Sunday, December 30, 2012

Response to: Education is the Work of Teachers, Not Hackers

The article Education is the Work of Teachers, Not Hackers was recently posted and discussed on
Andrea Kuszewski's  Facebook Page.

I think this gets to the core of what education is all about, especially in light of all the developments taking place in educational technology.  Because of that, I wanted to share my response here to encourage more discussion.

I think the best teachers facilitate growth in many directions. They shouldn't try to push an academic or literary life on someone cut out to be an entrepreneur and shouldn't guide an academic type to be a business person. And if someone wants to be well-rounded and pursue multiple interests, that's cool too! I say let someone's own curiosity and interests guide the way -- higher education for some, "un-schooling" and entrepreneurship for others. If the "drop-out" ends up lacking in worldly knowledge, he/she can always learn these things along the way, as needed. The only thing that really gets me is this singular definition of success - related to business and material things. When are we going to wake up and recognize not only multiple forms of intelligence, but multiple ways of demonstrating our worth in this world!?