#031 - Weekly Roundup: The Most-Watched Lesson Never Learned

Welcome back to the weekly edition of OpenEd Daily (wait… is that an Oxymoron?).

Yesterday, we switched to a more digestible newsletter format that you can scan and enjoy (or skim and ignore): one thought, one trend, one tool (and one bonus).

We hope you like it! Now for a look back at the week that was…

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💡 THOUGHT

The Most-Watched Lesson Never Learned

It's been 18 years since Sir Ken Robinson delivered his famous “mic-drop moment” on the TED stage, asking whether schools kill creativity (tl;dr: yes).

The video just passed 100M views, and while Sir Ken passed away in 2020, we can’t help but wonder what he’d think of the top comments on YouTube. Every few years, another viewer laments how little has changed despite the widespread recognition that the current system conditions kids out of their innate creativity.

How could Robinson's remarks receive such a thunderous ovation in 2007 – both on stage and reverberating to the present on the internet – yet have so little effect on the educational system? Read our take here.

📊 TREND

Old School, New School, Unschool, Worldschool

Let’s review a few of the trends we’ve been covering recently:

• Microschools, founded by parents or teachers seeking more adaptable learning environments, are proliferating. (And no, contrary to Zoolander’s belief, they are not schools for ants.)

• Worldschooling is technically defined as full-time or part-time travel away from the family's home country, but we think it includes any approach that turns the outside world into a classroom.

• Unschooling – an approach that lets kids pursue their passions and learn through real-life experiences. Not to be confused with…

• Deschooling – a process of unlearning that lessons a society’s dependence on traditional schooling.

Take note! There may be a quiz next week.

🔨 TOOL

The Via Negativa (subtractive method)

In this week’s podcast, Isaac shares how he thinks about tailoring his own kids’ education – not by throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks, but by removing what’s not working until all that’s left is what’s right for the child:

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Philosophers call this the “via negative” – or the art of what not to do. We consider it one of the 5 main “first principles” or building blocks of open education.

Watch the podcast and submit your most pressing questions via Facebook for our upcoming Q&A series.

(QUOTE) OF THE DAY

Agree or disagree?

That’s all for this week - have a great weekend!

– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)

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