Doing School Different
- juliafurst
- Nov 8, 2017
- 3 min read
In this podcast Joshua Metcalf talks about the things wrong with this school system. In his eyes teachers and other authority figures "beat the creativity" out of kids at a young age without allowing them enough autonomy over themselves. I like his ideas of giving more freedom to students, but I am not sure if I agree with his ideas on not caring about the content that you publish rather caring about whether it WAS published. This seems a bit irrational considering in this day in age, once something is published it it out in the world forever. Not that I think his message is wrong, I just thinks he poorly expresses it. He says leadership is important because it gives a model to students, but how can a student trust as though to model themselves after someone who makes spelling errors and other grammatical errors. Even my math teacher, who I think of as a model, says its hard to trust what someone is trying to say, when they aren't getting little things right. I do think it is important to showcase work, but not in a messy, careless way.
If school gave me time in my day, I think I would research things that actually interest me, things we do not learn in school. I don't think I would go to phone if I was supposed to "learn". If I was told I had free time then, yes, I probably would go to my phone, but mostly because I associate my phone with myself. It serves as a personal object, and I feel as though the school system strips a student away of ones true self or any connection to creativity
I think i would enjoy being left on my own to learn from failures for myself, but I honestly think if put in a position where I had to choose I would be too scared to leave what I know, in terms of entrepreneurship and a job(like how Joshua left his masters degree), to leave everything I have grown up to know. I want to say that I would be brave enough to "tackle hard s^&# over and over", but I don't think I could get myself too step up unless thrown in that position with no choice. If this was a class, I think I'd be nervous to fail, but excited at the opportunity. To learn in a different way would be a nice change.
I was frightened not by the ideas he mentioned, but by himself. I have no idea why, but I feel like it is hard to trust someone who in my opinion seems like an exception, not that he in anyway is extraordinary. I just seems like the only reason he has this podcast is because out of the hundreds of others who had his same philosophy, he was the only one to succeed. I guess he brings this point home though, when he says,"they are just normal people willing to die for extraordinary things". I guess he trying to bring home the point that he is just an average person, with ideas he is not afraid to express, and I respect this. There is just something about him that makes me feel like he thinks he is better than everyone else, because he wasn't afraid and they are. I liked how the podcast mediator said something. He said, "some people aren't going to get themselves fired so they can express their ideas", I liked that he said this because he stood up for people, who sadly, have people to care for, so sometimes they have to think about the consequences that will not only impact themselves, but possibly their family.
I am excited by his ideas on autonomy and giving more freedom to the students. Its a good idea and I think will help students emotionally become more confident and comfortable with their ideas. Overall, I applaud Metcalf's ideas for being courageous and showing what it means to stand up for what you believe in.
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