Home School Online

Disrupting Class

I’ve now read most of Clayton Christensen’s book and my initial thoughts were mostly right. The ideas in the book are not new to me. I am in rampant agreement with them.

Where I missed in my somewhat blase approach to the book is what an exciting and illuminating read it is. I find it fantastic, thought-provoking and well-worth the time.  It’s odd, because I’m very familiar with the idea that “the future is already here, hiding and incubating in the shadows.”  And I’ve said extensively over the last five years that the future of education is being pioneered by the homeschoolers and that it centers on technology which allows for truly student-centric learning.  I’ve also argued that the current public school system is more likely to drive itself into crisis and disaster than to meaningfully adapt to the new possibilities.

All the same, hearing my own views woven together into a larger overall framework has been very exciting.  The HBS-like language (I’m ‘86G) which I mostly distain, I think it is really interesting when applied to a problem so near and dear to my heart. 

I should point out that in some places, the public education system is showing a remarkable capability to adapt which Clayton does not forecast. For instance, the public virtual schools are booming. These are online schools using public teachers.  In California, there are the public homeschool charter schools which is definitely a new hybrid breed of approaches.

So I highly recommend the read. Clayton does formulastically predict that certain forces will prevail in a way which I largely agree with although my view is far more nuanced and less broadly reaching than his.