Part 1 - Systems Change in Education Begins with Us
So what exactly is a system? The Merriam-Webster definition of system design is: “a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole.” In other words, a system is made out of parts that work together to make something bigger. A system takes parts that might not normally do anything particularly interesting, but when working together with other parts, they are able to create amazing things. Systems are essentially what makes complex things possible. In the modern world, we experience systems and its effects every day.
An example of a system would be a clock. A clock is made up of gears of different sizes that work together to tell time. Each individual gear does not do much at all. Even a pile of all of the gears doesn’t do much. It is upon constructing the clock and creating the system of gears we end up with a clock. Systems can be very complex as well. The internet is a system of servers and networks. Humans have done impressive things but it's only possible because we are an impressive system ourselves.
Systems have a flaw. They are hard to change. Improving a system can mean improving its parts. However, if only some parts are upgraded, then the flaws of the other parts still impact the system. To illustrate this, let's say you have a very old car that is falling apart. You buy a new engine for the car and now the car will reliably start but the brakes are weak. So then you upgrade the brakes but the air conditioning doesn’t work. As shown in this example, upgrading the parts of a system can and will improve the system but upgrading parts at a time does not mean that the system is all of a sudden much better.
The other way to approach improving a system is redesigning it. This can either be from scratch or by using existing parts and changing the way they interact. Let's go back to the car example. The most straightforward way to get the car operational is to buy a new one. This represents a brand new system that fills the same niche in society but doesn’t necessarily inherit the issues of the old system. That being said, we don’t have to start from scratch. If the old car had some excellent condition vintage wheels, the new car can incorporate this part of the old system to the new and improved system.
Education System
These same principles can be applied to improving more abstract systems as well. This includes one that is the key focus of our 2 Blocks movement: the education system. The education system consists of many parts. This includes things like the teachers, the administration, the community, the building, the students and so on. But a major role in the system that is harder to define is the culture and expectations. This part of the educational system is something that can’t be addressed head on.
The student culture at school is determined by how students interact. Some schools have high pressure environments where students try their hardest to maximize their grades which can lead to high levels of anxiety for testing. At the same time there are schools where a student’s peers don't care about what grades they have or test scores so nothing is motivating the kids to do their work. The ideal situation would be if the students put effort into school but see it less in terms of grades and more in terms of learning opportunities. This kind of culture needs to be addressed indirectly and to improve this aspect of the education system requires a more indirect approach.
Making sure that learning is more important than grades requires getting the students interested in learning versus making them feel like they are being forced to learn. The reason that students might feel forced to learn is that historically the expectations were different. In the US in the early 1940s less than 5% of the population went to college and got a bachelor's degree. In the modern day this number has gone up to 35%. This is because college is no longer the expectation for people going into academia but instead it has shifted so that successful careers will often require a college degree.
Focus of Mastery to Modernize Education
When we compare the classroom now to back them it looks the same. This means that students are getting prepared in similar ways to a time where the expectations were nothing like they are today, and this makes students think if they aren’t doing well in school they should stop trying because they won’t be successful in life. If we can shift the focus away from grades and getting into the most prestigious universities and instead emphasize learning new skills that will help in life, we can create a healthier school system that is more accessible to everyone and not just the “academic” students.
Our society is running on the principle that hard work gets rewarded. However, some people aren’t cut out to do the same hard work as others. Making everyone solve complex math problems and write lots of essays makes people work hard on something that they don’t enjoy. Although these skills can without a doubt help the student in many ways, the system should be designed so that the students can be rewarded in putting effort into areas they want to over areas they are forced to. If they are able to develop their skills enough, this can translate into their careers. However, given how the structure emphasizes doing english and math SATs and getting into good colleges, this idea is lost.
The solution for these problems is to make jobs and business seem more than just the end of a tunnel of education. Instead education and the working world should go hand in hand. Exposure to the working world at a younger age can make jobs seem less distant and more real. Whenever a guest speaker talks about their job, it gets students interested in that job. Whenever there is an activity or field trip, students get excited about that topic. Having more interaction between students and the professional world can inspire a generation to grow up and do amazing things. Getting people from the professional world to share the excitement that they have for their careers can spread that excitement and shift the culture away from pass/fail and towards acquiring skills as a student.
Why Teens are Interested in Systems Change
Cambridge has a massive innovative professional community located in Kendall Square. We also have Harvard and MIT right at our doorstep. If we can implement ways to get kids of all ages seeing the work and research going on in these places it can help them worry less about getting the highest test scores and think more about learning.
In 8th grade, people from Biogen came to my class and helped us through some easy experiments. At the end of their classroom visit, we took a field trip to their community lab and spent a day doing an interesting experiment. It was a lot of fun and was an excellent way to get students interested in the biotech world. These kinds of programs can be run in many different fields and will for sure get students interested. For example, someone from a tech company could come and run a coding session. Someone from a graphics design company can come and run a logo designing session. Students want to learn about these things, but when they are mentioned in textbooks they feel very distant.
Conclusion
In the educational system, stakeholders include students, teachers, administrators, staff, policy makers, business leaders, community partners, families and caregivers. As iFp Teen Creatives, we are committed to doing our part and encouraging our peers to do likewise. If each stakeholder agrees and commits to reimagining their part in the system, then and only then change truly happen.
A system is made out of parts that work together to make something bigger.
Let’s work together to create a system that works for everyone. That’s why systems change in education begins with us!