IMPROVE EDUCATION BY GETTING RID OF THE IBM-MENTALITY
In between teaching stints I did training for several Fortune 1000 high-tech companies for almost twenty years. That experience enabled me to work with IBM employees at IBM facilities which was a very enlightening experience. I learned that many IBMers have an elitist attitude that “if you do not work for IBM or never worked for IBM you can’t teach me anythingâ€! In my view, this close-minded attitude holds institutions back and prevents innovative ideas and solutions from being considered. Unfortunately, I sense the same elitist attitude today in Education. We have so many critical problems, including; college and career readiness, closing achievement gaps, sky-rocketing Special Education costs, costly dropping out and chronic absenteeism that need to be remedied. Unfortunately, Educational Leaders are not considering proven effective pedagogical solutions to help solve these problems, develop better life-long learners and more productive citizens. It’s time to become more ‘open-minded’ and willing to consider time-tested technology like SQ3R-based learning strategies to transform students’ lives like this.
