1a.+The+Purpose+of+School

=REDEFINING THE PURPOSE OF SCHOOL=

media type="youtube" key="NugRZGDbPFU" height="345" width="560" align="center"

Maybe school should be a place where great ideas are created and developed?

PLEASE READ NOTE BELOW BEFORE CONTRIBUTING TO THIS PAGE:
====//Note: This is a very exciting proposition. Mathjis and I brainstormed for about 2 glorious hours to figure out how to get started in this project. We both agreed that our biggest motivation was to redefine the purpose of school. If the purpose of school is to compete with the Chinese testing scores, then the solution is to implement more route learning and memorization. If the purpose of school is to turn out children that will become better adults, the our current system is way off mark. If the purpose of school is to provide a place where great ideas are created, shared and developed....hehehe...then we have earned a fat F+ on that front!!//==== ====//So, we came to a mutual agreement in that the purpose of school as we see it, is to deliver a certain type of individual to our communities and to provide a place where great ideas and relationships are formed.//====

//We then proposed a structure to guide us through the process in completing this manifesto.//
//1. Begin by listing (brain storming) the skill set that our "End Product" should have (or a buffet of skill sets that a student completing the average school should have had access to).// //2. Reduce list of skill sets to a manageable 5-6// //3. Write rationale for the need for these skill set in the 21st century.// //4. Move to the Page 2: Bones of Contention -- External Factors that currently damage our schools, the fall out of these factors not being address, and our prescribed solutions. Here we plan to use Mark's suggested 4 External Factors (or Revolutions as he puts it): Technological, Environmental, Economic and Social Factors as the platform.//

So, to begin: What is the purpose of school? or better yet What skill set should students completing school should reasonably expected to have? PLEASE ANSWER THIS QUESTION (BRAINSTORM) BELOW:

Mathjis and Matinga's suggestions: Creative people often do not identify with conventional order of any kind. They habitually question rules and regulations and spend much time thinking of ways to circumvent these rules. The process is rarely as important as functionality. This is what allows them to be great innovators and trend setters. However, the totalitarian nature of subjects like reading, mathematics and science require students to respect and adhere the stipulated order. So in the brain of a creative person, letters, numbers, words and concepts may not always appear in the conventional order. Is dyslexia a disability or simply the symptoms of a creative brain fighting to accept unconventional order? In a traditional school system, these students are often great learners but terrible students. 80% of CEOs and founders of the worlds biggest fortune 500 companies suffer from dyslexia, ADD, ADHD and Bipolar Disorder (find reference). They were great learners but often, terrible students.
 * Students should be able to develop his/her talents rather than be encumbered by his/her weaknesses
 * Should we redefining learning disabilities and/or abilities? The human brain will naturally compensate for perceived short comings. It will teach the body a extra set of skills that will aid in surpassing life obstacles. For example, A visually impaired person might develop more sensitive sense of smell, hearing and touch to compensate for the lack of site. A person with a hearing impediment may develop a sharpened ability to interpret body language and read lips from a distance. In schools today, we do not allow or teach students the ability to allow this compensation mechanism to take over. Instead, we fixate on these perceived weaknesses and remove all obstacles that might other wise serve as training tools for student's shortcomings

On the other hand, people who are able to compute well tend to revel (to the point of compulsion) in conventional order. The process is very important in attaining functionality. For them there is such logic in the predictability of order, that questioning that order or thinking outside of that order proves very difficult. These types of students are often very successful in our school systems because they follow the prescribed rules and readily accept the order that subjects like reading, math and science provide. Social interaction, however is not a predictable experience and it does not fall into the category of things that are ordered. Therefore, many of these students have difficulties understanding and interpreting conventional social etiquette. So is being a classic nerd a disability? Many of the world's most successful scientists and mathematicians suffer from mild forms of asperger syndrome.


 * Reflection
 * Developing a introspective attitude and be able to assess your own learning
 * Developing self esteem
 * Global perpective
 * Experiential...being able to experience before making judge
 * Respectful of other culture
 * Investigative nature