Learning 2.0 Well Informed Post

For my learning 2.0 post, I really wanted to look into how learning is changing in each of the 3 main stages of education; elementary, high school, and college. There was a definite trend that I noticed as I was searching for articles and talks on the topic and that was "are schools failing?" No wonder education is one of the top things debated about among politicians, apparently there are a lot of people who think learning is being done the "wrong" way and others who think it is being done efficiently and effectively.

Let's start off with elementary learning and the possible issues that exist within. My first curiosity dealt with the ever rising use of I-pads and other technology methods to teach young kids. I already have a negative opinion with this issue so it was difficult for me to have an open mind. I found this article on {http://www.edutopia.org/blog/21st-century-schools-or-learning-george-couros} by George Couros addressing 21st century learning and what that means. He basically addressed the concern whether our schools are being renovated and improved or if the actual education and learning is being reimagined? He goes on to say that more and better technology is being placed in schools yet most teachers don't know how or choose not to implement them properly. This is my concern with I-pads, they aren't supposed to replace the teacher or create shortcuts within learning. They should promote and drive creativity and unique individual learning!

Moving on to High School and we see a trend of a dip in learning. Why all of a sudden when kids get to high school, so many are uninterested in learning and dislike school? Is it merely a social issue or a personality issue? Perhaps we are keeping with the same learning styles for 14-18 year olds as we did when they were 5-12 years old. How can we expect them to grow and adapt if we aren't adjusting the teaching? I watched a Ted talk that discussed this very issue {http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity} Ken Robinson talks about how schools are often "killing creativity" with how the education structure is set up. He also discusses this popular phenomenon that takes over most western schools known as "one size fits all" learning. He explains that the older we get and mature and change, our learning preferences and styles change too. Yet it seems if a high school student is having a difficult time and falling behind, they have three choices. 1)get moved to a "special class" with students that have serious/permanent disabilities 2) try to find someone who has the time and interest to tutor you or hopefully your parents have money for a private tutor or 3) keep struggling, get frustrated, end up hating school because they only ever "fail" and in the worst cases, drop out entirely. {http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/starr_points/starr007.shtml}

We need to adjust the learning styles in high school so there are a wider variety of stimuli for all students to connect with! High school needs to be a time of growth and learning and not just a time to "get through." 

Finally, we get to the glorious stage of College. The good thing here is that within the last 20 or so years, there has been a steady increase in the amount of students graduating high school and then continuing on to college and at least getting an Associates degree. I think this is amazing and when I think about myself getting ready to graduate with my Bachelors degree, it makes me feel proud that I am the first one in my family to achieve this in many generations.. maybe ever so things are definitely changing! But then comes a concern that we briefly talked about in class last week that many college students are now wanting to be sheltered from certain things. In this awesome article/interview, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt discuss the "coddling of the American mind."
{http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/}
I couldn't believe what I was reading! I thought it was a satirical article because how could these adults with the whole world at their feet, be so affected and offended by educational topics? I thought it was really depressing that professors are scared to teach for fear of "saying the wrong thing" and possibly getting fired for it! How is this even learning if we can't explore the unknown, get out of our comfort zone, and question our beliefs from time to time?

This brings me to my conclusion of what I think about everything I've read and seen so far. I personally think learning has become lazy. I think it is being highly underestimated and undervalued.
I watched an 'On The Media' segment titled "The Failure of Failing Schools"{http://www.onthemedia.org/story/199317-failure-failing-schools}
Paul Farhi explains my position very well! I don't think it is fair or even logical for us to say learning is "bad" currently because our schools and teachers are "failing us." I think there are really amazing teachers out there that love their job, there are also many teachers who aren't so great and dislike their job. Even so, I can't place the blame on the teachers. I think the people responsible for successful learning are parents and the student. Students need to have the desire to learn and the parents need to be consistent in facilitating the means for them to do so.