03 – What is the Purpose of Education? (w Dr. Ted Spear)
#EduCrush
English - August 27, 2020 16:55 - 44 minutes - 44 MB - ★★★★★ - 10 ratingsSociety & Culture Education antiracism education educators future inspiration school teaching activism alexnoel collaboration Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
COVID-19 has raised many questions about the purpose of education throughout North America and elicited very different answers from educators, parents and politicians. To better understand this current debate, we look at the reasons we’ve educated our kids throughout history and imagine how our schools might change if we clearly define our why.
Show Notes:
Background on Dr. Ted Spear [2:00] What was “weird” about school [3:05] The capital P purposes of education throughout history [7:45] The functional purposes of education [11:45] Losing sight of purpose in structures [16:00] Ted’s philosophy of education [17:35] A single educator cannot reimagine education [21:30] Aligning purpose with school operations [23:45] How might we reimagine high school? [28:29] Cultivating humanity with assessment [36:30]Significant quotes:
“Looking back, what struck me as weird about mainstream education is how artificial and disconnected it was from anything that mattered in life. Now, I have my eyes open all the time about whether contemporary schools are weird in the same way.” [6:05]
“I don’t think people ask the purpose question hardly at all. I think we immediately default into, “Well schools are like this, this is what we do.”” [16:00]
“I think educators have been swimming around in this environment for so long in structural constraints that they don’t understand the constraints under which they operate.” [16:50]
“Our job as educators is to help, equip and inspire students to cultivate their humanity.” [18:20]
“I think despite teachers’ best intentions, and despite the remarkable things they do in school, if we are talking about significant change, that has to happen at a systems level.” [21:47]
“I think it’s unfair for teachers to bear the burden alone of transforming schools.” [21:50]
“The operational architecture of our schools is what enables or disables what we want to accomplish.” [25:20]
Links Mentioned:
“Education Reimagined: The Schools our Children Need” by Ted Spear