An autistic view of education - Temple Grandin (university, middle school, paying)

[nana053]

The Frustrated Teacher: Temple Grandin On Education, Among Other Things

[lhpartridge]

This is very interesting. I'd never heard of TED. I can't wait to see what all is on it. I'm going to look at the Salman Khan video next.

When I first learned about Temple Grandin, I realized that I think in pictures too. I think I'm one of the pattern thinkers that she described. I proudly claim to be a nerd, and my nerdy and geeky students get validation. I think that the loss of a generation of shop and other applied arts classes will be noticeable more as the young people start homes of their own and realize that they don't know how to do basic tasks.

It seems that the problem arose when the social, argumentative, legalistic sort got hold of education and made everyone have to prepare like they did. Probably twenty percent of our students would choose to learn a trade and get certification at graduation, but our system's vocational program can only handle a handful from each school.

Something is seriously wrong when I had to tell two students last year that you can't study auto mechanics in a four-year university. They both wanted to play sports at a four-year school, but they didn't know the difference between a trade school and a university. They were the kind of kids who need to be allowed to begin learning about cars in middle school. That's something that they can get excited about.

Grandin also talked about students who need to learn geometry and trig before algebra. It occurred to me that once upon a time in Greece, children learned geometry as a competitive activity. Geometry and trig lend themselves to pictures. Then introduce other concepts using string art, another way to use pictures in math. That's what the middle school children were doing in England when I first visited my family there at age 10. I was very envious.

I wonder what schools would look like if Temple Grandin designed them using the same techniques that she uses for animals. I think it sounds worse than it would be. I think she would do a splendid job.

[DewDropInn]

Thanks for posting that, Nana. Minds like her's (and people like her) are such an untapped resource. It's a pity we're not paying more attention.