re: 9 reasons why public educ fails

quote:

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Education is not filling a bucket, it's lighting a fire.

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Great way to put it.

I visualize school as a carpentry class.

The school can provide a set of tools for the students to use, teach them how to use the tools, as well as how to maximize their inherent carpentry potential.

Some students will be natural carpenters and will excel in spite of the school.

Most students will lack natural carpentry skills but will succeed through hard work and extra effort and outside practice.

A smaller portion of students just won't be successful at building that carpentry project no matter what the school teaches or provides. But through the students' practice and experience with hard work, problem solving, etc., they will find themselves successful in a complementary venture (landscaping, product sales, medical aid, etc.).

Schools can encourage and foster essential skills, but they can't produce them. As such, we shouldn't expect them to. We should be helping students reach their maximum individual potential and find their places in society, not trying to teach every student to become a master carpenter and penalizing them if they fail to do so.