One of my favourite sites Edge.org recently asked a set of scientists and thinkers what was their dangerous idea. There are many gems among them, but my favourite is from Roger Schank, whose dangerous idea is that “…school is bad for kids — it makes them unhappy and as tests show — they don’t learn much.”
Instead, he proposes that:
“Schools need to be replaced by safe places where children can go to learn how to do things that they are interested in learning how to do. Their interests should guide their learning. The government’s role should be to create places that are attractive to children and would cause them to want to go there.”
Now there’s cheery thought to begin 2006.