the prize...

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave 100 million dollars to the Newark New Jersey school district to reform education. There seems to be no amount of money that would actually do that, since money is generally allocated from the top down. Administrators get their need for self-actualization fulfilled by "assembling teams" and writing policy. On the other hand, artists and craftsmen shape the world in more direct ways, and the direction of American education must not be writ large, but written in the smallest of details, with the empowerment and self-actualization placed in the hands of teachers, students and parents.  

The Prize, by author Dale Russakoff  tells what went wrong with Newark and the ultimate waste of Zuckerberg's gift. When will someone tell the story of how to make things go right?

New York Times columnist reviews Russakoff's book here.

It is unlikely that educators (having been academically educated) will suddenly awaken to the hands as their greatest educational resource. The pendulum on that continues to swing in the wrong direction despite the rise of the maker movement and STEM education.

In the meantime, I've been finishing the last step-by-step  photos for Tiny Boxes, and had to re-design my method of shaping the lids for business card boxes. I made a jig for it.

Make, fix, create and encourage others to learn likewise.