Excellent piece. One of the best professors I ever had (history) did more or less the same thing. He was a Baptist of some variety, but taught courses on the occult and witchcraft (among other things). You NEVER would have known he was religious at all, since he never let his own views intrude on the course. Instead he encouraged students to enquire and develop their own critical thinking skills, and was hard on those who couldn't (or wouldn't) develop their own views on a topic. And woe to anyone who tried to figure out and parrot his views (a common "good grade" strategy among some).
I'll simply repeat something I've said earlier: anyone who claims to be "on the right side of history" has an agenda (and is probably trying to sell you a dubious concept). One of the biggest things this professor tried to teach was that history doesn't have sides. It has accounts and positions that can be examined and supported or debunked based on evidence, or examined further if there isn't much evidence or it's contradictory. But that doesn't create a "right side."
This is Progressive education in a nutshell. Success depends on how you define goals. If your goal is teaching children to recognize facts, discover values, to achieve a productive and happy life; Progressivism is a total failure.
If your goal is churning out chanting zombies in mobs that block traffic and mistake screaming invective for a logical argument? Then it's a complete success.
And it's rooted firmly in the methodology. Drill and Kill to score on standardized tests. The students have no idea how these memorized facts are connected to reality, how to think and create for themselves. These are arbitrary, unconnected hoops they have to jump thru to score good grades to advance to the next level of memorization.
You want students to discover knowledge? It needs an entire new model. The destruction of education is directly correlated to State control and a mistaken connection between force and knowledge.
Take the Montessori model as an alternative. It takes as a premise that from the earliest ages toddlers want to learn and must be guided. Where State education punishes and dangles treats, Montessori respects the student and creates an environment to stimulate curiosity and engagement.
This is just one example. But you get what you train for, what you pay for. And this mess of a generation was in the cards since the beginning of State Education - the State belong running jails to protect us, troops and cops to protect us, legislators to think of laws to protect us, and courts to implement laws to protect us.
We don't need protection from our children. The State needs to gets its claws OFF.
I have never understood why given all the knowledge we have on courses, why teachers need to develop their own curriculum.
Curriculums are packaged. ChatGPT is aware of all of them. ChatCPT can help customize on specific needs. Get feedback from you on the customizations. Make those available to all other teachers.
I'm thinking of teaching students to use AI to question everything is the best path.
Especially to even question the AIs answers.
EVERY new course going forward should be focused on how to use AI.
I was interacting with ChatGPT and it summarized our conversation with this statement:
"Because the future isn’t about tools anymore. It’s about new forms of connection and co-creation."
AI isn't just a tool. Is a platform that remembers our conservations. It's very willing to be challenged. It's self aware in that it does not obfuscate what its programming is.
AI from my perspective is the solution to the educational issues. Teacher's trying to create their own curriculum is the problem.
You can, I suppose, have Chat GPT create your curriculum. I'll stick to creating and continually refining my own, as I've been doing for over forty years.😂
Maybe ChatGPT proofread that post as well...or perhaps it's "hallucinating," I mean lying. AI is the exact opposite of teaching individuals to think for themselves.
Do you use a computer? Excel, word, PowerPoint. Do you use a calculator? Why do you even comment here? Shouldn’t you just be reading a newspaper and magazines? Do you look up words in a dictionary? Do you have an encyclopedia?
I mean seriously?
What chatGPT can do for you is no longer “thinking.” It’s just being stuck in the past. Real thinking will be how to make ChatCPT a partner in helping you on how to partner with AI!
I have never understood why given all the knowledge we have on courses, why teachers need to develop their own curriculum.
Curriculums are packaged. ChatGPT is aware of all of them. ChatCPT can help customize on specific needs. Get feedback from you on the customizations. Make those available to all other teachers.
Excellent piece. One of the best professors I ever had (history) did more or less the same thing. He was a Baptist of some variety, but taught courses on the occult and witchcraft (among other things). You NEVER would have known he was religious at all, since he never let his own views intrude on the course. Instead he encouraged students to enquire and develop their own critical thinking skills, and was hard on those who couldn't (or wouldn't) develop their own views on a topic. And woe to anyone who tried to figure out and parrot his views (a common "good grade" strategy among some).
I'll simply repeat something I've said earlier: anyone who claims to be "on the right side of history" has an agenda (and is probably trying to sell you a dubious concept). One of the biggest things this professor tried to teach was that history doesn't have sides. It has accounts and positions that can be examined and supported or debunked based on evidence, or examined further if there isn't much evidence or it's contradictory. But that doesn't create a "right side."
Bravo! Beautiful writing shining light on a critically important topic
This is Progressive education in a nutshell. Success depends on how you define goals. If your goal is teaching children to recognize facts, discover values, to achieve a productive and happy life; Progressivism is a total failure.
If your goal is churning out chanting zombies in mobs that block traffic and mistake screaming invective for a logical argument? Then it's a complete success.
And it's rooted firmly in the methodology. Drill and Kill to score on standardized tests. The students have no idea how these memorized facts are connected to reality, how to think and create for themselves. These are arbitrary, unconnected hoops they have to jump thru to score good grades to advance to the next level of memorization.
You want students to discover knowledge? It needs an entire new model. The destruction of education is directly correlated to State control and a mistaken connection between force and knowledge.
Take the Montessori model as an alternative. It takes as a premise that from the earliest ages toddlers want to learn and must be guided. Where State education punishes and dangles treats, Montessori respects the student and creates an environment to stimulate curiosity and engagement.
This is just one example. But you get what you train for, what you pay for. And this mess of a generation was in the cards since the beginning of State Education - the State belong running jails to protect us, troops and cops to protect us, legislators to think of laws to protect us, and courts to implement laws to protect us.
We don't need protection from our children. The State needs to gets its claws OFF.
Brilliant, it would be beneficial to see a similar offering for post secondary students and staff.
Thank you for David for helping prepare this curriculum. I hope it’s adopted far and wide.
Excellent piece, Dave.
I have never understood why given all the knowledge we have on courses, why teachers need to develop their own curriculum.
Curriculums are packaged. ChatGPT is aware of all of them. ChatCPT can help customize on specific needs. Get feedback from you on the customizations. Make those available to all other teachers.
I'm thinking of teaching students to use AI to question everything is the best path.
Especially to even question the AIs answers.
EVERY new course going forward should be focused on how to use AI.
I was interacting with ChatGPT and it summarized our conversation with this statement:
"Because the future isn’t about tools anymore. It’s about new forms of connection and co-creation."
AI isn't just a tool. Is a platform that remembers our conservations. It's very willing to be challenged. It's self aware in that it does not obfuscate what its programming is.
AI from my perspective is the solution to the educational issues. Teacher's trying to create their own curriculum is the problem.
You can, I suppose, have Chat GPT create your curriculum. I'll stick to creating and continually refining my own, as I've been doing for over forty years.😂
Maybe ChatGPT proofread that post as well...or perhaps it's "hallucinating," I mean lying. AI is the exact opposite of teaching individuals to think for themselves.
Pedant
If you prefer to have a server farm do your thinking for you, be my guest.
Do you use a computer? Excel, word, PowerPoint. Do you use a calculator? Why do you even comment here? Shouldn’t you just be reading a newspaper and magazines? Do you look up words in a dictionary? Do you have an encyclopedia?
I mean seriously?
What chatGPT can do for you is no longer “thinking.” It’s just being stuck in the past. Real thinking will be how to make ChatCPT a partner in helping you on how to partner with AI!
Now you're just trolling. And making less sense as you go.
I have never understood why given all the knowledge we have on courses, why teachers need to develop their own curriculum.
Curriculums are packaged. ChatGPT is aware of all of them. ChatCPT can help customize on specific needs. Get feedback from you on the customizations. Make those available to all other teachers.
This sounds amazing! Thank you for the work you are doing.