(Education Reconsidered) Roger Schank Chairman, Socratic Arts Corp Chairman, Engines for Education Professor Emeritus,

1. How to Think (Education Reconsidered) Roger Schank Chairman, Socratic Arts Corp Chairman, Engines for Education Professor Emeritus, Northwestern University

2. Once upon a time there was great kingdom that was underconstant threat from dragons…

3. The Dragons Were Fierce

4. The Dragons were a threat to children

5. The King asked scholars from the best universities to form a curriculum committee to design a curriculum to train dragon slayers

6. The committee consisted of… • arts faculty from Columbia • science faculty from Princeton • business faculty from Stanford • medical faculty from Johns Hopkins • law faculty from Harvard • engineering faculty from MIT • humanities faculty from Yale

7. They all had some importantquestions to contribute • Arts: what do we know about how we have traditionally depicted dragons? • Science: what do we know about its habitat and mating rituals? • Business: Is there a sustainable business in dragon hunting? • Medical: What is the physiology of the dragon? • Law: Do dragons have rights? Might there be lawsuits? • Engineering: Will we need to build roads and bridges or design new weapons? • Humanities: How is dragonese related to other known languages?

8. The New Curriculum MCDB060a, Topics in Reproductive Biology of Dragons ENGL342b, Mythology and Community in Eighteenth-Century Dragon\ Literature. ENAS445a, Environmental Risk Assessment ENAS194b, Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations with Applications. HIST234b, Epidemics and Society in the West caused by Dragons since 1600. PHYS461b, Relativity, Astrophysics, Cosmology, and Dragons. PHIL427b, Vagueness and the Sorites Paradox. PSYC149b, Dragon Communication and Human Language. PSYC302b, How the Dragon’s Brain Works.

9. Dragon Rights Workshop Intro to Negotiations Business Ethics and Corporate Responsibility in Dragon Hunting Contagious: How Dragon-Related Products, Ideas and Behaviors Can Catch On Dragons and Globalization Cost Benefit Analysis of Slaying Dragons Mathematical Modeling and Its Application in Financing Dragon Expeditions Urban Public Policy and Private Economic Development Second Year

10. Two Years Later: there were 25 new graduates (most with honors) So, they went out to slay dragons

11. Three of them formed a team but... • They had not learned how to finance their expedition, and so they could find no funding • They decided slaying dragons was not lucrative and all went into another line of work

12. Six of the graduates formed another team... • They couldn’t get along with each other • One member was maimed when his gun misfired • Two others got into a violent argument about strategy • The rest ran away and were never heard from again

13. The remaining graduates were more successful They formed three teams and went to find the dragon

14. Team One... • Got financing • Got along well with each other • Agreed on strategy • Procured the proper weapons and supplies • Proceeded to search for the dragon...

15. But, they never could find a dragon to slay So, they formed a company to train dragon slayers [

16. The second team encountered the dragon... • They tried to reason with the dragon but only one graduate could remember how to speak Dragonese • He had failed the negotiation course • He really annoyed the dragon

17. The dragon ate all four members of the team for lunch (picture omitted for reasons of taste)

18. The third team found the dragon and engaged it in battle • But they had never fought a dragon before • It was faster than they expected • Its flame was hotter than they expected • Their plan of attack was not well coordinated

19. End of the Dragon quest • One team member was chased off a cliff • A second was melted by the dragon • A third ran away • When the dragon calmed down, the remainder of the team negotiated a deal

20. They are now doing Public Relations for the Dragon • They used what they learned in negotiation class • And what they learned in art class • And what they learned in business classes

21. “Why are you teaching subjects?” said the King

22. 1892 - philosophy of education

23. elementary studies English Greek Latin German French Ancient History Modern History Algebra Plane Geometry Physical Science (Descriptive) Physical Science (Experimental) advanced studies : Greek Latin Greek Composition Latin Composition German French Logarithms and Trigonometry Solid Geometry Analytic Geometry Mechanics or Advanced Algebra Physics Chemistry Harvard in 1892

24. What is wrong with subjects? • The subjects are determined by academics • The subjects reflect the research interests of the faculty • The subjects do not connect to each other • Students choose them for the wrong reasons • You can’t remember what you learned in them • They tend to not be experiential • They are often about preparing for exams • Requirements are set by the faculty to make sure that people attend their courses

25. Why do students put up with this? • They get certification • They get beer and circus • They don’t have to work too hard • They figure they can deal with the “real world” later on • They see this as a kind of summer camp • Daddy pays for it

26. “And why do we even have courses?” asked the King

27. Why do we have courses? • Professors only know their own subjects • They can teach three hours a week and then go back to their real work • The real goal of a professor is to train researchers • Students have lots of free time if they are only in class 12 hours a week

28. “And why do we have classrooms?”said the King

29. Why do we have classrooms? • 1850: Only one teacher in the town • 1950: Only way to keep education costs down • 2010: Because we have always done it that way

30. facts and truths have no educational value 1916 – John Dewey • The notion that some subjects and methods and that acquaintance with certain facts and truths possess educational value in and of themselves is the reason why traditional education reduced the material of education so largely to a diet of predigested materials.

31. There are two types of education... One should teach us how to make a living, And the other how to live. --John Adams 1800 -philosophy of education

32. Plato you must practice any skill • According to my view, any one who would be good at anything must practice that thing from his youth upwards, for example, he who is to be a good builder, should play at building children's houses; he who is to be a good husbandman, at tilling the ground; and those who have the care of their education should provide them when young with mimic tools.

33. It’s been like this for a while now I'm sure the reason such young nitwits are produced in our schools is because they have no contact with anything of any use in everyday life. • Petronius (d. circa 66 CE) The Satyricon.

34. “And why do we do standardized testing?asked the King

36. “Even the DMV has two tests” said the King

37. “Look what we are producing” said the King

38. “What are our graduates prepared to do?”asked the King

39. Fall Term 1987 Natural Language &Computer Introduction – Ethics Computers and Society Intermediate Spanish 1 Spring Term 1988 Physc Bases for Biology Intro/Artificial Intelligence Logic Intermediate Spanish 2 Literary Expression American History Calculus Funct 1 variable General Physics Fall Term 1988 Natural Language Processing Moral Responsibility Introduction to Psychology Cognition and the Brain Spring Term 1989 Knowledge & Understanding Tchngs/Symbolic Programming Special Projects Cognitive Process of the Brain Political Psychology Fall Term (1989) Language Culture & Society Intro History of Art Personhood&Persnl Dev Esthetics Naturalized Cultr&Devlpmt of Thought Spring Term 1990 Science & Social Weapon Prspectvs Uncnscs Mnt Prc Directed Reading-Psyc1 Directed Research Organizational Disasters Fall Term 1990 Senior Project Science and Literature Directed Research Social Change & the Future Spring Term 1991 Computers & Education Senior Project Tutorial Directed Research What was this man prepared to do?

40. Fall Term 1987 English 125-13 EngPoetChaucer-Eloiot1 French 130-16 Intrmdt&Advanced French1 PolScie 116a Intro Comparatv Politics Psychi 110a-2 Introductn to Psychology Spring Term 1988 Eng&AS 110b Prspecvs on Technology English 125-11 EngPoetsChaucer-Elliot2 French 130-16 Intrmdt&AdvancedFrench2 Musci 232b Mozart Relst 197b Relgn/AmerSoc, 1840-1980 Fall Term 1988 Archtr 150a Intro to Architecture I English 192a Engl Renaissance Poetry French 138-7 Advnced Language Prctcel Philos 116a History Ancient Philosophy Spring Term 1989 English 301b 20thC British Novel French 138-1 Advanced Language Prctce 2 HsArt 115b Intro/Rnssance-Present HsArt 249b ArtArcItlyFrnc 16001715 Fall Term 1989 CptSci 110a Elements of Computing English 170a Chaucer English 254a English Romantic Novel English 307a Black Women&Thir Ficnts Soclgy 117a Ineqlty&OprtuntyAmerSoc Yale In London Spring Term 1990 Britst 216b Shkspr&RnssncEnglshDrm BritSt 371b British Painting in 1SC BritSt 468b Critics Colonial Policy BritSt 470b Britain in S Africa Fall Term 1990 Anthro 254 JapaneseSociety&Culture English 235a The Age of Johnson English 265a The Victorian Novel English 281a 19thC Amrlit, 1865-1910 History 142a NAmericn Envrnmntl History Spring Term 1991 English 309b V Woolf Tests & Contexts HsArt 299b Modern Architecture English 342b Problems Cultrl Criticism English 447b Modern American Drama What was this woman prepared to do?

41. Jonathan L. Zittrain (born 1969) is an American professor of Internet law at the Oxford Internet Institute of the University of Oxford; co-founder, visiting professor and researcher at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society of Harvard University; visiting professor at the New York University School of Law; author, most recently, of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It; and co-editor of the book Access Denied. (from Wikipedia) I spent several years as a legal assistant in New York, D.C. and San Francisco; worked briefly as a client services coordinator for a legal staffing firm; and most recently worked as a copy editor for CNET News.com before taking time off to have kids. I am currently a stay-at-home parent but plan to return to editing (at least part-time) when my younger child is 6 or so. In 2008…

42. “And why is teaching done in this awful way?”asked the King

43. What do we teach?

44. Why do we make teachers into the ultimate judge of their student’s success?

45. Why do we teach theory first and practice second (if at all)?

46. Why do we come up with lists of knowledge that every student must know?

47. Why do we teach something without explaining the use of learning it?

48. Why do we load students with homework?

49. Why do rarely teach students things they actually may need to know after they leave school?

50. Why do we make “pleasing the teacher” the goal of the student?