Chapter One: A Century of Success






"If I could keep time in a bottle…"

Jim Croce, 1971








As full time educators we know all too well the challenges and opportunities of teaching in the information age. On the one hand we have students that wonder why they have to learn this stuff, and on the other hand we have various administrative and political factions attempting to impose simplistic assessments to answer the question "How'm I doing?" as popularized by a famous New York mayor. We cycle in and out of in-services where the latest Dr. Guru sagaciously overlooks the room and proclaims "There's a problem in education!" staring directly at you. You're thinking "I wonder if we're going to get out early?" All during the day you're planning the next week's classroom activities with a certain amusement and disdain for those few of your colleagues that actually take this stuff seriously. If you only knew the dehumanization that Dr. Guru was subjected to by the nation's airline industry to come to your school you would surely pity him, but, alas, he'll be gone tomorrow and you'll still have six periods of those bright faces to deal with.



Sound familiar? It happens everyday at thousands of places across the nation. It is a true growth industry in the next "great idea".



The sad circumstance is that there really is no mystery of learning that's waiting to be solved. We haven't been held back by a lack of technology or talent. Even the advances in brain-based learning and cognitive science only affirm what we have known for thousands of years and seriously discussed in the context of public education during the last 100 years. That well guarded secret is that we learn best by being actively involved, where the content is couched in a meaningful and relevant context, and where the criteria for performance reflect a real world standard.