Yong Zhao

Yesterday our staff heard from Professor Yong Zhao as he interacted with three students around the concept of ‘agency’. He was nicely irreverent and provocative. It was a fantastic way to start the term.

Yong argued, “Schools can never prepare children for their future because that future is made by the students. Our job as educators is to prepare students to become better makers of their future.” He claimed that learning has escaped from the learning system.

“If every child comes to school with the idea that they want to make an impact on other people’s lives, and all of our teachers help students grow in this way, we will have a better education system and a better world.”

Yong spoke about jagged profiles, student voice, choice, agency, and self-determination. How can we help students be unique and avoid school just being a game? Could we develop a strength profile and an assigned strength mentor for each student?

Existing systems cannot change without new possibilities. We have a default image of what schools should be.

 

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