The Challenges of the School System & How to Tackle Them

At Kido we believe that the only successful way of teaching and learning in the 21st-century is by going beyond the traditional methodologies and practices that have proved to be insufficient for promoting the 21st-century skills and engaging the 21st century’s mind.

We are only capable of doing so by developing a radically customized learning experience where each child gets to pursue their own interests, in their own way, informed by their innate potential and capabilities.

I’m saying this because I’d like to share with you next this interesting video that describes the Six main problems that the modern schooling system is facing when it comes to keeping children engaged and positioning them for success both within and beyond the classroom.

6 Problems with our School System

As you can see in the video, the main concerns are:

The industrial age valuesbeing implemented in the classroom, with children being treated as unpersonalized employees that must follow instructions/orders and are rewarded based on their ability to perform more efficiently.
The lack of autonomy,forcing children to follow fixed schedules and timed assignments that have been arbitrarily arranged for them by their teachers.
The inauthentic learningthat focuses on children learning by memorizing and retaining concepts without them being able to internalize and make their own connections.
No room for children’s own passion/interests, when really, they should be asking themselves questions such as “what am I good at?” or “what do I want to do with my life?”
The fact that we learn differently, according to our different strengths and interests. (I’ll mention more on Multiple Intelligences below.)
And finally, the old-fashioned lecturing, where communication is vertical, monotonous & one-way: the teacher teaches, and children are meant to be sitting at their desks in silence.

Here’s how we at Kido are addressing these issues with our new methodology:

A child’s capabilities and preferred way of learning define the levels, rather than simply their age.Levels for the same child can vary dramatically from one discipline to another. I.e., four-year-old Matthew may be incredibly advanced and predisposed to maths (with a stronger logical-mathematical intelligence) but less inclined to/talented in the arts (visual-spatial intelligence) or language (verbal-linguistic intelligence); teachers should encourage and guide children to gravitate towards and embrace their strongest skills while supporting them in the subjects that they struggle with.
This also includes the importance of correctly assessing our children. By documenting each child’s learning process, teachers make sure that they position children, like Matthew, to become their best selves.
We promote independence and autonomy. Children are not required to be sitting still in one room throughout the day; they get to move on from one Skills area to the other according to their personalized learning pathway.
We only focus on authentic learning. Our curriculum emphasizes projects that focus on engaging and solving real-life problems and more narrative-driven activities.
Teachers are guides and mentorsrather than lecturers. Children largely make their own choices regarding subject matter and how best to tackle the project while teachers help guide them in mastering the necessary skills needed as part of our broader, targeted learning objectives.

Our goal is to encourage creative, open and critical minds in our children, teaching them how to be self-driven, capable citizens of the World. In the classroom and beyond, we want our children to face all challenges from a position of self-confidence and strength!