https://feedly.com/i/entry/ty+AzTYZ3TUuMuPycOdkUNamwQCXNpDbajbdLnbrc5c=_165a871ae9a:1d5562:b99eedab
6. Practical Advice
Education is complex and resists easy generalizations. That said, here are some generalizations.
On navigating school for your child:
- The brightest students do not thrive equally in every setting. Even the best students achieve more with teachers than on their own. Unless tutoring or some other private arrangement is possible, this means that a school is the best place to be for learning.
- But school right now doesn’t work for all kids. One fix: if a child wants to be accelerated and seems academically prepared for it, acceleration will usually help them.
- Most schools aren’t in the business of maximizing learning for every student, and in particular they tend to be skeptical of acceleration.
- Therefore: If your kid needs more than what school is offering, be prepared to be a nudge.
- But if you think your kid needs to be challenged more and your kid is perfectly happy in school, try really hard not to be a nudge.
- Don’t fight to move your child to a class that covers the exact same material at the exact same pace but has the word “Honors” next to it. That sort of ability grouping makes no educational difference.
- Prioritize free, open online tools. Don’t expect online tools to do the work for you or your child. Expect more distraction and less progress if online learning time is unstructured or unsupervised.
For educators:
- If you are an elementary teacher or administrator and your school is looking to try new things, consider cross-grade ability grouping by subject, especially in math and reading.
- Gifted kids are usually not equally talented in all fields. Consider options to accelerate to different levels in each subject based on demonstrated skill in that subject.
- A lot comes easily to smart kids, and sometimes they never get the chance to learn to struggle. Find something they think is hard, academic or not, so they are able to handle more important challenges later.
- If a child is bored in your class and knows the material, they probably shouldn’t be in your class.
For tech designers and users:
- If you’re making online tools, make the learning the most interesting part of them. Don’t rely on chocolate-covered broccoli or assume that just presenting the material is enough. Take the problem of motivation seriously.
- Look for passionate groups with robust communities, whether online or offline. Don’t overlook the social aspect of learning.
And for advocates of educational reform, in general:
- People almost only talk about educational efficacy. But don’t be fooled — educational debates are only sometimes about what works, and frequently about what we value.
One last thing: if you’re an educator or a parent or just somebody who spends time around children, take their feelings seriously, OK? If a kid is miserable, that’s absolutely a problem that has to be solved, no matter what district policy happens to be.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to /u/Reddit4Play from reddit, JohnBuridan from the SSC community, blogger Education Realist, and many others who read drafts and offered ideas along the way.
