Jun 28, 2009
JayWalking with Jay Leno
As I watched this great video I was reminded of what we do to our students as educators on a daily basis. (Do a search for Jaywalking with Jay Leno and there are quite a few videos) I laughed as I heard the crazy answers people gave but also realized the information they were being asked for was part of a textbook in MS or HS. Was it on some state assessment. Did I care when I learned it or did I have any connection to the material at all when it was learned so I would have a need to remember it. The first person was unable to make a connection between the leading questions by Jay between China and Panama. Was it really the information or not making connections.? Is Louis Armstrong the first thing to come to mind because of his fame, marketing, rhythm? Why did she remember that? The young man that made the comment about the “founding fathers of what” was a perfect example of thinking within his world and his immediate surroundings because that is where he is at. He is not a “global” thinker and why should he be. He is probably working long hours to make ends meet and none of any info beyond his daily grind is really going to benefit him. The young lady who actually finished the “4 score” with “who are in heaven was a result of constant drill in catholic masses where the words just roll off her tongue with no meaning just memorization. Think about the connection the young man made between the acorn and the squirrel. Was that incorrect? It was based on the question but he was definitely interpreting this in his own way. No comment on BYOB.
It has been time and will continue to be time to give what we want students to know and be able to do when they leave our system a hard look. It isn’t just looking anymore though it requires action. Learning should be meaningful and purposeful, students should develop and define their own content and the structure of education should pave the way to a challenged based environment full of a need to know. It is not an idea but a need.
Watching the Jay Leno clip clearly shows that something is lacking in society. While observing the people they may not know the facts, but that is not the scary part, it is that they are oblivious to their surroundings. They answered things that were not even addressed, such as the guy with ask if he had a truck then a dog and he said Ford. This is a real concern in schools and society that people are not taking the initiative to know the world they live in. Should everyone learn everything? It would be great if this was the case, but just making an effort to do your best or find information when needed is a great place to be. Students and society need a basic know ledge and while it may be different for everyone what that knowledge is make the effort to better it along the way and be aware of what is around you.
Perhaps it indicates we don’t have enough social learning in our schools. There is no connection to what we learn and what it means. There is no application of learning if there is no social connection
How can I bring myself to telling my kids that all of their medals and trophies were only for self esteem!!! LOL. I know what you are saying. I half believe it. Sometimes we go to far when proving a point. Many of our students have never experienced “winning” and that is not because they have not tried. That is because the standards they are measured by are on “our” terms not theirs. I am hoping that we can build a system where all students can achieve and be successful but it can’t be one size fits all – good grades, not missing any school, doing well in the spelling bee. We can challenge our students in an inquiry based environment to be intrinsically successful and they will need to work at it. We have created “winners” at the expense of what we really need to do. We believe we want to build self esteem but we only do it on the surface. We don’t really change to make education personalized or meaningful.
So what are you doing about it?
There are so many stupid Americans!!! I watch this show Cash Cab and I get sad when I see people who cannot answer the simplest of questions. However, this may also be because they were taught to memorize these facts and not to apply them. In addition, most of the questions asked require an answer that is plucked from our memory. In short, we have become walking, talking and breathing drones that can only regurgitate useless facts. Sad but true!!!
Jaywalking with Jay Leno was funny to watch. I actually viewed some of these Late Night shows when they first were aired. How could anyone not find humor in the ridiculousness of others. However, when the clip ended I was amazed that these individuals did not even have the basic knowledge of some of the questions. What I found to be the most “eyebrow rising” interaction was the gentleman that could not tell Jay the two countries that border the United States. Where did this gentleman go to school? Did the education system fail him or did he fail the education system? Where does the responsibility lie? Is it in the student or the teacher? Yes, we find it hilarious to laugh at this individual, however, how sad is it that he cannot answer the most basic geography question.
These were kids in our classrooms
I too watched and enjoyed the humor of normal citizens fail at the some “obvious” questions on Jay’s jaywalking. Putting beside the fact that some people enjoy the attention and will give a wrong answer on purpose for a comedic reaction of the viewers, I too had to be shocked at some of the obvious mistakes and gaps in knowledge these people seemed to have. Where is the mistake? Is it the schools, teachers, the individuals or society? I think it was a mix of all that creates the American sterotype we have come to adopt. the first problem is that we teach to memorize in short term memory without any application or relation to make the information relevent in the students lives. This causes facts to be short lived after an assessment is taken. The second and third problem lies with society and the individual. The media tells us what is important and when local news promotes the stories about pop divas,their drug abuse or death and gives little detail about world events what does that tell you about our society? We are taught to place more value in gossip rather than world culture. This creates a self centered society with little time for real issues. I bet if you asked the individuals about the latest sport scandals they would have known that, but ask a random person about world events and you set yourself up for dissapointment. The individual is the last problem. The indivudual being shaped by society has no desire to search out information on their own. We expect it to be at our finger tips or shoved in our face. If it is’nt then it must not matter. The solution is to challenege the individual mind to search out and seek answers. That is the purpose of education. To teach students to think for themselves in hopes that they will continue to invest in their own education.
Wouldn’t that be great if students could design their own learning path? As a student to be able to find an idea that interested you, ask a question, and devote “class time” to it, would be revolutionary. But should it be such an outrageous idea? It’s not a new idea that our potential for learning and retention of ideas grows exponentially when we’re truly involved and engaged in an idea. So why can’t we structure our education system to meet this strategy half-way? Thinking about it, discussing it and realizing how successful it could be is the first step, but the next is to really encourage that inquiry in our students. Forget about those pesky standardized tests.
After reading this comment I can guess that Idealism is not dead, at least for some people, when it comes to discussing public education. Let me first say that I am a firm believer in the idea,” If it ani’t broke then it don’t need fixen.” However, in the wonderful world of Public Education in these United States of America there is too much that is broken that desperately needs fixing. I refuse to be an idealistic dreamer who chooses to sing the praises of positive progress. As an inner city public school teacher I can see all too clearly the myriad of things that need fixing. I always get accused of being negative but if you can’t identify a problem then you cannot begin to fix it. So accuse me of being negative.
Here is the bad news: Too many students are not equipped with the knowledge and ability needed for them to design their own learning program. When students are coddled and lied too all during their years in elementary school they are not educated to understand how to actually do things for themselves. They have been led to believe that life is Disney World. They have been taught that whining and complaining gets them immediate satisfaction. They have been artificially nurtured to believe that their self esteem matters more than the pain and humiliation that is failure. They have not learned how to be self motivated. They do not know how to write very well. They cannot spell very well. They do not know how to do basic mathematical calculations with out the use of a calculator. They really believe that a last place trophy is something wonderful.
What would make anyone think that these kids could design their own learning plan and follow their own course of personal discovery?