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Dr. David Hopson |
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April 19, 2008 We are approaching the end of another school year and preparing to graduate another class of students from a basic academic preparation for life. These young adults will have completed more than a decade of formal education, taken a wide range of tests (including passing the dreaded MCAS) and are imbued with the collective wisdom of their parents and society as they know it. What they do with their skills, knowledge and ambition will, perhaps more than ever before, depend less on external factors such as their teachers and more on their own desires, motivation and experiences. I am often asked, as we move towards the end of the year, if the activities occurring at this time (field trips, field days, more hands-on and interactive projects) are appropriate, challenging and worthwhile compared to the more defined academics that occur throughout the year. I believe that this basic question arises because many of us still believe the education we experienced—quietly sitting in rows and “absorbing” knowledge from our teachers—is the definition of a good education. As we look at what works in both education and life, we quickly realize that we’ve learned more lasting lessons from experience and the need to apply knowledge and skills in real life situations than we did from rote memorization. One of the items discussed frequently in terms of the No Child Left Behind Act and the whole accountability framework is the dismantling in many schools of the experience aspect—reductions in physical education, art, and music; fewer opportunities to explore a particular interest of a class, even if it’s not tested on MCAS; and less time to spend on interesting field trips, experiments and group projects. In an age of ever increasing requirements in English language arts and mathematics, we’re graduating students adept in handling esoteric mathematical equations yet unable to balance a checkbook or write a simple thank-you note. To quote Richard Feynman, “You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird . . . So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing—that’s what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.” I believe that Gateway’s staff is working diligently to balance the requirements of academic accountability with the ‘real-life’ application of knowledge; in part, this accounts for the success of hands-on group projects, group travel and field trips and the myriad activities that don’t fit the quiet classroom model of the recent past. The Washington D.C. trip in middle school, the elementary field days, the trips to New York, Sturbridge Village or even local trips to look at stone walls—all work towards a deeper understanding of the world around us. Even the senior class trip to Walt Disney World is an opportunity for planning, implementing and experiencing a different aspect of life or, to quote Mariam Beard “travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” I hope our years of working with students under many different circumstances and with many different staff will produce graduates who can incorporate skills, knowledge and experience in such a way that they move forward in a positive manner and make a difference in the ‘real world’.
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