History in Egypt

Photo from TotallyCoolPix

It is an absolutely amazing thing to be sitting here and watching history unfold before our very eyes in Egypt. I have been on Twitter and Huffington Post all day following live updates of the events.  Some facts and thoughts:

• I don't watch cable news anymore because I don't get cable, but from the sounds of what others are saying, they are doing a pretty poor job of covering the unfolding events.  No surprise there.  I have always thought of cable news as the drunken, idiot uncle of journalism.
• If you are on Twitter, and you want to see really amazing updates of unfolding events, you should follow Democracy Now correspondent Sharif Kouddous.  I will look forward to what he has to say on Monday's broadcast of DN. 
• It is interesting to realize the type of relationship the United States and the Mubarak regime has had over these years.  While we periodically will criticize their government for not making enough democratic reforms, the truth is, no one has been a greater friend to United States in that part of the world (outside of Israel and possibly Saudi Arabia).  They help us "interrogate" suspected terrorists; we give them money, help them shut down the internet, and provide resources to combat protesters in the streets (scroll down to picture number 80 to see where their gas canisters are made).  I am happy with the peaceful relationship Egypt has had with Israel since Sadat, but that is the extent of my respect of Egyptian leadership.  I wonder if most Americans realize that one of the reasons Egypt is revolting against Mubarak is because of his relationship with us.  
• Then there is Vice President Joe Biden.  For the most part, I have always been a fan of his, and especially his take on foreign affairs.  I know that many people in Washington are privately sad Mubarak might be driven out of office, but I can't believe Biden has the balls to say this in an interview:

"Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things. And he's been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with - with Israel. ... I would not refer to him as a dictator."

          Even for Joe Biden, that takes some cojones. 

• Finally, two things must be remembered.  One, a lot of people are being injured and killed in these protests over the past few days.  As exciting as these revolutionary events are to watch unfold, we must be mindful of the death and destruction that has taken place, and continues to take place.  My second concern is this: the people of Egypt are rallying to get rid of a dictator, and it does show that the United States does not need to intervene to bring change about in the Arab world.  But if Mubarak steps down, what will take his place?  Is it going to be another Mubarak-like dictator?  An Islamic fundamentalist regime?  A secular government that respects democracy and freedom of speech?  Or something entirely different?  All I can do is continue what I, and the rest of the world are doing: sit back, watch, and wait.

A Paradigm Shift in Public Education

Below is a video of an amazing “doodlecture”. I don’t know who the drawing is by, but is a lecture from Sir Ken Robinson on the problems with education, and the need to change the “education paradigm”.



Robinson is correct in saying that our schools today outdated because it is largely based upon the economic model of the industrial revolution, and grouping kids into batches. For example, I never even thought about the pointless conventionalism of grouping kids based upon grade. There are a couple of issues I feel the need to raise:

First, I have an issue with saying that our major problem in education is that we anesthetize children in schools. While I do have concerns about to over diagnosis of ADHD for students, I am not one of those who sees the prescription of ADHD medication (Ritalin, Adorol, etc.) to children as one of our society's great evils. Those medicines are not for every child with ADHD, but sometimes, children do benefit from their use. This comes from someone who grew with an ADHD diagnosis (it was called ADD at the time).  The use of such medicine greatly helped me to not only do better in those "borning schools" but better focus and function in other areas of life where focus is imperative. This point lead me to have a fascinating debate with Lisa Nielsen of the Innovative Educator Blog on Twitter. It was on her blog where I originally found the video.

Secondly, for all the problems Robinson outlines, he doesn’t really suggest alternatives for schooling. I won’t fault him too much for that, because that probably wasn’t what he was trying to do. But as a teacher and someone who is interested in what education looks like in this country, I wish I had something more practical to work with.  Having said that, I am feeling a little more inspired to look for those answers (for starters, I suggest “What Would Real School Reform Look Like?” by James Farwell)

In addition, I hope that this videos inspires other teachers to look for various methods of teaching and differentiating instruction.  I know it is sometimes hard as a teacher to look past applying the conventionally comfortable teaching style of pencil/paper/reading/lecture/etc.   But we have got to do a better job of trying newer and exciting lessons in our own classrooms, as well as encouraging the use of non-traditional ideas to our peers and in our districts.