Dear America:
STEAM is not new. Integrating art into science is not a new thing. And now? I’ve been reading that some want to add reading “R” to the acronym. I’m cringing. Let’s stop this madness. Integrated, interdisciplinary learning is NOT new. It’s real, authentic, great learning that we’ve had the ability to do ALL ALONG. Not the kind we pay text companies billions to simulate. The kind we find in a muddy puddle or see in a transforming tadpole. The kind where kids’ questions drive it. Inquiry. Inquiry is free. Free. Not billions. Not millions. Free.
The money we’ve spent on programs and texts? Authentic resources and the internet would have been far more affordable. Devices are expensive, but might just pale in comparison to computerized testing programs and cd’s full of PDF’s that promise “tech integration.” Devices won’t change design anyway. Mud puddles are free. Yes, they are messy, but I have a feeling these two men in the photo embraced the mess that got them where they were headed. And I bet none of it was easy.
One man? He built a world of innovation, creativity, and dreams. He did the impossible. His vision? It all started with a mouse. A man who was fired from his job at a local paper for “lack of creativity,” created one of the happiest places on Earth.
The other? He broke the chains of gravity with innovation, creativity, and dreams. His design allowed man to get footprints on the moon. He’s famous for saying “Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.” He was a maker. A maker who just happened to make rockets. His speech “The struggle for the future,” is about the struggle. Learning is filled with struggle.
Making is not a movement. Sorry to burst your bubble, but these two men, and countless others, have paved the way to do the impossible. Catch up. Close the test booklets. And let’s resume our regularly scheduled program of thinking outside the box. Before we lose it all. Our kids engagement. Our hope for public schools. Our future.
I’ve read the research, of how gifted education suddenly became important when Sputnik beeped across our skies. I get that the only time we want to challenge all kids is when we need something. I also get how very wrong that is. I see the world clamoring to attack or embrace Common Core as a game changer. Then I look around and see that there is only one game changer.
Us.
We simply need the room, the space, and the time, to develop learning organically. Not around a program or a person. Around authenticity, collaboration, and innovation. The only way we can do that is by joining together. Open our doors. Join hands. Carry a piece of the load into the future. Only then can we make education the happiest place on Earth, and free ourselves from the chains that tie us to the way things have always been done.
Sincerely, Me
