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Pedagogy - a word rarely used. And in our age of achievement testing, a bit of a lost art.
For nearly 15 years I have been a professor in the university system. I
guess by now I cease to be annoyed by the students who approach school
like an obstacle course: hurdles they need to crawl under or jump over
in order to achieve the grade they want.
I make it my personal challenge each semester to inspire these
students to love the process of learning. I tell them that they soon
will enter a world of work that will value individuals who can apply
intelligence and emotional tools to evolving environments. Memorizing a
set of data or mastering a skill has a value, to be sure. In the 21st
century, however, a law of diminishing returns immediately kicks in to
depreciate the value of those personal assets. It jars my students -
who obsess over the major of study they should choose - when I
proclaim, "It really doesn't matter what you study, but it does matter
immensely that you study with curiosity and passion."
At this point, I imagine more than a few parents with teenagers roll
their eyes and mutter, "If only." They would be content to get their
kids to complete their homework, and do so in a way that does not feel
like pulling their teeth. If this battleground scene sounds all too
familiar, your teen sounds like a good candidate this summer for a
SuperCamp.
A good friend recently introduced me to Bobbi DePorter, who started
the SuperCamps over 25 years ago and continues to run them as part of
her Quantum Learning Network.
More than 43,000 youth are now graduates of her camps that focus on
learning and life skills. The camps operate in 10 countries and take
place on top-grade university campuses - Stanford University and the
Claremont Colleges host the camps in California - across the United
States.
"Most young people are not taught to learn effectively," Ms.
DePorter told me over the phone this past week. "They do not understand
how to discover their strengths, pursue goals, make decisions, solve
problems and resolve conflicts," she added.
Ms. DePorter launched the SuperCamps to give kids confidence to
develop and follow their own interests and curiosities. Over a 10-day
SuperCamp experience, youth learn better strategies for reading,
writing, public speaking, memorizing, note-taking and test-taking.
Sounds like an intensive summer school, doesn't it? Yet kids want to
keep coming back. The SuperCamp experience shows that to pique a kid's
curiosity translates into a fun experience. I imagine they are inspired
once they look inside themselves and find new ways to reach out to
everything around them.
The SuperCamps engage in some bold myth-busting:
Myth: Teens waste their minds on video games. Reality: Teens decode
and create games as well as play them. SuperCamp Insight: Getting
inside video games can help teens reconsider their cognitive
boundaries.
Myth: Teens believe they are entitled to whatever they want.
Reality: Teens yearn to know how to take responsibility to earn their
success. SuperCamp Insight: Teen's struggle for independence is also a
search for ownership of their personal achievements.
I latched onto Quantum's program because it became obvious to me
that, with notable exceptions, our school system is not preparing young
people for a society of hyper-connected networks. Many parents - and
teachers - wish that young people would not be so mega-sensory oriented
and drawn to producing their own knowledge more than they are absorbing
the classics. Instead of berating youth for being wired differently,
wouldn't it be better to help them feel confident about themselves and
help them to build bridges from classical knowledge to emerging ideas?
Ms. DePorter has a big vision for her SuperCamp. Yes, she is
boosting student performance; The Wall Street Journal reports that
SuperCamp "turns so-so students into academic achievers." Yet her more
expansive dream is to set a new standard for learning and life skills
that fills the social and leadership gaps of our institutions. Helping
kids gain tools for the little things leads them to big ideas that can
change the world.
How do you think our school system needs to change to meet the challenges of the Next Reality? Share your plan:
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