to air and they turned brown.
If you were to ask Leonardo what was his tool of choice when sketching he would reply, “Perspective Geometry,” which he learned and mastered. Today, we have Smartphones that can take video and digital photos. We have access to computers and printers from jet inks to laser printers. But, we have no way to transfer the images that come from our imagination onto paper. We can describe them in intimate details in words, but seeing the image spares us of trying to reconstruct words back into an image. This is where Leonardo’s tool of projected geometry (one and two-point perspective) comes in handy.
“But, I can’t draw” comes the retort. “I can’t even draw a crooked line,” some say with exaggeration. Drawing is a skill, and skills can be learned. Adding the tool of perspective geometry along with a pencil or pen today is all you need to transfer your imagination onto paper.
Now, to be fair, Leonardo did not invent perspective geometry. That honor belongs to another Italian, Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), a little over forty years before Leonardo was born. Brunelleschi needed the geometry to complete his biggest project–completing the dome over the Florence Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The dome of the cathedral was left unfinished for 400 years because no one had figured a way how to complete the large dome. The dome width was 150 feet in width and was 180 feet above the ground. Brunelleschi was able to make the construction plans using his new tool of perspective and then inventing new techniques and technologies to finish building the cathedral dome.
It was another contemporary artist of Brunelleschi, Leon Alberti, who took pen in hand to record in a book lessons on how to draw a three-dimensional object onto a two-dimensional sheet of paper. Alberti’s book included two lessons: The first on how to construct a one-point perspective, and chapter 2 how to create a two-point perspective. By the time the young Leonardo entered as an apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio’s art workshop, perspective drawing was all the rage. He quickly learned how to use this magical tool to transfer his imagination and three-dimensional objects into his notebooks.
When I make visits to the Disney Imagineers offices in Burbank, California, I find among all the technologies comprising of Smartboards, computers, 3D printers, and more, one common tool that starts every project–the pencil. The same truth can be found even at the JPL/NASA offices of engineering. It is the cheapest, but the simplest tool to create from. Leonardo wrote, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” and he was right!
The second truth points out that if you really look and study the world around you–You will find patterns. The catalyst that is needed at this point is curiosity. Because it is curiosity that makes the connections to everything else. It is unfortunate that we live in a world today where people really don’t stop and look, smell, taste, and touch with curiosity. We live in a world where information and data are literally in the palm of our hands, and yet very few really know how to access it and use it.
At this point, I will make a slight detour into our present educational system. A system designed through its curriculum and lesson plans to arrive at a set answer, concept, or procedure. A system designed to structure learning and put a brake on creativity. Standardization leaves very little room for student-directed learning and for questions not within the plan structure. Teaching math as an Art, exploring and discovering science, and learning about the different fields of engineering are pushed aside for scantron testing and assessments. The present system removes curiosity and replaces it with spoiler alerts.
The Academy of Leonardo’s Apprentice is daring to create a platform for secondary students not only to work in but to exchange different perspectives in solving problems. To gain those perspectives students must first learn to get the best answer, not the only one, they must first learn how to ask the right question. It is equally important that they learn the science of art and the art of science. Finding the patterns and making the connections comes next.
Modern technology is great. The perspective techniques that Leonardo learned and used 500 years ago have gone through an evolution from paper to projected geometry. For example, a technology that was invented using projected geometry called augmented reality (AR) has many uses. The rover you see below is not real, but a 3D projection focusing on my driveway from my iPhone and photographed. Using my phone I can walk around the rover to see all its parts. Many of its parts, like the camera, can move, and even the rover itself can move. What other uses can augmented reality be used for? How will that add to virtual reality tools and even holographic projections? The future in transferring imagination into reality is coming closer, and to think, it all began with a simple question on how you might see things from a different perspective.
Are Schools Preparing Today’s Youth for Tomorrow’s Problems?
DUST! You know, that fine gray film that lines your bookshelves, or hugs the corners of your floors. It’s one of those items on the cleaning list that needs to be done, but it is not that important unless you are entertaining or mom is coming over. But there are a few items that we can’t just brush under the rug. For example. . .
If and when we decide to return to the Moon, the problem of dust will become a priority for survival. Because there is no wind on the moon, the dust particle never erodes. Moondust is made up of micrometeorite impacts–and they remain razor-sharp. This makes moondust dangerous to breathe in. Moondust closely resembles silica dust we have here on Earth. Silica dust can cause silicosis, a serious lung disease that can cause death.
The Apollo Astronauts could not completely dust themselves off before entering their capsule, and once back in their capsule the dust became a problem because it spread and attached itself to the electronic equipment and caused interruptions. Astronauts also complained of eye and throat irritations. To date, no one has come up with a solution on how to remove the moon dust before entering the capsule or once in how to keep it from spreading around the living space.
Because of the iron ore in meteorites, they are also susceptible to magnets. China’s Yutu rover died in 2014 by overheating–Moondust was the prime suspect. Lunar dust measures just 70 micrometers. That is about the size of a grain of earth sand, except earth sand is not razor sharp. Moondust also carries an electrical charge–not great for electronic equipment. Dust and dust storms will be another issue once we reach Mars too!
Here on Earth, dust storms like the haboob that hits parts of Arizona or other parts of the world like North Africa are massive and can cause health problems. Cars can choke with earth’s dust storms, air conditioning units and filtration units are on max during these types of storms. Is there a solution? Will solving the moon’s dust problem help here on Earth as well as when we travel to Mars?
My concern is that our present educational system is not preparing the next generation to answer these questions. Even though I admire this entrepreneurial generation, they are locked into developing business solutions and commerce. The Z-Gen, as they are called, like transparency, they like to support causes and are the most advanced generation in using technology. Even though business apps make money and sell products and services, App programs are not designed to move mankind forward to solving the problems that both affect the future of our planet and its inhabitants.
The Academy of Leonardo’s Apprentice was formed to answer a simple question. Is anyone out there interested in science and engineering? It was the same question I asked back in 1994 when I launched a program online called, “Space Islands.” To my surprise, by 1996, the program had reached 2.3 million students and teachers in forty nations. So, here it is twenty-five years later, and I am asking the same question. Except, instead of presenting a program online we are creating and developing an online platform where secondary students in the global community will be able to interact and work on solving some of these questions. This is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to inspiring, motivating, and engaging those students looking for a workspace they can advance their ideas in. No other hidden agenda.
I want to see that entrepreneurial energy released on solving problems that will first address our planet and then how those same solutions might be altered or advanced in moving out of our planet. We are putting together a unique team with a diversity of professional backgrounds who will work towards the development of programs that will be recorded and released for both students and teachers. Joining our team, we will have members who have worked as Disney Imagineers as well as from JPL/NASA. This will allow students to interact with professionals who will provide encouragement and mentoring.
If you know secondary students who are looking for this type of platform to engage in have them register for our Leonardo’s Apprentice Contest Project. This is a 501(c) nonprofit educational organization that is also looking for those individuals or organizations that will help us to grow and reach out through your financial support. Your support will not only give valuable resources for students to work in, but will also provide the educational community with projects and lessons to draw from. All these programs will be focusing on student-directed project-based learning. Here, it starts with the student asking the question.
Our mission is to grow and sustain a global community whose members collectively will build interest and expertise in the fields of engineering, sciences, and the Arts in the spirit of Leonardo da Vinci.
Our Vision is to provide an online platform that will connect, engage, and motivate young minds within the global community in the fields of engineering and science, as we continue to search for tomorrow’s visionaries.
Entrepreneurs: Too Many Minds: 4 Lessons towards better Listening Skills
In Forbes’s article, “Ten Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Fail,” written by Steve Andriole, a business professor from the Villanova School of Business at the Villanova University in Pennsylvania, stated that Entrepreneurs were not smart. “Not talking about IQ here. Entrepreneurial IQ (EIQ) is about a holistic understanding of situations. Many entrepreneurs understand their idea, but not the market that will accept or reject the idea. Nor do they understand how accidental, uncontrollable, unscheduled innovation actually works. Or who the real competitors are. Often entrepreneurs have too little domain depth: they literally do not know what they’re talking about (though they often talk a good game).”
I like to address this issue from a different perspective and use an example from the movie, “The Last Samurai.” It’s a story of a 19th Century army captain named Nathan Algren played by Tom Cruise. In one scene of the movie, Cruise’s character is attempting to learn how to sword fight with wooden samurai swords. His teacher, a seasoned samurai, is showing no mercy and Cruise’s character is getting beaten and bruised mercilessly.
After another round and ending up knocked to the ground, the American captain sits quietly and bewildered as to what he is doing wrong. A young samurai approaches him and tells him quietly, “Too many minds.” The young Japanese man goes on, “Mind of the fight, the mind of people watching, the mind of your surroundings, too many minds.” This concept of too many minds can also parallel the concept of listening skills. Here are four key lessons to improving those skills and help you focus on one mind.
Lesson 1: Maintain eye contact.
This means to focus on the person who is talking to you. It doesn’t mean stare and think about a good come back. The blank stare shows no activity because the person is thinking or daydreaming about something else. Grant you in some cultures, like in Japan, looking at the eyes can be an insult, but even in this case, the focus must still be on what words are being chosen to express thoughts.
Lesson 2: Listen for keywords.
What words has the speaker chosen to express himself? If the words are vague or too general, that is a good time to interrupt politely and ask for clarification or definition. This will also demonstrate that you are listening and engaged. Emotions play a big part in what is spoken and should not be taken personally. Listen for emphasized words. But how will you know which words are keywords?
Lesson 3: Body communication.
I remembered a community play I directed, and one patron came up to me after the show and told me she really liked the young actress in the performance but could not hear or understand her. I thought that was interesting because I was up in the control booth and could hear the young actress’ lines perfectly. But when I saw the video of the performance, I understood immediately what the problem was. Several times the actress delivered her lines with the right emotion, but with nobody communication. No hand gestures, facial expressions, or body movement. Body communication is 80% of public speaking. Body language is another way to listen by interpreting what is being said through facial expressions, hand gestures, and body stance.
Lesson 4: Shut up and listen
A while back Forbes described and listed the 10 top reasons why entrepreneurs and solo business owners failed. Interesting enough, six of the ten can be further filtered down to one specialized skill. One that you don’t even think about but can affect your sales, marketing, partner relationships, customer service, and in the end your business. That is learning how to listen. Strong listening skills will improve your marketing, sales, customer service, and presentation and public speaking from presentations to sales.
A successful entrepreneur, Ernesto Sirolli, learned the hard way an important fact about listening. In his 20’s, he had come to Africa with ambition, knowledge, and resources to help Africans move from their primitive ways, according to Western thinking, to modern advancement–and he failed. Why? Listen to his story on learning how to shut-up and listen. Ernesto is a brilliant public speaker with a talent for quick wit and humor. If you really want to succeed as an entrepreneur take the time and listen how to achieve that goal, it will be, in my opinion, the first primary step to learning an important lesson that can start your improvement towards better listening and inevitable towards improving your public speaking and presentation skills.
Then, when you are ready, I’m here to help take those next steps in mastering both your public speaking and presentation skills. Look me up on LinkedIn.
