Thursday Thoughts for June 18, 2020

This week’s topic is education.  The pandemic has had a major impact on education, from preschool to grad school.  Everything was flipped from in-person to online almost overnight.  I appreciate all the extra hard work put in by educators, parents, and students to adapt to this new world.  

There is a lot of current discussion on a hybrid model combining both formats for the fall.  Prior to the pandemic, I already believed we needed a dramatic shift in our educational model to address today's world vs. the world of the 19th century, which is when much of our current model was established.  Here are some of those thoughts since making big structural changes makes even more sense now.

1. Personalized learning vs. classroom lecture  

Traditional classroom lecture has an inherent flaw of not working well for students at the top and the bottom of the learning spectrum on a subject.  The top gets bored while the bottom gets lost.  Personalized learning is about tailoring the materials so students can learn at the pace that is best for them.  Also, it allows for educators to identify where success is happening or where problems are occurring.  A great illustration of this model is the Montessori method of education.  

2. Action based vs. theoretical learning  

Our current model is typically the theoretical model.  For example, in math and physics, it is solving equations.  Solving for x, y or z is not an engaging exercise for most of us.  The best way to learn these important concepts is when they are taught to us in a fashion that is relevant to one’s life.  When I was governor, I used to ask people where they could see kids smiling as they came out of geometry class.  The answer was the carpentry/construction class in a career tech ed center in the Upper Peninsula.  The kids were happy to learn math that was going to be critical to future careers.  

Another great illustration of action-based learning is FIRST (www.firstinspires.org) and its robotics programs.  It is an incredible program where kids learn several critical skills - building the hardware and software for robots, being a great team member, running an organization, and how to compete and cooperate with others with civility.  I am proud that Michigan is a leader in this program; but we can do more to make sure every child in our state can participate in the program.

3. Place-based vs. classroom learning  

You can learn better when the material is put into a real-world context.  The carpentry class is a great example where actually building a house is a much better learning environment than a standard classroom.  A great hybrid model is the Henry Ford Academy, the school that is part of The Henry Ford (www.hfa-dearborn.org).   They have classrooms but they are surrounded by some of the nation’s best history in a world-class museum in Southeast Michigan.

4. More career technical education for all  

Career tech education already embraces many of the points above, but we should continue to grow it.  We need to overcome the bias against CTE.  It would drive me crazy when people would say that CTE is meant for kids that are good at working with their hands.  It was code for saying that these kids weren’t meant for college.  Hogwash!!!  CTE often is a better way to learn than the traditional classroom.  That is why it works.  Two of my favorite classes were shop and drafting and I still use those skills on a regular basis.  The most valuable single class I had in K-12 plus nine years worth of college was personal typing in high school. This article would take three times as long without my learning from that class.  (By the way, I was not a star student in it based on my words per minute.)

5. Teachers continue to be critical; but their role changes  

All of the above is not a criticism of our hard-working teachers.  Our system needs to change so teachers can excel as well as their students.  Teachers need to move from the lecture model to the coaching model.  In the personalized learning method, teachers can specifically identify where and what kind of feedback a student needs.   I believe professional educators would find this more rewarding than our current system.

6. Inequities need to be addressed  

Our current system has huge variations in outcomes since we have big disparities between schools and school districts.  We have districts that have plenty of resources and lots of kids who go off to college.  We have other school districts where the many kids have major challenges inside and outside the classroom.  We need to be more proactive to help kids who face issues due to racial, economic, or technological problems in our society.

7. We need to measure outcomes and hold the system accountable  

One of the major factors for the problems in our current system is that we accept measures of success that aren’t very effective.  How many students have gotten high school diplomas and still can’t read or add well?  We measure the percentage of students who go off to college.  We don’t talk about how bad the lack of completing programs in college is.  In two year colleges, often over 50% of students don’t finish their degree or certificate.  The fastest way to increase the college graduation rate is not having new students enter the system, but to get students all the way through their programs.

The measure that we should be using to track every student is to see if they had a job paying above the poverty line at age 22 (unless they are continuing an advanced education.)

8. We need a lifelong learning system  

Learning actually starts before we are born.  Helping expectant mothers have good prenatal care is important to our ability to learn when we arrive.  I am proud of the big investments we made in preschool education.  We led the nation over a two-year period to take kids off a waiting list and enroll them into a good program.  

We currently have an education system of tiers.  When you enter,  you start at the bottom; over time you work your way to the top. You leave to start again at the next bottom.  Just think: elementary school, to middle school, to high school, to college.  We should have a system of stackable certificates that acknowledge competency in an important skill and we should accumulate them over a lifetime. We need to instill that philosophy in kids when they are very young so they understand that and look forward to always learning and growing, not just physically and emotionally, but intellectually, as well.

Our world continues to be more technologically challenging. And the recent pandemic showed us that everything we know about the economy and our career paths can change dramatically very quickly.  Every one of us is going to need to keep learning new skills during our entire lifetime.  Let’s create an “Any Time, Any Place, Any Way, Any Pace” lifelong learning model for our society!

Remember, Relentless Positive Action in your life will help you and others. So, I wish you RPA every day!