As I read Chapter 2 of Creating Innovators I found myself asking plenty of questions of myself and wondering how much we, as educators, can change how parents see “school”. Kirk Phelps and his parents say they had a different way of parenting, how many parents would be willing to do that today? When I talk with my seventh graders, I hear how late they stayed up playing video games and no one pays any attention. I hear about how they are going home to empty homes, can they accomplish what Phelps’ accomplished?
If it truly is nurture versus nature, how can we change the way parents “parent” their children? How many parents actually would encourage their children to try new experiences and not be worried about the end result. I can honestly say that wouldn’t be me. I was raised by a father who did not graduate from college and he saw the discrepancy in pay and advancement that lead to. He encouraged his children to get college degrees because he saw the lack of advancement from not having a degree, a mere piece of paper. As a parent I also encouraged my children to get their degree. I wonder how many companies will really hire someone without a degree? So many still ask for that degree when you are filling out the applications. Does this make me a bad parent? Does it make my students’ parents bad? Do I have the right to expect them to change? So many questions that I cannot answer just yet.
When I read about Kirk’s first year at Apple I wonder how many people would be that dedicated? How do we create workers who would be willing to travel and dedicate so much to their job? And is it really what I would want to strive for with my students? To me it doesn’t seem what I would want for someone I cared about. As a parent of two young adults it is not what I would encourage my children to do. Would I support them if they did, of course. Phelps’ says this is what he wanted but again I really wonder how many of our students would have that drive.
How do we empower our students? How do we create students who are not merely motivated by a grade when that is what their parents care about? How do we change the culture of parenting? More questions than answers for me this week, with this chapter. Leads me to wonder what the next chapter has in store for me and my quest to grow.
Why are we so much worried about creating workers? As the market and business driven aptitude takes root in our society more and more, I feel we have become just goal oriented machines and subconciously want our children to be taught in the same way too. I think we need to get rid of this Goal driven and fear-based, getting ready for a career mentality. I am definitely not using my PBL Unit or any teaching practices to do that.
ReplyDeleteHi Sara Beth,
ReplyDeleteI love how you brought a spirit of inquiry to this chapter and questioned the ideas Wagner posed. He highlighted Kirk's parenting and showed how their approach fostered risk taking in Kirk and valued the process of learning and of inquiry, not only the outcomes. You posed a question about the value of a degree and isn't that what we want for our students and for our children? Being raised in a similar environment to you, I came from two hard-working parents who had to sacrifice their own college dreams to help provide for their families. Both instilled into me a hard work ethic and the importance of a college degree. While I agree with you that a college degree is important, I do feel that Wagner is making the point that the "grade" or the "degree" doesn't define Kirk's success - it is what he does with his knowledge that has empowered him and has allowed him to do what he does at Apple. I feel the same way about my dad. He has always regretted his lack of a college degree but he was able through a tremendous amount of hard work and risk taking been able to move from an hourly shift employee to upper management. A degree without drive is not worth much. We have statistic upon statistic showing the number of students with degrees who are unemployed. This in no way is meant to undermine the value of a degree but I think Wagner is highlighting the importance of drive and innovation to make decisions that our counter-culture.
Like you Sara Beth, I want to find out how we empower our students and how we can foster students who are driven by the process of problem solving and of working towards a project, a goal not only towards a grade. I want to challenge everyone to think about how their current teaching practices are fostering inquiry and student empowerment.
Thanks,
Dawn
Dawn, Thanks for your feedback. I think it's hard to change our ways and am trying hard to be deliberate in my actions in the classroom. It's a challenge and a struggle when I don't see the results that I want but I do realize that more students can be successful as they are exposed to PBL and take ownership in their learning. Getting them to take the ownership is an uphill battle that may not be won this year for all but I am hopeful that with exposure they will take that ownership.
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