It often strikes me how few people, when presented with a technical problem, will try to search out the answer themselves. Most will ask someone in the tech department but if they can’t reach anyone, or don’t get an answer right away, they do not seem to go any further. They simply wait. Wait for someone to give them the answer.

I thought for some time that it was just that most people had no natural curiosity about these things but now I wonder if it isn’t that schools in general do not teach people to teach themselves. Most schools follow the professorial model. The teacher teaches, the students listen. Then they get tested.

I saw this video from Dean Shareski last night and it really struck me. It documents the teaching style of a woman named Shelley Wright.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJlfZgEhfdU&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

In it, she says:

I plan to prepare my students for the reality that is already here. We cannot continue to have classrooms that look the same as they did 50 years ago and tell ourselves that we are preparing our students effectively. If we believe this lie, it is our students who will pay the consequences.

A thought provoking video. But then I always get good stuff from Dean.