Free-thinking education.

• Author: Rose, Robert
• Position: WORDS & IMAGES - Freedom in the teaching profession

ARE WE HEADED for the end of our brief time as the leader of the free world? Many think China or India will replace us before 2030. Freedom is what made us great. We showed it in World War II and in the race to the moon. Freeing our education system is one solution. What will it take? What is in place now? We have the world's top infrastructure--our roads, railways, and airways are the most extensive. The buildings and property that house our students are the best. We have more people using communications and technological tools than any other nation. Our military remains far ahead of others. I have seen, as a supervising teacher for two universities, that we have the best trained teachers anywhere. Trouble is, our instructors have access to all the emerging technologies, but they are trapped in a century-old status quo.

In my 50 years in teaching, I challenged whatever was not working. I based my challenges on my extensive and eclectic reading. I read in education, but mainly I piggybacked on what great minds were changing in their fields. By my belief in the value of freedom for myself I was able to free my students and their parents. I made many mistakes, but became more efficient and effective. Open to new ideas I did not throw out the traditional beliefs and practices that still worked.

Why have not more teachers gone this route? The answer is fear--fear of getting fired, of being harassed by supervisors, of getting emotionally or physically hurt by students or parents, or of being "different." It also is that they care more about security than freedom. However, if you trade security for freedom you become unchained--thinking and acting to discover, and solve problems ... alone.

For centuries, teachers were strict disciplinarians while believing that they were the transmitters, the keepers of the keys to knowledge. Their task was to cram it into the empty vessels--their students. I saw, and believed, in the incredible uniqueness of each pupil. I had to discover how to help each understand and achieve whatever were his or her talents and abilities. Emerging technology made it easier, but the reality was, the more time I spent with each, the more he or she became emotionally stronger; the academic improvements followed.

Knowledge is facts and skills--and computers now are providing both--but wisdom is what teachers, their life experiences, and their concern for each student, offers. It is a mindset change from terrifying enforcer to...