Having given up one fall on an undergraduate course in programming at the University of Toronto (involving key punch cards with lines of code and searching reams of paper for error messages), I transferred into a philosophy half-course taught by Marshall McLuhan. It was a rambling, eclectic mix of communication theory, the impact of hot and cool media, and a critique on how the industrial model of education was designed to stamp out differences in learners in order to make them into conforming members of society as a whole. For McLuhan, classrooms were like a typewritten page with the heading (teacher) at the top and straight lines of words ( the students) laid out in neat rows below; schools themselves were little more than assembly lines producing standardized graduates in the same way Henry Ford had churned out Model T's in the 1920s. More than forty years later, the analogy often still holds true in many of our schools and school systems. They are still primarily built on a mass production, one size fits all, model. They start with the proscribed curriculum and learners are asked to adapt to it as best they can. Students enter, are delivered a programme designed to meet the learning style of the mainstream, and then exit - more or less successfully - to move on to the next stage in their educational lives. It is an assembly line system, softened only by the professionalism of the people delivering it. Replicated in community after community, it is the McDonalds of education. Now, in fairness, not all schools or even school districts conform to this model. There are lighthouses where flexibility and individual student needs trump the constraints of textbooks and exams. But it takes vision and leadership to break these bonds in a culture that often demands standardization of approach, may be stymied by a rigidly unionized workforce, or one which can be characterized by public perceptions that are driven by the results on high-stakes tests.
We are fortunate as a small, independent option to be free of many of these constraints. By contrast, what we try to offer is based on a mass customization model. Although there are many things in common, there is no question but that at the end of the day we are delivering individual programmes for each and every student. Our slogan could maybe be taken not from McDonalds, but from Burger King - you know - "Have it your way!" It is our on-going mission to differentiate the learning experience for each individual child and young adult and to help them to find their personal pathways to success.
This is report card and parent/tutor/teacher interview week at our school. It is a time for the partners in education to get together and reflect on what is working and what isn't and to agree on a strategy to power the stretch drive until June. It is a personal journey for each of our students, but it is a path that they don't have to follow alone.
We are fortunate as a small, independent option to be free of many of these constraints. By contrast, what we try to offer is based on a mass customization model. Although there are many things in common, there is no question but that at the end of the day we are delivering individual programmes for each and every student. Our slogan could maybe be taken not from McDonalds, but from Burger King - you know - "Have it your way!" It is our on-going mission to differentiate the learning experience for each individual child and young adult and to help them to find their personal pathways to success.
This is report card and parent/tutor/teacher interview week at our school. It is a time for the partners in education to get together and reflect on what is working and what isn't and to agree on a strategy to power the stretch drive until June. It is a personal journey for each of our students, but it is a path that they don't have to follow alone.
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