John Thompson: School Transformation in the 21st Century: Turtles, Frogs or Butterflies
Guest post by John Thompson
In an earlier contribution to the Harvard Futures of School Reform, Richard Elmore described "the dismal, glacial, adult-centered, congenially authoritarian, mindless soup in which our children spend the bulk of their days." I assume he was mostly describing failing schools, that tend to be high-poverty. I wish he had also acknowledged the excellent teaching that occurs in many inner city and lower-poverty classrooms. Elmore was clearly accurate, however, in recounting "how little the monolithic beast of American secondary education has been affected by the bright, high-minded optimism of professional reformers."
In a concluding essay for the Harvard Futures series, Elmore and Elizabeth City wrote, "with rare exceptions, schools currently treat the digital revolution as if it never happened." They then described three possible futures for our public schools. Two of them would be tragic, but it would be an honor for a teacher to participate in a third.
