Our future depends on it

We know that one of the worst things about education is boredom. As I was quoted by Matt Crawford at the start of his best selling book, Shop Class as Soulcraft, 

“In schools we create artificial learning environments for our children that they know to be contrived and undeserving of their full attention and engagement… Without the opportunity to learn through the hands, the world remains abstract, and distant, and the passions for learning will not be engaged.”

So what's the fix? Do every thing we can to interject reality into a system of education that's long been overly abstract and purposely sequestered from  the real world.

My friend Elliot Washor co-founder of the Met School in Providence, RI and the Big Picture Schools, http://bigpicture.org now around the world, has co-written a graphic novel called "Get Real, Your Future Depends on It."  https://8b839f2e-d5a0-4505-8a0f-d4b52d46e448.filesusr.com/ugd/519ff5_77b2cf539c894519ad287acf1693de92.pdf

Kids need not be stuck in boring circumstances. Schools can be enlivened. One way is to have students do real things at all levels from pre-k through college. Restore the arts, music and wood shop to their important roles in energizing the school atmosphere, and allow students to fulfill their educational responsibilities by leaving school to fulfill interests and learn through internships.

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning lifewise.