Watching Most Likely To Succeed brought up memories of my own scholastic career: Mostly memories of gazing out the windows of various classrooms while waiting impatiently for the clock to hit 3. I rarely studied, and was rarely fully engaged with the content. I had some interesting teachers that were committed to their profession but my marks were middle of the road and I struggled to see the the relevance between calculus and my impending career of pizza delivery.
I also thought back to the times when I was engaged. When I could draw a direct correlation between my life and the task at hand. These were times when I felt invested in the goal and the process; when the project followed me home in my thoughts and the clock was the furthest thing from my attention.
The paradigm of teamwork and cooperation during creative processes over isolation and memorization during testing seems like an easy decision to me. More often than not the power of many people working together is what brings change to the world in the most effective way. The psychological, emotional and spiritual benefits of working with peers to accomplish a goal are the anti-venom to the physical isolation of the provided by today’s technology.
The logic of evolving education to fit the student rather than vice versa is a concept that could have been a game changer for me. Specifically, the inquiry-based learning that was modeled in the documentary. Even more specifically, letting students who are able to self-direct, work in areas where they find passion.
I understand that just as I would prefer freedom of choice, other people may do better in more structured environments. I understand that there are great challenges and pitfalls when implementing change. The idealism of Most Likely To Succeed will not immediately be received with unbridled optimism. Sometimes things need to change slowly. Collective consciousness moves at it’s own pace but what’s important for now is that new ways of being and learning have breached the hull of tradition. In this train of thought the “both/and” exemplar becomes very convenient in regards to keeping our minds open to the old and new alike.
It is my opinion that the ideas expressed in M.LT.S are brilliant ones. While a critical lens is always important, I would genuinely love to see humans try something new.
