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Stop Stealing Dreams (what is school for?) - Seth Godin

Stop Stealing Dreams (what is school for?) - Seth Godin

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23.And yet we <strong>is</strong>olate students instead of connecting them<br />

Virtually every academic activity in <strong>school</strong> <strong>is</strong> done solo. Homework. Exams.<br />

Writing. The lectures might take place in a crowded room, but they too are<br />

primarily one-way.<br />

How <strong>is</strong> th<strong>is</strong> focus on the <strong>is</strong>olated individual going to match up with <strong>what</strong> actually<br />

happens in every field of endeavor? No competent doctor says, “I don’t know<br />

<strong>what</strong> to do, I’ll figure it out myself.” No academic researcher or steelworker or<br />

pilot works in complete <strong>is</strong>olation.<br />

Group projects are the exception in <strong>school</strong>, but they should be the norm.<br />

Figuring out how to leverage the power of the group—whether it <strong>is</strong> students in<br />

the same room or a quick connection to a graphic designer across the sea in<br />

Wales—<strong>is</strong> at the heart of how we are productive today.<br />

24.If education <strong>is</strong> the question, then teachers are the answer<br />

Walking through the Harlem Village Academy, the first thing most people<br />

notice <strong>is</strong> the no<strong>is</strong>e. There <strong>is</strong>n’t any.<br />

Please understand: it’s not quiet like a morgue or a library. There are the sounds<br />

of engaged students and of motivated teachers, but there’s no chaos. The chaos<br />

we’ve been trained to associate with an inner-city <strong>school</strong> <strong>is</strong> totally m<strong>is</strong>sing.

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