Making school and students useful | by GlennM
It was interesting to finally read the first essay in "Hackers and Painters" after just visiting the Boy Scout Museum in Dallas. One of the things that struck me heavily in the Scout museum was how much the scouts were proud to have done their part to support WWI and WWII, filling in for the adults that were overseas or otherwise busy with the war effort. Recycling efforts, victory gardens, selling libery bonds -- they had a purpose.
Very different than our "civilian sacrifice-free" wars of today (not totally fair to those affected by the absence by the full-time soldiers and the reserves, but mostly so).
And very dfferent from our "keep them out of the way" educational system described in H&P.
In thinking of improving our educational system, it seems like it's got to include ways for students to create value. What if students were asked to help build/maintain schools and parks, balance the municipal budget, etc? Give them applied uses for the math, science, and english we teach at those levels, and interest has got to rise. I'm starting to have more respect for Clinton's Americorps, which seemed good but a little tertiary at the time.