School’s Out Forever
I’m still plugging away on my book, tentatively titled “School’s Out Forever” — a play on the famous cry of the immortal Alice Cooper, “School’s Out For Summer“. My recent attendance at TESOL Colombia has inspired me to get my head down and finish the book. It’s a labor of love. Fernando Valenzuela’s plenary there “Irreversible” certainly inspired me.
My idea is to think fresh, think anew and have a grasp that exceeds my reach. To paint a picture of what education could really be like if we started fresh and unburdened by the concepts, ideas, the past of “school”.
While on this journey, came upon this delightful talk by Ricardo Semler. He’s a business guy and born with a golden spoon. Normally I don’t pay attention to or raise an eyebrow over these types parading as gurus and spending money on exotic ideas. You know the types with a big wad of cash but really not about disruption but control and the establishment. But Semler’s different. Watch the video and you’ll see why. He invokes a very refreshing humility.
He asks the good question for us teacher, us parents, us principals — all stakeholders in education
“What are we doing this for?”
He doesn’t really offer any ideas that aren’t out there already. But he packages them well. I agree with most of them except for the idea that we still need “school”. We don’t. A lot of his points suggest the same.
Originally published at ELT Buzz.