I briefly mentioned Google’s 20% rule in an earlier post. In case you didn’t read it, then I think you should. But if you really don’t want to, here’s the segment about the 20% rule.
I really love the 20% concept, where Google engineers are allowed to work on any project they want for 20% of their time at work. It’s a brilliant concept, and a lot of Google’s products have come out of it (Google News, Orkut and apparently GMail as well). I think it’d be interesting to have that concept applied to education, but that’s for another day.
Well, today is to be the “another day”.
Imagine that concept in education. 20% of the time, students are allowed to learn and explore whatever they want. That’s one full day a week (assuming a five-day school week). One full day where students can learn and explore whatever they are interested in, to allow them to pursue whatever projects they want. No proposals and approval needed. Whatever they are interested in. No restrictions.
I’d go as far as saying not to limit it to mere book knowledge. If a student is interested in business, let him use that time pursuing a business opportunity. If he’s interested in music, why not let him use that time maybe composing songs? For students interested in drama, how about letting them plan and produce their own performance? If he’s into soccer, let him spend that day creating their own freestyle tricks (maybe even record a personal instructional/showcase DVD). Countless opportunities can be explored.
Also, if a program like that is to work, that there needs to be no pressure to succeed. No grades, no pressure of failing or being judged. Be willing to let the project fail. The process is most important.
I know teachers and educators might say they will be chaos. They’ll say that students will waste their time. I don’t really agree. I think that given enough freedom, every student will find something they are interested in. Examples are mentioned above. The end product may not be the best, but the process and experience will be really beneficial.
I think what Douglas Merrill (Google’s CIO) said in his talk is really true, and applies for students as well. If you give them that 20% time, they will really enjoy it more. They’ll be more motivated. And it means that the 80% of the time will be more productive than a “normal 80%”.
20% time in school. I think it’s something worth exploring. What do you think?
And on a more personal note, if YOU were given 20% time (whether you’re schooling or working), what will you pursue?
What a thoughtful post. Thanks. I discovered you through MyBlogLog and have joined your community.
I think your idea would be great for some students. My guess is you’d have to have extremely good teachers for it to work with the rest. Teachers like that are rare. And from what I’ve been hearing, here in America even the good ones don’t have much chance to encourage students to explore. They’re too constrained by the “no child left behind” emphasis on passing standardized tests.
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Thanks, glad you like the post.
I think the main thing about the teachers is you’ll need teachers who are really passionate about developing the students. And who are willing to give the students the freedom to explore. But that should be the case no matter what, shouldn’t it?
And I agree, I think there’s too much emphasis on passing standardized tests that students aren’t given opportunities to try out new things.
I wish I had time to pursue what I liked too; things like programming and such which I enjoy.
But unfortunately what little free time we have is chewed up by homework and the like. The attitude here is somewhat, well for lack of a proper term, it’s quite kiasu. And as human beings we need to take time off to relax too, so basically there’s hardly any time to do what we really like.
In fact even if they allocated 20% of curriculum time to such a purpose, I doubt it’d work. People would just use it for revision. Society is sadly this competitive.
Lihsia: Firstly, well, I think “doing what we like” can be sorta considered part of the relaxation, but I do agree.
Secondly, and more importantly, I do agree, if only slightly, with what you say. And I think that’s where the teachers/facilitators should come in. At this age, it shouldn’t be that competitive, that’s the whole point. And it’s quite sad if it is.