HOW CAN WE ACTION OUR CONSENSUS?

WE NEED AN EDUCATIONAL RETHINK II

by Andre Moses

The responses to my recent post, ‘We Need an Educational Rethink’ confirm a long existing consensus. What is needed to action that consensus is to figure out how to get from a consensus of ideas to implementation.

An ‘Adopt a School’ initiative can mobilise a broad cross-section of proactive support for industry-inspired curriculum projects that target various needs that may be prevalent within the geographical ambit of schools.

Everything does not have to be top down, an ‘Adopt a School’ model can provide an opportunity for community businesses and industry professionals to join with school educators in the design of specific curriculum modules that connect general education content with industry manpower requirements, and, in so doing, help to reduce student alienation from abstract curriculum designs.

The challenge is to engage the students. A curriculum project that addresses hillside mudslides, river plain flooding or destructive high winds will be of high interest to students living in geographical areas affected by those problems. Ecotourism-influenced projects could engage rural schools and any technology-based project is a no-brainer if student engagement is the objective.

A bottom-up curriculum model will create an opportunity for students to indicate the particular curriculum area they would prefer to explore. Knowing how pragmatic our youth tend to be, it would probably be one that would create the opportunity for them to earn some money.

Mentorship could be a critical component of the ‘Adopt a School’ model. Industry professionals can establish connections with students that extend beyond the classroom and facilitate the sharing of trade secrets and life lessons that have informed their own successes.

Disaggregating inputs and costs creates an opportunity for everyone to contribute whatever they can: be it a tool, a piece of technology, a standing order contribution, tuition hours, a workspace, a pot of food or moral support.

Over-centralisation is often an implementation roadblock. All initiatives do not have to be global and largescale. Planting a seed can be a proactive response that could, in time, inspire a whirlwind harvest.

The challenge is to find a mechanism to action our ‘likes’ and our ‘shares’. I am proposing an ‘Adopt a School’ initiative. What do you think? What role can each of us play to move such an initiative from idea to implementation? The more ingredients we contribute to the pot the quicker will we be able to share in the meal.

Vacuums are filled by proactivity and resourcefulness, whether such proactivity and resourcefulness is of a negative or positive variety. Let’s put our heads together to ensure that positivity wins out, for our Independence mandate hangs in the balance.