Genuinely Embracing Individual Differences and Diversity
There are several buzz words that go around in academic circles. People like to talk about "pedagogy," "student-centered learning," "interdisciplinarity," "active learning," "service learning," and so on. One of the core buzzwords within modern academia is this - DIVERSITY. In modern higher education, we are to "embrace diversity" - even if we don't exactly know that that means.
With an eye toward helping us deconstruct and question modern methods of teaching and learning, Ungifted leads the reader through the story of a young man who started the educational process as being labeled as "learning disabled" and in need of special services - to completing his PhD in cognitive psychology at Yale - under the tutelage of Robert Sternberg, perhaps the best-known and most significant living academic psychologist.
Dr. Kaufman's story is extraordinary, but it is not unique. We are all, from my evolution-based perspective, descendants of long lines of extremely intelligent, strong, and socially capable individuals from thousands of generations - each and every one of us has his or her little evolutionary ancestral hero inside. We are all extraordinary results of evolution and, as such, we all betray ancestry that (to some extent) includes all the skills needed to survive and reproduce under the most intensive of conditions. For some of us, this corresponds to showing clear signs of typical kinds of intelligence (such as the ability to read or write). For others, our special skills are more hidden - or are less related to clear goals of our society and of our educational systems. But that's OK!
Look out standard intelligence researchers - there's a new kid in town - and he's got 3 initials!
What are your thoughts about diversity and education?
#Diversity #Education #IndividualDifferences
What are your thoughts about diversity and education? I am not really sure what to say, but I have always preferred homeschooling over public schooling. I personally don't think public schools have the ability to teach each child in the way that they need; it seems as if they think that one size fits all. I am on the spectrum, and I have dyscalculia. Growing up, my dyscalculia made going to public school really difficult for me for a while. Common Core made my experience even worse, and so did the required yearly testing. I think there's room for improvement with the public school system for sure.
