Most of what I read on education is teacher-centric

The Schools We Need | Erik Reece | Orion Magazine:

Most of what I read on education is teacher-centric. In my understanding, this is a major error. Education is driven most effectively by a single simple thing. The curiosity of the student. The desire to follow a certain line of interest. This is why I see the reforming of education in terms of freeing students to follow their own interests. The whole notion of school as a class which depends on a teacher to maintain some sort of order while somehow eliciting the interest of each student is absurd. The notion of attending a school which looks more like an office complex than a place to settle in and learn is inherently defeating. I would move in the direction of kiosks with large screen presentations of the very best of everything curated by people who know whatever the subject is and can answer the questions of interested students. I would measure progress by the quality of conversation between a student and a curator. I would close the cover of any book that suggests that the teacher is the main key to educational reform.

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Imagine real neighborhood schools

Learning should begin with the curiosity and will if the childSchool has everything backwardsGreat children are stuffed into regimented boxes to be moulded by great teachersWe need schools that are entirely child drivenWhere kids can walk among various kiosks where there is one affable, computer savvy expert who likes kids for each kioskThere is a big screenThe affable person brings up the most original video on learning this or that that she has ever discoveredA few kids hang around to watch.A walkable community with kiosks of this sort is a viable alternative to education that is reified and factory-basedWe need to start with the community and get the cars out of the actual space where people liveA community of 10K can exist in an area with a mile diameterAnd no more than four stairless levelsIn such areas children can create their own education and discover their own interests and talents and move at their own chosen speed(To reprise a lyric)None of this will happen until people insist that the present system is broken
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Schools On Military Bases Are Toast

Military Children's Schools in Disrepair - Newsweek: "School conditions that disgust many adults only add to the pressures on a child longing for a father deployed four times since her birth. “I wish he were here,” she admits. “I miss him a lot.”" You saw it coming. Schools on military bases are in disgusting shape. Our entire emphasis on fighting ground wars is disgusting. We need nation building here at home now. Starting with these atrocious schools.

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Most current schools are dismal factories

Most current schools are dismal factories
In coming days we'll walk to where we learn
And we'll be seen for who we might become
And follow lights that in each of us burn
Most current schools are dismal factoriesTheir aim is to skim cream from off the top

Just pass the test and maybe get a job
Forget about the millions they thus rob

Within each person is a great answer
But schools do not frame questions properly
They think there is just one proper response
That's hardly a proper philosophy