Rogue Reform 1: The Block Schedule
Recently, I shared my thoughts on Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gato. His biggest argument is that institutionalized schooling in the United States artificially extends childhood, creates a culture of consumption instead of production, and generally dumbs everyone down. And the longer I have subbed and taught, the more I agree with his thoughts.
However, I recognize that as a society we have wedged ourselves into an economic pickle that often requires both parents to work, and therefore children need a place to be, and often a place to be fed. And at the moment, we also have a legal pickle and Heaven forbid children be given too much freedom.
Thus, let’s talk about some serious school reform options that could throw open doors for our children’s education and keep them safe and healthy. Because my experience is with middle and high schools, these reforms are directed there, but I am sure they could be adapted at the elementary level.
The block schedule mirrors the idea found at some colleges. Students are immersed in one subject with one or two teachers everyday all day for four or five weeks. Parents sign a general field-trip waiver, and teachers and students have the freedom to come and go from the school to the field. Students no longer need to miss other classes for a field trip or run around having multiple teachers sign off. Homework can be completed in class so students can keep their after school hours for family, work, rest, and other interests.
For example, Student Ava has chosen Spanish as her elective this block. She and her classmates might spend the morning reading a Spanish play and discussing it in Spanish, in preparation for performing it at the end of the week. In the afternoon, they might jump on the bus to go serve Spanish-speakers at a local shelter, or work alongside Spanish-speakers in a non-profit medical clinic, or tutor Spanish-speaking children at the library. Students are immersed in the language for extended periods of the day, and also gain real work and interpersonal experience as part of a larger world, rebuilding the connections that are lost in closed-door, fluorescent-lit classrooms.
Ava might take Spanish, Literature, Shop, Personal Finance, Biology, Algebra, and Music throughout her 180 days in school, broken up into five-week blocks during which she is thoroughly immersed in that subject both within the classroom and outside of it.
