If Einstein Ran the Schools: Revitalizing U. S. Education

Description

During the last three decades, education reformers have pushed standardized testing and policies like No Child Left Behind and Common Core to improve test scores and proficiency in basic skills. However, during this period that author Thomas Armstrong calls the "miseducation of America," a number of troubling trends have surfaced, including a decrease in creative thinking scores among children in kindergarten through third grade. Rather than focus on what's wrong with the education system that has produced these outcomes, Armstrong lays out what creative thinkers know about how children should be educated. In an extended thought experiment, he asks what would happen if we turned the reins of educational policy over, not to the politicians and educational bureaucrats, but to eminent thinkers and creators like Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Martin Luther King Jr., Rachel Carson, Doris Lessing, Jane Goodall, and other seminal culture-builders. What might they say about the best way to educate a child? If Einstein Ran the Schools suggests that the answers to this intriguing question should guide future efforts to reform our nation's schools. Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Chapter One: The Purpose of Education: Introducing Incredible Kids to an Amazing World Chapter Two: Imagination: Unleashing Our Children’s Ability to Mentally Soar Chapter Three: Love of Learning: Affirming the Most Important Goal of Education Chapter Four: Creativity: Teaching outside the Box Chapter Five: Playfulness: Restoring Childhood to Preschool and Kindergarten Chapter Six: Curiosity: Feeding Our Children’s Hunger for Knowledge Chapter Seven: Wonder: Reawakening Our Children’s Sense of Awefor the Mystery of Life Chapter Eight: Individuality: Resisting Standardization, Datafication, and Depersonalization in Education Chapter Nine: Neurodiversity: Emphasizing the Strengths of Kids with Special Needs Chapter Ten: Compassion: Educating the Heart in the “Selfie” Generation Chapter Eleven: Care for Nature: Cultivating a Reverence for All LivingThings Chapter Twelve: Tolerance: Nurturing a Deep Respect for Human Differences Chapter Thirteen: Beauty: Sensitizing Kids to an Aesthetic Appreciationof the World Chapter Fourteen: The Einstein Classroom: Education for Our Children’s Future Appendix A: Weapons of Mass Instruction: Fifteen Reasons Standardized Tests Are Worthless Appendix B: Leonardo da Vinci’s IEP Meeting: The Problem with Special Education Appendix C: A Resource Guide for Revitalizing U.S. Education Notes Index About the Author