Archive of January 2009
I am a producer. I like to produce things, whether that means businesses, websites, or blogs.
For the most part, education fails to thoughtfully educate producers. Over the centuries, schools have gotten very good at teaching consumers. We emphasize reading and math, so consumers can consume more.
There is nothing wrong with this. Many people are consumers, and everyone needs the skills to be one. However, a growing tide of people are producers — people who feel the unquenchable need to make. The education system fails to even recognize this trend, let alone teach to it.
From a purely business perspective, this is dangerous. Producers are responsible for a disproportionate percentage of the GDP, and giving producers better education will help to increase that. But it’s also important from a human perspective — education should match the personality of the student.
A good start would be to help students identify whether they are a producer or consumer. This is as easy as asking a simple question:
Some people are consumers by nature; they consume vast quantities of knowledge purely for learning’s sake. Others are producers; they consume knowledge with the intent of one day acting on the knowledge and producing something, be it a book, a song, a blog, a startup, etc… Neither is better than the other.
The key is to answer one question: which are you?
Beyond that, schools can give education appropriate to each type of student. For the most part, we are a mix of both producers and consumers; teaching consumption and production will help everyone.
The one additional component which producers absolutely need more of in their education is practice. Whenever possible, there should be time to practice (authentically) producing businesses, books, or music. Though practice doesn’t make you perfect, it does make you a whole lot better of a producer.
Schools need to recognize and identify producers, so a proper education can be given to them.
How do you teach producers?
Article found via Michael Mistretta
When I was younger, I thought history didn’t matter. To me, history was a dusty land filled with dates, maps, and death rates. I thought the inhabitants of this land — historians — were old, dusty people who had nothing interesting to say.
In short, I confused history with historical societies.
Right: An Aerial View of the Smithsonian
I was, and am, a person driven by change (action) and, to an unhealthy extent, power. Technology and politics, my passions, both move at a breakneck pace and are always focusing on the future. To my naive self, history was entirely antithetical to my entire philosophy.1
As one might expect, school was at fault. School taught me to memorize dates and people.2 We almost never explored the context of these events; we never delved into the legacies of the leaders beyond the most basic level. Timelines made regular appearances, as did color-coded maps. All this memorization took up time, time which would have been better spent thinking.
Naturally, given this context, I felt that history was something to be avoided like the plague.3
Now, of course, I know better.
Once I got teachers who actually understood and enjoyed history, I was able to see beyond the numbers. I discovered that history wasn't a textbook or timeline, but a story, and a damn good story at that. With this discovery, I was able to find the joy of the past.
Not to go all philosophical on you, but the past really is the present.
Society evolves, but evolution involves a lot of repetition. Each iteration is almost exactly the same as the last, with only minor differences. A knowledge of that past iteration helps you to understand the current iteration — and the differences between the two.
Understanding — truly understanding — the world (politics, society, technology, etc.) is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do. Thankfully, we have the past to help us. With the wisdom of the past, we can more easily understand the present. Instead of having to draw an entirely new map of the world, we only need to draw a map of the new parts.
Almost every situation we encounter, somebody else has encountered before. Even when we can’t see them, we’re walking in someone’s footsteps. Thankfully, that someone has probably already come up with a solution for or analysis of the situation. I am continuously reminded of this, whether in my daily Googling of technical problems or my comparisons between Palin and McCarthy. When it comes down to it, history is probably the most useful subject there is.
Sadly, far too many teachers get it wrong. Though I'm sure you're not one of them, you probably know some of them. History, more than any other subject, is really easy to get wrong.4 It is far too easy to get caught in the micro-history (who fought in what battle on what date?) and forget about the macro-history (why was he fighting?), especially because the micro-history is very easy to teach and test. Given this, it is no surprise that many history teachers don't teach history.
And every time it is a tragedy. When taught as a collection of dates, history loses its spark. A bad history teacher will — guaranteed — make history dull and lifeless. In other subjects, one can get by with a poor teacher and still enjoy it. History, more than any other subject, depends strongly on the quality of the teacher. A good history teacher5 will make even the most reluctant of students sit up in their chairs, but a bad history teacher will make even (or, especially) the future-historians start texting under the table. In no other class is this true: math people will always find numbers mathematical language interesting, and some never will.6 The cost of a poor history teacher is great, but the benefits are superb: history gives students a framework to understand their world.
So please, remember to take the hi- off history.
Of course, at some point the “facts” do become important. The dates and names aren’t entirely irrelevant, especially as one wishes to progress. To talk effectively and intelligently about the ideas, one must know the facts — especially if one aims to convince others. However, the ideas are indisputably more important — without them, history is pointless. Unfortunately, the ideas are generally only seriously discussed in the upper grades of high school and college. Up until then, the bare facts hold almost exclusive domain. By the time students reach the exciting parts of history, we have built a (false) image of history as boring and pointless — in fact, many never reach those discussions simply because they assume all history is as boring as 5th grade history. Even at the unit level, history is taught in the wrong order. Most teachers start with the bare facts and only touch on the bigger ideas near the end of a lesson. This should be reversed on both the micro and macro levels, with grand ideas being taught first to build interest and discussion. Only with the themes in place should the facts be taught, to supplement and reinforce those themes, leading to continued investigation. The primary focus of history should always be the story.
Right: My countdown wallpaper from Mediumjones at Smashing Magazine
What do you think the proper order of history education is? Do you think schools need to focus more on the context of history?
Two thousand nine promises to be a good year for me. I have many plans for this year, but, first, a little history.
Two thousand eight could be described in many ways, but ultimately it was characterized by a feeling of slowness. I enjoyed the relaxation and deep thought that this slowness brought the time for. For the most part, I don’t have much to show you (yet!) from 2008; but the quiet reflection of this past year gave me opportunity to develop new ideas and views.
Among the highlights of the year, these stand out:
- In July, I abandoned my older blog, which I subsequently revived at its present location in November.
- My summer internship at GlobalClassroom was in my first “real” work experience, and a good one at that.
- Continuing upon this work trend, I was able to expand my business in new directions.
Despite these accomplishments, I am left with the feeling that I didn’t really do much in 2008. However, the slow thinking of the year has left me with some exciting ideas which I plan to implement in 2009.
If 2008 was characterized by intellectual laziness, 2009 will center on intellectual vigor. Much about the new year brings me hope, a hope upon which I plan to act. In all aspects of my life, I resolve to implemented this new vigor:
- I will vigorously blog more, since my thoughts don’t help if nobody hears them.1
- I will vigorously pursue new work projects. I am extremely excited by Project X, but I want it to get moving faster.
- I will work to vigorously improve Students 2.0 in my new role as publisher.
- On a personal note, I’m working to vigorously exercise more. If I die at 30, my ideas won’t live on — and that’d be a shame, wouldn’t it?
- Similarly, I will vigorously throw myself into reading, particularly of a “print” variety. There are books from last Christmas which I still haven’t read, and I’d also like to spend some more time with “traditional” magazines.2
With those concrete resolutions set down on the stones of the interweb, I also would like to make 2009 a continuation of my media exploration. Over time, I work to master learn about specific mediums. Though I consider myself a decent writer, I would like to make the first half of 2009 revolve around improving my relationship with the written word, especially in terms of speed and editing. If the finity3 of time allows, I will also move into the spoken word in multiple incarnations: debate, speech, and podcasting.
In short, I have grand hopes for 2009, both personally and globally. In many ways, I hope 2009 will finally shake off the stupor of the past year4 in favor of direct action.
I’m ready, 2009.
Below: Happy New Year!
What does the new year mean for you?