Encouraging innovation

Because of their many challenges our sons my not progress through high school curriculum at the same pace as many of their "schooled" peers. 

Recently our oldest was feeling stressed because his peers attending school are getting ready to go off into the world for post secondary education.  Some how he interpretted this to mean that they had their futures all planned out.  Most often it means that they applied for programs that may or may not be a good fit for them and were lucky enough to be accepted.  We reminded our son that in today's world people often change careers about 5 times so even what is first picked to study does not guaranttee a set career path for the rest of a person's life.  Due to the numerous medical issues over the years we do not believe that he is ready for post secondary education yet.  As he tries to narrow down his goals for the future we have set him up to explore different career paths by doing co-op placements.  He has learned a great deal about himeself and possible career choices.

Our younger son will be 16 in August and expressed concern after talking with friends that he does not yet know what he wants to do.  My approach has been different than the school system in that we want him to explore his interests right now.  This is not to say that we are un-schoolers.  We believe that using curriculum, completing projects, and planning for deadlines are important skills to develop.  Currently, he is studying electronics and has a second desk burried in wire, capacitors, and many bits and pieces he uses to build, explore and try new things.

Each of our boys has their own learning style that works best for them. They each have very different interests so to our mind high school will look very different for each of them.

I would prefer that they finish high school with a strong sense of their believes, strengths, interests and goals as well as the life skills necessary function independently.  I have heard some horror stories about kids going off to college or universty with now idea about how to budget, cook, clean or do laundry on their own.

This morning I watched a u-tube video on facebook of Tony Wagner who calls himslef a "recovering high school english teacher."  I admit to feeling pleased that it sounds like our approach meshes with the insights Mr. Wagner shared.

The following is taken from the introduction to his video segment.

"Tony Wagner recently accepted a position as the first Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology & Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard. Prior to this, he was the founder and co-director of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for more than a decade. Tony consults widely to schools, districts, and foundations around the country and internationally. His previous work experience includes twelve years as a high school teacher, K-8 principal, university professor in teacher education, and founding executive director of Educators for Social Responsibility.

Tony is also a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and a widely published author. His work includes numerous articles and five books. Tony's latest, Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World, has just been published by Simon & Schuster to rave reviews. His 2008 book, The Global Achievement Gap has been an international best seller and is being translated into Chinese. Tony has also recently collaborated with noted filmmaker Robert Compton to create a 60 minute documentary, "The Finland Phenomenon: Inside The World's Most Surprising School System."

Tony earned an M.A.T. and an Ed.D. at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education."

Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvDjh4l-VHo&feature=player_embedded

I would be interested to hear what you think about Mr. Wagner's presentation.