Teachers Are Not a Problem. They Are an Opportunity.
Written by Andy Hargreaves, the Thomas More Brennan Chair in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. This article originally appeared on Education Week's Finding Common Ground blog. Woody Allen quipped that when we face a crossroads in life that leads to utter hopelessness or total extinction, we should choose wisely between them. Yogi Berra said that if we come to a fork in the road, we
The decisions we make today—for our systems, our schools, and our classrooms—will affect what all of our tomorrows will look like. This spring, ASCD hosted its inaugural Whole Child Symposium, a series of in-person and online events in which experts, policymakers, teachers, and students discussed education policies, processes, and practices and their influence on children, societies, and economies in the future.
Centered on the theme "Choosing Your Tomorrow Today," the symposium created a forum for debate withchoice becoming an important topic across all of the events. Our experts determined that we need to not onlyengage, but also empower youth in their decisions and the decision-making process overall to prepare them for future success in higher education, employment, and civic life. If we are to change education, then it must change systematically to not only allow greater youth choice and voice, but also to develop those skills and attributes.
Empowering students in their choices—encouraged by teachers and in turn supported by policy and practice—would change how many schools operate and function. It places ownership back onto those who are at the center of the debate—the students—and redefines the roles of teachers and students as collaborators in learning. The key is choice.
- Student choice according to their abilities and interests.
- Teacher choice according to each child's learning needs.
- School choice according to the values of the community.
- Community choice according to its will.
How do we achieve these goals? Ensuring student choice and voice in the classroom is one thing, but The Dilemma of Choice — Whole Child Education:
6-3-14 The Whole Child Blog — Throughout Summer: Making a Difference — Whole Child Education
Throughout Summer: Making a Difference — Whole Child Education: THE WHOLE CHILD BLOGThroughout Summer: Making a DifferenceJune 3, 2014 by Klea ScharbergAsk educators why they went into teaching, and the majority will respond that they wanted to make a difference in the lives of young people. That initial idealism, however, is often challenged by the realities of heavy workloads, classroom discipli