Yong Zhao

World Class LearnersBy Yong Zhao

Book Notes Compiled by Jane L. Sigford

Chapter 1: The Wrong BetWhy Common Curriculum and Standards won’t help

We have a movement toward implementing Common Core Standards which has been approved by 45 states and Washington D.C. It’s being pushed with the careful language calling them “common core”, NOT national standards.

Being pushed by National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers.

Publicity around Common Core has been that it is state led and demanded by a broad spectrum of stakeholders. P. 24

However, this is a thin mask that cannot hide the intention of the initiative to create a national curriculum for US nor can it deny the fact of the involvement of the federal government in helping make them the core of American children’s education diet

Common Core are not just academic curriculum. They are quickly evolving into curriculum and assessment. [No such thing as coincidence that the original panel I heard at MN Dept of Ed years ago introducing the idea of Common Core Stds consisted of representatives from —ACT, SAT, CCSSO, NGA, and Ed Trust. I have always wondered—where were the education leaders? NASSP, NAESP, AASA????? NOTE MINE]

Reason to adopt CC was supposedly to help the US “compete successfully in the global economy. Purportedly going to make all students ready for college and career in the global economy by addressing three ills that have long plagued American education: equity, quality, and efficiency. P. 26

CC stds are supposedly benchmarked internationally so that they embody the highest expectation for students. P. 27

National Homogenization: Increased Centralized Prescription of Student Learning

CC Stds initiative represents the increasing trend of nati’l homogenization of student learning in the world. [as we become increasingly diverse???? NOTE MINE]

Such control is exercised through 3 interconnected measures: 1) identification of core subjects, 2) development of centralized curriculum stds, 3) use of high stakes testing to enforce stds of core academic subjects. [Sounds like $ for testing companies to me. NOTE MINE]

In the world there are two types of educational systems: Those with central gov’t education authority that prescribes and enforces what students should know e.g. China, Singapore, Korea. The 2nd type is those with no nati’l control leaving much to local education authorities e.g. US, Canada, Australia

However many of the decentralized countries are moving toward more centralization which is the wrong way to go in this global economy, p. 28

Global Homogenization: International Benchmarking Attempt to homogenize children’s learning goes beyond nat’l borders and is

becoming global.

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International benchmarking has effectually the result of developing a globally homogenous learning experience for all students. Students learn same thing at same time.

And when professional development and pedagogy are aligned, teachers are asked to deliver the same content in the same method.

When international assessments are applied, nations have even more reason to teach the same thing to their children. P. 32

Push toward globally homogenous educ. has one obvious rational: global competition.

International assessment programs have added fuel to global homogenization by showing relative standings of different countries

We have PISA developed by Org. for Econ co-operation and Development (OECD). We have TIMSS.

It should come as no surprise that nations want to improve PISA scores. Best way is to align one’s curriculum and stds with top-performing nations on PISA. [It becomes about testing, not learning NOTE MINE]

Outcome of intnat’l benchmarking is inevitably a globally homogenized learning experience for all students taught at same time in same way. P. 34

Placing the Bet: The Core Subjects Effort to define what students should learn is not a free exercise of gov’ts or

well-intentioned policy makers. The costs are:o $ to define and develop curr. And stdso costs political and social capital to debate what should be included for

what ageo costs $ and energy to have them adopted an implemented by schools

and teacherso costs to develop assessments and other mechanisms to ensure that

schools and teachers teach accordinglyo also opportunity costs—no time and energy to pursue anything else. P. 35

Core subjects are emphasized at expense of other topics: math, reading, and science emphasized at expense of the arts, physical ed. Etc. This is called curriculum narrowing. P. 37

Curriculum narrowing happens on two levels.o One—high stakes attached to limited number of subjects which take

precedence over other subjectso Even within favored subjects, curr. Is narrowed to what will be tested. P.

38o Curriculum narrowing most severe in schools and districts that did not

test well on NCLB. P. 38 Classroom instruction has been transformed into test prep. Consequently,

instructional quality and opportunities to access a diverse curr. deteriorate. Cognitively complex teaching becomes more basic-skill oriented and students ultimately become less cognitively nimble.

It is clear that defining a common curr. and enforcing it through high-stakes testing results in an educational experience aligned with the curr. The core curr, however defined, becomes the de facto full curriculum. The floor, that is the basic essential knowledge, becomes the ceiling. Perhaps this is what the reformers intend and expect to have. P. 41

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Questioning the Bet But the bet that many gov’ts are placing on behalf of millions of children around

the world will have little chance to prepare future generations to live successfully in the era of globalization. Op. 41

The outcomes will not be globally competitive citizens At best all these exercises will be a futile waste of resources and opportunities At worst, these actions will lead to irreversible damages. This is because our

children will face a society that has been fundamentally changed by globalization and technology while the efforts to develop and implement national and internationally homogenized curriculum are working on fixing an educational paradigm that has outlived its utility. [Underlining mine] p. 42

The paradigm evolved when world was separated by geographical distances, when most societies were insular, and when changes happened much slower than today and tomorrow.

And in many cases, the jobs and their required knowledge and skills did not change very fast, The knowledge and skills required of workers were fairly basic and most people could be asked or forced to acquire them.

Dominant paradigm of modern mass education has been about producing employees with similar skills to meet demand of the local economy and a common citizenry with similar values compatible with the local society. Primary function has been to reduce human diversity into skillful workers through prescribed content and experiences in form of curriculum and passing on cultural values of local society. P. 42

But the world is drastically different now. Virtually all economies are connected globally and are interdependent.

Employment will depend on qualifications and price. o One, those who cost less with same skills will get hired over the more

expensive employees. o Two, old jobs are rapidly being replaced by new ones as old industries

disappear due to technological changes as existing jobs move around the globe. P. 43

o Three, jobs that require routine procedure skills and knowledge are increasingly automated or sent to places where such skills and knowledge are abundant at lower costs

o The world our children will live in is global, not local. o Globalization presents challenges, it also brings vast opportunities. P. 45

Conclusion: The efforts to develop common curr, nationally and internationally, are simply working to perfect an outdated paradigm. It is the wrong bet for our children’s future. P. 45

Chapter 2: The Changed World: The Need for Entrepreneurs Currently our young people are unemployed in alarming rates across the world due to increased productivity thanks to technological advancement, the global redistribution of work resulting from global economic integration, and the rapid growth of human population and an increase in life expectancy, hence years in the workforce. Interestingly, the same forces that created unemployment are potentially the same forces that may help create jobs. P. 51

Increased Productivity

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We have become more productive although not uniformly across the world. US, Western Europe, and Japan grew faster than other regions. But in Africa and certain countries in Asia, per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was under $10,000. Increased productivity has led to rising std. of living. Bottom line—as human beings become more productive, through the advancement of technology, more efficient org. of production, and more energy sources, there will be even more people freed from existing jobs Hence, more people will be unemployed within the existing framework unless they find something else valuable to do. p. 53

More people and longer work life Rising living standards have led to longer life expectancy and better health. Average

life expectancy is 66 years in the world. In developed countries it is 77 years compared to 46 years a century ago.

Human population has grown as well. Increased productivity and longer life expectancy has reduced number of workers needed to produce same amount of goods.

Global Redistribution of Jobs Digital technologies have freed us from being constrained by physical aspects of our

world. Physical co-location and presence have become nonessential for many activities.

Jobs can be outsourced and people are also migrating to the jobs

Not a Zero-Sum Game If jobs are brought back to US, that means unemployment elsewhere.

And some Americans won’t do the jobs that have been outsourced. The number of jobs is not finite. It is not about keeping jobs home and

preventing others from taking jobs away, rather, it is about creating new jobs. P. 59

Potential for New Jobs Paradoxically, the forces that resulted in unemployment are also the

forces that will lead to the creation of jobs. Technology advancement, globalization, and abundance of unemployed youth are all building blocks of a new economy.

The new way of production also creates opportunities for jobs. Furthermore, globalization and digitization together have created a new

platform that helps create new jobs. This platform delivers a global customer base, a global capital pool, and a global workforce—all easily accessible.

Previously Unmet or Unrecognized Human Needs Increased spending power on nonnecessities, such as entertainment,

presents new opportunities for new jobs. Things such as film industry, video industry, computer gaming etc. are all new industries.

Many more jobs can be created because more people will have the income to consume more and more diverse products and services. P. 61.

Emerging Needs

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Globalization presents new challenges for all sectors of society and hence new needs for people to address these challenges, and hence new opportunities for jobs.

We need global supply chain managers, language interpreters, cultural consultants, and people to manage the global workflow and global workforce.

Information technology industry has created whole new lines of jobs that never existed before. P. 61

Global Customer Base “E-commerce has been the growth engine for retailers in mature markets

for the past 10-15 years,” according to a report by Cisco Systems. Globalization and digital revolution not only have brought a global market

to any individual with a computing device connected to the internet, enabling ordinary people to engage in entrepreneurial activities with very low start-up costs.

Crowdfunding: A Global Capital Pool Some people now have an idea, put it out there on the net, and ask

people to contribute. This is called crowdfunding which is a way to attract initial funding for business. P. 64

Some examples of platforms. SellaBand.com==for unsigned artists to raise funds, bypassing the labels. Kickstarter=to fund creativity in art, journalism, solar energy or anything else.

Crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing is seeking ideas, solutions, products, and services from

the crowd—that is everyone on the internet. It enables all businesses or individuals to find talents, skills, ideas,

solutions, and services globally. Crowdfunding and crowdsourcing are examples of a new kind of

economy. In this globalized economy traditional geographical and organizational barriers are removed. Individuals can raise capital and get ideas from people around the globe. P. 66

A Shift of Mindset: From Finding Jobs to Creating Jobs Attractiveness of traditionally defined jobs of 40 hours a week for 40

years is gradually and steadily decreasing. The idea of job security and life-time employment is largely urban myth Long-term employment with one employer in US never existed for

majority of population. Only about 10% of Americans had jobs that lasted 20 or more years

according to research by Employee Benefits Research Institute during period from 1983 to 2008. P. 67

Median job tenure for lowest age group (25-34) has been hovering around two years since 1960s and about 9 years for the highest for those aged 55 to 64.

Median for all age groups is about 4 years—not just in US p. 67 Many of benefits of working with large corporations have disappeared.

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Labor unions –only 11.9% of American wage and salary workers belonged to union, down from over 20% in 2983. Most of the union members were public sector workers. Only 6.9% of private sector workers belonged to a union.

For the Millennial generations they have few expectations upon entering workforce. They are content as long as they can keep their position until the next round of downsizing. Changing jobs has become the new norm. p. 69

Missing Link: Lack of Entrepreneurial Spirit We have an educational tradition that has been focused on producing

employees who are taught to look for jobs and wait for orders. We have not encouraged people to be entrepreneurs.

Chapter 3 What Makes an EntrepreneurThe Entrepreneurial Spirit

Different Forms of Entrepreneurship: redefining entrepreneursDefinition of Entrepreneur:--simply someone who creates a job of employment for him or herself. Social Entrepreneurs

Aims to create social values, benefits to society, rather than financial. P. 78

Intrapreneurs Do not manage a business. Can be an employee of a corporation e.g.

man who created Post-it notes, Art Fry and Spencer Silver, who worked for 3M.

Policy Entrepreneurs Innovators in public policy and management to maximize value of public

services

What Makes an Entrepreneur: Entrepreneurial Spirit Captures “inspiration, creativity, direct action, courage, and fortitude. P Martin & Oberg, in Zhao, p. 81. Also takes alertness to opportunities, foresight, ambition, passion, confidence, innovation, risk taker, creativity, social networker, and persistence (Kent, Rabbior in Zhao, kp. 83)

Where do Entrepreneurs come from: Born or Made? Entrepreneurs are both made and born or are neither born nor made. In other

words, even if someone is born with the propensity for entrepreneurship, that potential cannot be materialized or at least reduced in an environment that does not trigger or discourages entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurial Activity Gap: Necessity vs. Opportunity. Theoretically, the %age of people born with an entrepreneurial spirit should be

distributed equally among populations but that isn’t true. Innovation-driven Entrepreneurial spirit is higher in countries that are more

developed. In countries such as sub-Saharan, the entrepreneurship is factor driven in subsistence agriculture and extraction of natural resources.

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Efficiency-driven entrepreneurship is in countries such as China, Russia, Brazil where entrepreneurship improves efficiency of production

Why the difference? In poor countries entrepreneurship is result of necessity, rather than opportunity. P. 88

Entrepreneurial Spirit Gap Poverty and necessity is great motivator but other things contribute to

entrepreneurship such as rule of law, healthy financing system, availability of capital, and general economic policy.

Cultural factors such as social status of entrep. [I’m going to abbreviate. It’s a long, and obnoxious word to type. Note mine] and attitudes toward entrep also affect the level of entrep. Activities. P. 92

There are clearly gaps among countries, some of which is genetics and some due to experiences, perhaps more due to experiences than experiences. P. 92

Cultivating Entrepreneurs: Enterep. Education? When we are missing something we always try to add it to schools. However,

mandating that students take an entrep. class has not evidence that it will make a difference.

In fact, what schools CAN do is stop stifling creativity by discouraging those who are different and therefore STOP decreasing self-confidence which is crucial in developing entrep. p. 95

Chapter 4: Achievement Gap vs. Entrepreneurship Gap; The Myth of Education Giants

China has announced that they want need 1400 Steve Josses in 5 years. However, the education system which demands conformity and rote memorization and the culture cannot produce such a creative force. Pp. 100-102

Although China is # 1 in PISA scores, Steve Jobs could not have done what he did had he lived there because he would have been relegated to a 3rd class education and low-class job.

Singapore Puzzle: Education Giant, Entrepreneurial Dwarf Again conformity is key but no entrepreneurs do not develop

Inverse relationship between test scores and Entrepreneurship Activities Other Asian countries such as Korea and Japan also have inverse

relationship. Correlation does not mean causality. We cannot say that lower

entrepreneurship activity causes high test scores or vice versa. The negative relationship can happen in a # of ways

o By accidento Relationship could be causal but direction not determinedo Or there is a relationship but it isn’t causal. Instead both are

results of same causes

Could Schooling Harm Entrepreneurship The interpretation that there is no relationship could be true but is

unlikely for a # of reasons

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o Statistic significance is so strong that it indicates the chance of a relationship being accidental is very low.

o The significant relations show up too often to render them accidental

o The differences in test scores across different countries are the result of education or education-related practices. If these factors affect a person’s academic ability, it should have an impact on other qualities of the same person—cognitive, emotional, and psychological which are traits needed for entre.

o Additional data suggest that entrep activity is related to schooling. p. 107

Logical interpretation=there are some factors that help raise the PISA scores and lower entrep. activities.

Such factors to succeed are the degree of fear of failure, how entrep is regarded as a career choice, whether entrep. enjoy high status, and how much media attention is paid to entrep. p. 109

Students who have high achievement in some conforming countries see this as the only way for job/career advancement e.g. in China.

Another interpretation is that the efforts to pursue acad. achievement may hamper entrep. qualities.

Contrast between Finland and Asian countries—Finland does not test except at matriculation and does not promote rote memorization. [Shouldn’t we be eliminating some tests too? NOTE MINE] Primary aim of Finnish education is to develop a child as thinking, active, creative person, not someone who has high test scores.

Aren’t entrep. activities more of a worthy goal that high test scores?? P. 111

Loss of Confidence: One cost of High scores? Entrep spirit needs confidence and creativity. If people are afraid of

failure, there confidence is low. If one is pushed to acad. attainment at the cost of all other activities, confidence is low and entrep. spirit is diminished. P. 113

Superior test scores do not result in more creative entrepreneurs. On the contrary it may hamper the development.

Loss of confidence is one way that educ. can hamper entrep. spirit which is needed to create jobs.

Chapter 5 China vs. the US: How the Best Education Stifles the Entrep. Spirit

As US looks to China for more time in school, longer days and years, China is passing laws restricting the time for kids in school because their children are not developing social skills, skills in other areas besides academics, and are not promoting creativity. Pp. 120-122

The Excellent Education that Hurts: The Case of ChinaChinese realize that what helps them achieve high test scores, creates the shortage of creative and entrepreneurial titans like Steve Jobs. P. 122

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Open Secrets of China’s Academic Excellence: Focus, Hard Work, and Testing

Push in Chinese education has been to prepare students to score high on college entrance exams because attending college has been virtually the only way for upward social mobility

They have a saying “everything is of low value, only book-reading is of high value. P. 123.

Kids have no time for anything else. Homework is such a burden that many local authorities have stipulated a maximum amount of homework. P. 125

What Happened to the Creative and Entrep. Talented? China now trying to invest in research and development, as well as

cultivating innovation and entrepreneurship. They recognize that the extreme focus on education means that nothing

outside acad. excellence is of value. P. 126 They also know that some creative and entrep. talents are sorted out

because they do not fit acad. requirement. P. 127 They also recognize that the focus on acad. removes curiosity, stifles

creativity, and suppresses entrep. impulses. P. 128 If always engaged in aced, students don’t have much time for socializing

or engaging in team activities that allow students the opportunity to learn to fail, to interact with others, to develop one’s identity, to understand one’s interests, and to develop social skills. P. 128

Extreme emphasis also creates a sense of competition with peers and children may internalize a sense of inferiority if they are not THE top and eventually children lose self-confidence. P. 129

Journey to the West: China’s Admiration of Am. Educe China looks at US that has most Nobel laureates, dominated in # of

modern-day innovations and seen the birth of the largest collection of influential entrep.

They see Am educ as respecting the child, tolerating individual differences, and not attempting to impart abstract prescribed knowledge in the child. P. 131

In China young children do not do research as in US. Research is only for experts. P. 132

As Common Core stds movement accomplishes its goal, American will have lost what Chinese envy and admire. [THEN WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? NOTE MINE]

A Sausage Machine that also makes baconCase of Am. Educe

US Econ. Is 3x as large as 2nd largest econ in the world, China, which has 4 times the population.

US educ has not been as good as Chinese educ. in killing creativity and entrep. spirit.

US students do not spend all their time studying prescribed curriculum and have time to pursue other interests including social activities and

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“play time” to learn to fail, and manage relationships, be responsible and be independent. P. 135-6

NO FREE LUNCHThe Side Effects of Educ.

When students are allowed freedom to explore, they may question what they are asked to learn and may decide not to comply.

If we spend more time and $ on testing, we will have the side effect of having fewer resources for other things that may be more creative.

Question is: Do we want individuals who are good at taking tests or individuals who are creative and entrepreneurial??? P. 139

Even the best schools do not prepare students for what is needed in the new era. To prepare the talents we need, we cannot count on accidents or side effects; we must work toward a paradigm shift. P. 140[Underlining mine]

Chapter 6 From Accident to Design: A Paradigm Shift

Throughout history, there are many stories of exceptional individuals and they are some sort of “drop-out”.—Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Michael Dell (Dell computers), Larry Ellison (Oracle), Mark Zuckerberg. [Where are the women??? NOTE MINE. Plus, there is a wonderful book Cradles of Eminence which analyzed the people for whom there were biographies in a New Jersey public library. Three out of every five had difficulty in school. My fear is that there is even less room for such divergence in our current system and we are going to even greater narrowing of the experience. NOTE MINE]

DOMINANT PARADIGM:Preparing Employees:

At present, dominant educ. paradigm is to prepare individuals to find gainful employment in the current economy and to fit existing society.

Prescribing Learning To educate population with prescribed curriculum, which is what we are

doing now, I dictates what students are exposed to in form of textbooks, classroom instruction, assessments, and homework. P. 147

Making it Work: Executing the Curriculum Standards around materials are developed to make sure prescribed

content is prominent in the school life. Teachers trained accordingly and tests administered to assess how well this prescribed curr. Is learned.

Master Plan for Success This plan resembles a benevolent dictator who says if you follow his

commands, HE will reward you. P. 148 In essence, the trad. paradigm or the employment-oriented paradigm is

about reducing human diversity into a few desirable skills. It produces people with similar skills and conformity, indicated by test scores or acad. performance.

Am educ in the past has required less conformity and has had success in creativity as the outcome of its ineffectiveness in forcing conformity and

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standardization. It has more room for outcasts to survive, and such room results in lower performance on single measures such as test scores

A Necessity that No longer works It is increasingly difficult to predict the future. We can no longer

prescribe the knowledge and skills children may need for future careers and employment. To say that students will be “career ready” is but a fancy dream, when one does not know what careers will exist when a child leaves school. p. 151

Opportunities for different talents is expanding dramatically which requires a paradigm shift—from one that prepares employees to one that cultivates innovative entrepreneurs so creative entrepreneurs are not simply an accidental outcome but the result of deliberate design. P. 151 [Underlining mine]

ALTERNATIVE PARADIGMFollowing the Child

In the new paradigm the curr. follows the child—what they are interest in, what excites them, what they are capable of, and how they learn. Does not assume all children are the same; therefore, it does not impose artificial standards or age-based, grade-level expectations.

It helps children move forward from where they are. It does not believe children are simply empty vessels ready to be filled

with knowledge, but rather it assumes that each child is a purposeful agent who actively interacts with the outside world. P. 152

Enhancing and expanding Human Talents: Follow the Child Aims to guide, support, and celebrate individual students rather than

reducing human diversity into a few employable skills. Designed to enhance and expand human talents and exceptionality

instead of standardizing them. Outcasts are the new normal in this paradigm Creative people are not accidents, but are deliberately cultivated and

supported There is still common and essential knowledge and skills that are required

of all citizens in order for a society and community to function. But this capitalizes on the child’s internal motivation to find reason to learn the “basics.’”

New Paradigm recognizes arrival of era of globalization. Children not confined to isolated society and their context for learning is not confined to a physical location.

The global society is the default context of learning. p. 153

An Old Idea that Gets New Life The idea is not new—Rousseau advocated this more than 200 years ago.

“ I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.” From Emile as quoted in Zhao p. 154

For 200 years some have been advocating child-centered educ. E.g. Friedrich Froebel for example.

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How Children Learn Starting with Piaget and Vygotsky, the last century saw a

“constructivism” revolution in learning theory. Steven Pinker of Harvard has brought evidence that human beings are

NOT blank slates. Howard Gardner and Robert Stenberg have challenged narrow view of

human intelligence. We know that children:

o are born with curiosity and ability to learno are not born with exactly the same capacities for learning the

same thingso come to school with diff. levels of cognitive, emotional, physical,

and social development due to a combination of nature and nurture

o come to school with diff. needs, interests, and abilitieso active learners with unique needso should bear resp. of learningo learn best when intrinsically motivatedo are motivated when respected, encouraged, and exposed to

opportunities that capture their interest, build on their previous experience, and are recognized for their accomplishment. P. 155

Grand Experiments John Dewey founded lab schools, Maria Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio

Emilia, Summerhill, Albany Free School.—all innovators in education

ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACKWARDIncomplete Shift

However, schools that are child-centered still remain on the fringe p. 157 Worse yet, we are moving backward with NCLB, Race to the Top,

Common Core. Today educ is become more authoritarian and dictatorial as authorities

around the world bring more prescription to education.[So why don’t we stop? We know what should be done. Why don’t we educators stand up and speak out and say this is not what our kids need?? NOTE MINE]

EVOLUTIONARY HANGOVERS AND THE CHALLENGES OF CHANGEIf we know all of this, why don’t we change?Evolutionary Hangovers

Things that once served a purpose but have outlived their usefulness are hard for humans to give up. Eating a lot of sugar and fat for example when people needed extra calories but that is no longer true. P. 159

It is difficult for us to give up what we know as educ because we still have the desire for orderliness, control, competitive advantage, and short-term or immediate tangible results. P. 160

Appeals of traditional Paradigm Trad paradigm gives us sense of order and control. P. 160 Appeals to parents because it puts forth clear path to success which is

often defined externally by society.

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Satisfies needs to compete and compare with others because it reduces educ. To few simple measured outcomes—test scores. Even though Stephen Jay Gould, from Harvard debunks the myth of biological determinism in human mentality and reduction of human intellectual capacity to simplistic measures such as IQ in his book Mismeasure of Man.

By reducing educ to simple indicators—grades and test scores—we give the public a shorthand to size up where their children and schools are compared to others. P. 162.

Another reason we hang on to this is that we are unable to perceive large and distant changes because we look for short-term outcomes and seek immediate gratification. P. 162

We need a paradigm shift, not a fix of the traditional model. [Sir Ken Robinson says the same. We must TRANSform because REforming means we are trying to fix a broken model. NOTE MINE}

Chapter 7: Freedom to LearnStudent Autonomy and Leadership

At the heart of the issue is who should be in control of children’s learning—gov’t or families/children. P. 168

Summerhill School is a great case study. Pp. 166-171The Summerhill spirit needs to move from the fringe to the core, from alternative to the mainstream because it embodies part of the answer to the urgent challenges educ faces today. P. 171

ENGAGEMENTShifting the Responsibility to the Learner

Allowing children to be responsible for their learning and pursue their interests is when they stay truly engaged.

Engaged students do not drop out. Summerhill acad. achievement is above the nat’l avg. and the students

are engaged. P. 173

INITIATIVE AND CREATIVITYCultivating the Entrepreneurial Spirit

Allowing students the freedom to choose what to do in school helps children learn to take initiatives, a necessary quality of the entrep. spirit. P. 173 And when they do what they want to do, they have commitment.

Choosing also promotes creativity. Children are naturally curious. When trad. schools demand conformity and obedience we see teachers

and students who are more cautious and less innovative. P. 174.

STENGTH AND EXCEPTIONAL TALENTPursuing One’s Passion

Giving students freedom allows them to discover and pursue their strengths and preserves exceptional talents who may not meet externally defined standards.

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Creative entrep. are passionate individuals who capitalize on their strengths rather than spending time making up for their weaknesses.

It comes from the freedom to be individuals. P. 175

ENVIRONMENTConstraints and affordances

Giving students freedom does not mean that adults in school have nothing to do or have given up their educ. responsibilities; neither does it mean that adults exercise no influence on children.

On the contrary, this new paradigm presents even more challenges to school leaders and teachers because their primary responsibilities have shifted from instilling the prescribed content in students following well-established procedures in a structured fashion to developing an educ. Environment that affords children the opportunities to live a meaningful and engaging educ. life. P. 176

A sound educ environment should have at least 3 interconnected elements

o Safe, healthy aesthetically appealing, and inviting physical environment

o Engaging, friendly, and supportive social-emotional environmento Rich, stimulating, and diverse cognitive environment.

These attributes are necessary in a trad. setting too but what is different is that the trad. is about transmitting prescribed content, standardization but in the new paradigm it’s about expanding and enhancing what children are interest in and want to be good at and thus is built to accommodate and support. The characteristics that separate the two lie in 3 areas: diversity, structure and organization, and agency. 1. Diversity: Richness and complexity of environ have significant impact

on brain dev. Animals exposed to complex environments outperform those in impoverished environments. P. 177 Rich environment means having flexible space for group and ind. work. Also need different types of cognitive activities—e.g. the arts. Need a diverse group of adult role models as well and should involve the talents from outside the school

2. Structure and Organization: Flexibility of time, and resources. Allow for personalization and freedom for children to self-select and infrastructure to assist children personalize their learning and understand the consequences of different experiences. P.181

3. Agency: This is biggest difference from traditional. In new paradigm children actively participate in constructing the environment in governing the setting, and share their voices in school reform as active members of the school community. They are an integral part of the school environment and are actively involved in shaping the experience. P. 184.

SUMMARY Freedom to learn and authentic student leadership constitute the first

fundamental principle of the new educ. paradigm Schools must:

o Provide a broad spectrum of experiences

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o Allow flexibility and exceptionso Enable personalization of educ experienceso Involve students as decision makers

Chapter 8Product-Oriented Learning: Works that Matter

High Tech High with principal Larry Rosenstock is example of such a change of paradigm pp. 189-192 Doesn’t even offer AP. Students chosen by lottery.

LEARNING BY MAKINGConstructionism and Project-Based Learning

Learning by doing not new—goes back to John Dewey. Seymour Papert, inventor of computer language Logo

More common with use of technology. Really enacted at High Tech High PBL is ultimately what this book is about: creative global entrepreneurs.

P. 195

GOOD, BAD, AND UGLYMany Faces of Project-Based Learning: 3 models

Academic: Intention is to teach content and skills. Seen as more effective way to teach prescribed content and skills which drive the project. The products are motivators to learn. The teacher has control over what is to be taught and how the project is evaluated. This is the model most frequently used in school’s today

Mixed Model:--values the artifacts but prescribes the academic content. End products must be of high quality and are usually consumed by an authentic audience beyond high school. The externally prescribed standards are not ignored but they are not the starting point. The teachers are in control of the project but students are given varying degrees of freedom. Setting can be a trad.. classroom but may be a combination of the classroom, facilities, digital media lab, etc. This model doesn’t happen in today’s schools very much because it requires transformation at the school level. This is about developing real world skills.

Entrepreneurial Model: builds on mixed model but aims to cultivate entrep. spirit and skills with more emphasis on artifacts, the end products or services. They must be of high quality and have appeal to an external audience: customers. Students are more in control of project. The teacher serves as the “venture capitalist” who helps decide if project is needed and feasible. This may require a platform and culture at school level. Intended to develop and celebrate ind. talents, creativity, and entry. spirit

PROCESS OF PRODUCT-ORIENTED LEARNINGCreating Works that Matter

Entrep. is about inventing a solution to an existing problem or creating a product or service to meet a need. It is about creating works that matter.

Identify Needs

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Alertness is one element of entrep. It is essential to help students develop a habit of looking for and the ability to seek opportunities. Teachers help by identifying an issue

Come up with an idea Ideas can come from many sources and some may take time to develop.

This is where a teacher can really help facilitate the process

Assess Strengths and Resources Once a need is identified, an entrep. needs to assess whether they have

the capacity and resources to meet the need. This is essentially a process of identifying one’s strengths and

weaknesses and identifying strengths and weaknesses of others that may help.

Convince Someone Entrep. need to convince others of the value of their products or services.

Make the Product/Service May have to make multiple copies. Marketing is stage of learning marketing skills and tools

Post-Product Mgmt and Maintenance Takes students away from passive consumer roles into active,

participatory roles. P. 120

Chapter 9The Globe is our Campus

Global Entrepreneurs and Enterprises

Examples of global entrepreneurs—Chicken Project in East Cape, South African and oxford Community Schools in Cameroon are examples of students becoming global entrepreneurs

Opportunities Provided by Globalization for jobs and entrepreneurs Global Market with Local Needs

Entrepreneurs will take local needs into consideration, in spite of the fact that there can be a global market

World of Investors Just as in crowdfunding, one can put ideas out there for possible funding

from around the world. The challenge is to have the ability to convince others to make the investment.

World of Ideas and Solutions Crowdsourcing a way to get ideas from around the world [I receive a

newsletter from Ray Kurzweil and in that a man put a request out there for information about his cancer and he is getting information about his illness from around the globe. NOTE MINE]

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Can also get ideas from social networking as well. This requires the ability to manage ideas and talents globally and virtually.

A World of Partners Crowdsourcing may provide temporary assistance but partners can be

formed from around the world. It’s challenging to understand and manage cultural differences, different

expectations and different ways of conducing business. Schools aiming to help cultivate global enterp will need to create

opportunities for students to develop understanding and acceptance of differences. P. 221

Elements of Entrepreneurial Global Competency There are several definitions of global competency

o Swiss Consulting Group—“capacity of an individual or a team to parachute into any country to get the job done while respecting cultural pathways.

o “Reimers, “knowledge and skills that help people understand the flat world in which they live, the skills to integrate across disciplinary domains to comprehend global affairs and events and to create possibilities to address them. Global competencies are also the attitudinal and ethical dispositions that make it possible to interact peacefully, respectfully and productively with fellow human beings from diverse geographies. “ p. 222

o Bill Hunter and associates “having an open mind while actively seeking to understand cultural norms and expectations of others, leveraging this gained knowledge to interact, communicate and work effectively outside one’s environment. “ p. 222

o U of WI says that universities need to provide “the skills, knowledge, and attitude to work effectively in our increasingly interdependent world” p. 222

o Definitions differ because different competencies are needed for different purposes.

Global Problems as Enterprising Opportunities Tremendous problems also provide tremendous opportunities, depending

on one’s perspective

Understanding Relative Strengths and Weaknesses of Different Groups Different communities have different strengths and weaknesses. A global

citizen needs to appraise these differences. P. 224Having a Global Network of Friends

Networking important part of “innovator’s DNA” . Now we can have friends in a global network to provide access to resources, insider views of a community, and nuanced knowledge about a culture. P. 224

Developing a High Level of Cultural Intelligence Now a term called CQ—Cultural intelligence—which is needed in

multinational corporations and business schools.

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There is a Handbook of Cultural Intelligence published in 2008 written by Ang and Dyne.

Those with CQ must be able to work with partners from different cultures C Q includes:

o Metacognitive CQ—conscious awareness during cross-cultural interactions

o Cognitive CQ—knowledge of norms, practices, and conventions in different cultures

o Motivational CQ—capability to direct attention and energy toward learning and functioning in cross-cultural settings

o Behavioral CQ—ability to exhibit appropriate verbal and nonverbal actions in interactions with people from different cultures.

CULTIVATING ENTREPRENEURIAL GLOBAL COMPETENCYSchools as Global Enterprises

Schools can be engaged in global entrepreneurship and think beyond their borders

Make Products and Create Services for Others Can engage students in authentic interactions with potential consumers from

around the world. Ideas for products and services can be generated through global interactions

Build a Global Network of Partners Schools can collaborate around the world to be both consumers and suppliers.

Provide Foreign Experiences and Study/Work Abroad Study abroad and service learning abroad are possible ways to provide students

with programs than can provide students with opportunities to experience being a foreigner.

Teach Foreign Languages and Which Language Being able to communicate in another language is a true asset for the future

global entrepreneur Google Translate can do the mechanics but not the human touch. P. 230 Proficiency in a foreign lang. takes tremendous effort and time. Bilingual immersion is one way to offer languages Which language? Learning any language is a valuable asset. There is no magical formula to make a prediction about which language will be

most necessary in the future because the future is changing so quickly. But look at 1) size of native population that speak it 2) importance of the economy where the language is spoken, 3) geographical, political, and historical proximity to target language—closer it is the more likely one is to be able to use it.

Chapter 10Create a World Class Education

Principles and IndicatorsThere are getting to be more challenges to the Common Core. Even Arne Duncan seems to have changed his language around their adoption. P. 236 George Will

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challenges the legality of the federal Dept of Ed actions to push Common Core as “….in its most extreme form [it is] national control of ideas.” P. 236

But we must move away from employment-oriented education to the new paradigm.

TRIAD MODEL OF EDUCATION FOR GLOBAL CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURSSummerhill and Autonomy: The What

Summerhill and others have already proven that following and supporting the children’s passions and interest produces competent, responsible, passionate, productive, and happy citizens.

Agriculture and mass production needed many workers with similar skills which were routine, standard, and basic

As technology and economic globalization make traditional lines of jobs obsolete and economy is increasingly driven by knowledge and creativity, we will need people with talents and skills beyond standard and basic. They need to be great.

Daniel Coyle in his book The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born, It’s Grow. Here’s How says it comes from hours of practice with master coaching.

We need people who are confident, curious, and creative. Creators cannot be planned, predetermined, or standardized. They must e allowed the freedom and encouraged to wonder and wander, to explore, and to experience. They need autonomy. P. 239

High Tech High and Product –Oriented Learning: The How High tech High has been encouraging students to produce books, videos, and

art through which they learn what they need to know for college and career HTH has an environment where students own the school and are happily

engaged in works that matter. The learner is not the recipient but is the creator and provider Teacher is no longer the sole source of knowledge or disciplinary authority but is

a motivator, reviewer, facilitator, and organizers. Problems become opportunities—they become challenges An acute sense of other people’s needs helps develop alertness to opportunities Have to know strengths and weaknesses of self and community Need perseverance and discipline—Entrepreneurship helps the learner to

develop resilience and perseverance before failure. p. 241

Cherwell and Oxford Community Schools and Global Enterprises: The Where Sad irony in educ. reforms around the world today. While reformers intend to

prepare their students to be globally competent, they are actually closing their doors to the outside world because they want their students to focus on the core academics and raise test scores on int’l tests.

Fortunately, we have schools like Cherwell in England and Oxford in US who have taken the bold step to make the globe their campus.

Schools need to prepare students to have a global perspective, engage global partners, and be competent globally. P. 241-2.

A WORLD CLASS SCHOOLIndicators: Apart from those already mentioned, here are some more to emphasize

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Student voice: governance and environment. Students have the right and opportunity to participate in school governance and construction of physical space, social, and cognitive environment.

Student Choice: Broad and Flexible Curriculum. Have certain freedom to explore, experience and experiment. P. 246

Student Support: Personalization and Mentoring. Sufficient and easily accessible emotional, social, and cognitive support for student to personalize their learning. Mentoring and advising are essential elements

Authentic Products —Authenticity of student work is a key indicator of the Product-oriented learning experience. Authentic learning is defined by the degree to which the final product or serves a genuine purpose, solves a real problem, meets a genuine need of others, or is personally meaningful.

Sustained and Disciplined Process : Multiple Drafts and Review. High quality products need multiple drafts and review. Mistakes are important

Strength-Based: unique and local. Emphasizes local strengths and builds upon them

Global Orientation: Int’l Partners and Opportunities: must operate globally and make connections around the world

Global Competence: Foreign Languages and Cultures. Need the ability to interact with others in different cultures. General cultural intelligence and a proficiency in a foreign language are generally accepted indicators of global competence. P. 249

WHAT ABOUT THE BASICSAlthough this may seem messy, basics still important,

If basics are truly basic, that is essential, they are unavoidable in the students’ pursuit of making great products. They must e able to read and do math.

2nd, children learn more and better when they are interested and engaged. In this new paradigm basics are sough after rather than imposed upon.

Third, there is plenty of empirical evidence that in democratic schools, children graduate with excellent basics and much more. P. 250

CREATING A WORLD CLASS EDUCATION FOR THE WORLDRecommendations—Need collective approach to obstaclesObstacles—

1. Old Definition of Success—Have to change idea that success is measured by external measures and agencies. Stop pushing for common stds, common assessments, and ranking of students, teachers, and schools within an education system or internationally.

2. Existing Education Bureaucracy—Although intention that started various elements of this bureaucracy may be well justified, they have evolved to watch out for their own interest and self-survival instead of the interest of children. There are also tremendous political and financial interests invested to keep bureaucracy going. Flaw is that they are too organized because “Bureaucracy can’t teach. Philip Howard p. 241-3 Must change to stimulate innovations and allow educators to educate instead of turning them into bureaucrats as well.

3. Preparation of Educators—currently, visionary, courageous, innovative, and entrepreneurial leaders are discouraged and feel compelled to follow rules and

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comply with standards. We need to view teachers as leaders in a school community

Opportunities: Education has tremendous opportunities brought about by technological

changes and globalization but concentration on standards has not allowed us the opportunity to re-imagine and re-create.

Technology—We haven’t used it to its full ability because we are too worried about preparing for tests. Need to use it to create new paradigm of education and make global connections. p. 253

Globalization—Unfortunately, we have interpreted competitiveness as ranking on int’l test scores, instead of using it as way to engage people from around the world. We haven’t taken advantage of the access to other ideas and cultures as we could have.

END OF EDUCATION. Dominant discourse is still around curriculum stds, teacher effectiveness, better

assessment, charter schools, data-driven instruction etc. Politicians and businessmen have worked to make better schools, not better education for children.

This book is about the human dimension. It is about respecting children as human beings, and about supporting, not suppressing, their passion, curiosity, and talent. If schools can do just that, our children will become global, creative, and entrepreneurial.

Hargreaves & Shirley, 2009 in Zhao, said “What is needed in the future is the enhancement of what comes with us as human.” P. 256

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