Hearts and Unicorns

January’s Phi Delta Kappan featured three different authors commenting on the state of democracy in public education today. The last article entitled, “Democracy and Education: Empowering Students to Make Sense of Their World” linked education and democracy with a cogent premise—learning theory. William Garrison views instructional practice or the way students are taught to learn, as the conduit to prepare young people for democratic citizenship. Garrison asserts that the core connection between democracy and education is formulated by testing understanding through experience.

“Learning is the process of constructing meaning or structuring reality…Formal education, as a system by which society transfers its knowledge and customs from generation to generation, generally does a poor job of teaching students how to learn, specifically a poor job of helping students to develop as self-directed learners, which is so critical in a rapidly changing world.”

So, where is this “self-directed” learning taking place in today’s public school system? I would point to Napa Valley’s New Technology High School as one such place. NTHS genesis began in Napa but has now spread across nine different states and has a total of 35 schools. NTHS uses “project-based learning” as their model. Students present tech-based projects, work in teams, and create products on the subject at hand. Students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning. I’ll concede “project-based” learning can at times become synonymous with new-age educational centers that award hearts instead of A's and Unicorns in place of an F. But, I would also argue that NTHS is imparting advanced levels of learning and communication skills that need to be applied to real-world problems. The learning environment at New Tech stimulates a workplace environment, helping students achieve greater analytical skills through autonomy and experience. Find more on NTHS here.
Posted by: Claire Williams