As part of the first week of our EdTech class, we were asked to watch the 2015 documentary “Most Likely to Succeed,” a film that focuses on how the traditional education system fails to take into account the growing needs of students in an ever-changing world. We are introduced to High Tech High, a high school in the U.S. that uses an inquiry model of teaching that combines disciplines and gives young learners the opportunity to have a say in both what they learn and how they go about learning it.
One of the key takeaways from the film was how the current model of teaching was developed in the late 20th century as a response to the industrial revolution and the growing need to train people to work in factories. This required workers to be able to perform similar tasks and have more or less the same skills as one another. As a result, schools divided students up by age and subject, and organized them in a fashion akin to how workers were organized in a factory. As we all know, the world has undergone many changes in the past 125 years so this model seems largely outdated. Young people need increasingly diverse and adaptable skills to be able to compete in a rapidly changing professional landscape so, as a future educator, it makes me wonder how the education system has gone largely unchanged.
As the film progresses, we watch as students work toward completing their projects, the results of which will eventually be displayed in a public exhibition to be attended by parents, teachers, other students, and members of the local community. While there is obvious excitement by many of the students, there is also concern. Some students worry that a lack of grades in the traditional subject areas will negatively impact their chances of getting into a university, which, as some point out, will then affect their ability to find good jobs. This sentiment is echoed by some of the parents interviewed in the film.
As I see it, this is a valid concern on the part of the students and parents alike. Unless universities are willing to adapt to changing models of education, such as the one depicted in the documentary, the value of these types of approaches may go unrealized despite their obvious benefits to learning. Such models are risky as they attempt to prepare learners using non-traditional method that don’t conform to the way most universities organize their programs and courses.
As a teacher in training, I see tremendous value in teaching young people using this approach. It allows students to participate in selecting what they want to learn, and both creates and fosters passion, as well as a learner-centered classroom. Almost everyone has found themselves sitting in a classroom uninterested in the topic or the textbook; this way of learning attempts to overcome that shortcoming by enabling young learners to be more in control of what they learn, hopefully shortening the gap between what the system wants them to learn and what they want to learn.
“If we teach today as we taught yesterday we rob our children of tomorrow.”
John Dewey
An obvious shortcoming to this approach is that not every student is going to excel under such a program; lack of self-motivation, coasting by, and unpreparedness in certain subject areas all seem like side effects of such a method of schooling. However, it could easily be argued that the same downsides are present under the current system of education, implying that multiple ways of learning and a larger student voice is likely the bey way forward, as it better takes into account students’ preferred ways of learning.
As it stands currently, teachers would likely benefit from incorporating such styles into the classroom, but perhaps in smaller doses. The traditional subjects can still be retained, especially in the earlier years of schooling, but as students get older and become more equipped to self-direct their own learning, teachers should be at least partially handing over the reigns to students and allowing them more control inside the classroom. Not only will this create more curiosity and cut down on instances of boredom and apathy, but it will also better prepare young learners for a future in the workforce in which they will be expected to change professions and constantly continue a cycle of learning.
Check out the trailer for “Most Likely to Succeed” below.
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