Passive Learners

I should link to more of Will's more enthusiastic posts too, instead of pulling out his minor crises of faith, which tend to be caused by the tension between the demands of the education system and the potential he sees for real learning:

"And, luckily, we've learned to love learning. Our kids, unfortunately, are still dependent learners for the most part. They're dependent on an educational system that force feeds them a prescribed curriculum in order that they can pass a high stakes assessment that certifies them as being 'educated.' They're dependent on us to decide what is important for them to learn and what isn't. Our system enables them, in the worst sense of the word, to become passive learners for the most part, because passive assessments are what determine both our students' and our schools' fates."

Will and others in his network are real change agents within the system, moving a giant dinosaur towards authentic learning through new kinds of connections and interaction -- but it must be frustrating to see how slow things are changing, especially when the old-schoolers keep throwing up obstacles.