Dr. Tae Says: School Sucks!

See the complete lecture at http://drtae.org

First, thanks to Rebecca at Modite for sharing this video on the Brazen Careerist Network. It was very inspiring. Second, thanks to Dr. Tae for putting his thoughts down on video and then sharing them. As someone who has been in education for over a decade, struggling now to thrive in an environment of high stakes testing centers, his philosophies are reaffirming. Hope lingers.

Dr. Tae says: School Sucks! And I agree. In it’s current condition school is nothing more than a testing center devoid of any depth or engagement. And what is most disappointing is that the general public and its politicians – its experts – want this!

“Teaching and Learning As Cultural Habits” is perhaps my favorite statement from his lecture. There is not enough emphasis put on instilling positive cognitive habits at an early age. I say “cognitive” instead of “study” or “academic” because those words have come to have bad educational connotations in my opinion. “Academic” and “Study” have come to mean the uninspiring rote regurgitation of information. We say a school is a “good school” nowadays not because it is involved in its community and its students demonstrate charity and a social conscience but because the students “test well” and are “obedient.”

Children are born curious about their worlds and in awe of its many touches, tastes, smells, sights, and sounds. Presently, our schools discourage inquisition, experimentation, and learning. In their places our present schools award mindless, thoughtless compliance. I am always reminded of the story of an MIT professor who asked his students to observe an image and write down what they saw. One of his students confused by the activity and looking panicked, asked him: “But Professor, What should I see? The emphasis on test scores and the fear of a “wrong” answer had silenced the student cognitively. I felt the same frustration when I taught sixth grade math and was constantly asked, “What’s the formula?”

I agree with Dr. Tae’s assertions about how students learn – through the creation of knowledge – through meaningful hands on experiences – through personalization. Though he teaches adults and college students, his observations are applicable in the K – 12 classroom – which goes to show even though an adult mind is considered to be more able to cope with abstract concepts, the inclusion of concrete hands on experiences remain essential to teaching and lesson planning regardless of age.

On STEM education, he cites an interview with Dr. Lawrence Krauss, Director of the Origins Initiative and science education advocate. Dr. Krauss says, American kids in grades three and five are actually more advanced in science and mathematics than their international peers but by the time these same American kids turn 15, they do significantly worse. He says, “We’ve been doing something very effective to de-educate them or disinterest them in science.”

I don’t think it is too far fetched to say that the removal of hands on experiments in favor of longer lectures, more chapters from oversized textbooks, and more high stakes tests, from grades three to 10 has lead to the “de-education” Dr. Krauss speaks about. It is also not too off the point to ask, why politicians and the general public – even highly qualified scientists – believe it is OK to remove meaningful tactile real world experiences from teaching once a student reaches age X?

Dr. Tae makes a lot of sense here. What’s sort of disappointing is that he is making “common sense” – revelations that are easily rationalized or witnessed. As far as I know he has had no specialized training in education. His degrees are in Physics. Without getting into a discussion of what a qualified educator looks like, Dr. Tae has made some insightful comments that those running school districts – who are also mostly non-educators like in New York – should heed.

My Mummy’s Curse

 

Maybe it was a just the times – Leonard Nimoy on In Search Of narrating the mysterious death of Howard Carter and asking: “Could it have been the mummy’s curse?”

The curse was missing from the Discovery Expo’s King Tut exhibit. In its place facts about his family tree. The sheer size of the exhibit and the organization of its objects into “chambers” that seemed to mirror Carter’s descent into King Tut’s tomb was impressive. The 60,000 square feet Discovery Expo (usually divided into two galleries) was converted into one single, massive gallery retelling old stories and introducing new facts about the infamous boy king, Tutankhamen.

To be honest the sensationalism of Tut’s curse distracted me from his personal history. It was much more exciting for me to imagine the supernatural consequences of Tut after his death than to ponder Tut during his lifetime. After this exhibit, however, my attitude has changed.

Eight years of Catholic schooling and decades of Easters spent with Charlton Heston asking Yul Brenner to “Let my people go,” I thought I was familiar with the introduction of the “One God” to Ancient Egypt. I did not know that King Tut’s father, Akhenaten (or Amenhotep IV), successfully installed a one-god belief system centuries before Ramses the Great met Moses. He called it “The Sun Disc.”

I had not realized the significant changes King Tut’s father made to Ancient Egypt’s art and culture. Of course, there was resistance and as soon as Akhenaten died, his son, King Tut, undid everything his father did. Tutankhamen restored the traditions his father abolished. Many of the statues depicting the Egyptian gods resemble Tutankhamen because they were restored during his reign. His father had them all destroyed.

The King Tut exhibit at the Discovery Expo answered a lot of the questions I was too in love with his curse to ask. In many ways the exhibit domesticated Tut. From something sensational and otherworldly, Tutankhamen became someone real and substantive – a son who disagreed with the politics of his father, a brother, a husband, and even a father himself.

A trip to the exhibit would be an excellent culmination (or introduction) to a sixth grade unit on Africa. However, it should be noted that some of the display cases are set too high for children to view. Also, a colleague pointed out though there are many interesting pieces, they are small and might lack the impact to hold a middle school student’s attention for long. She had anticipated more spectacular pieces like the enormous bust of Amenhotep IV or the simulation of Tut’s sarcophagus.

My own ask for the Discovery Expo exhibits is greater interactivity. Provide visitors – especially young visitors – with a tactile experience. The Expo’s inaugural Titanic exhibit attempted this with a huge block of ice visitors could touch to experience what the survivors experienced in the icy waters. The Da Vinci exhibit provided large touch screens visitors used to page through his codices and a table with large wooden pieces that challenged visitors to rebuild a bridge he designed. The Tut exhibit provided a brass replica of Tut’s skull but it seemed out of place. It might have had more impact to have a replica of his mummified skull so visitors could experience the coarseness of process and time.

I have been to all the Times Square Discovery Expo exhibits. I am always impressed by their showmanship – the drama used to convey potentially dry facts. It’s this drama that engages school age children and the casual observer. And while I would like more opportunities for a tactile experience, I can say I have yet to be disappointed.

In addition to the exhibit itself, the Discovery Expo has also planned special events tied to the Tutankhamen exhibit. The Discovery Expo is located in Times Square at 226 West 44th Street(between 7th & 8th avenues).