Oct 252016
 

One Size Fits All

Not Evolving to Provide Measurable Value to your Revenue Stream

October 25, 2016, By Tom McDonald

Without  students, when the reality is students=revenue, there is no legitimate ability to operate, or legitimate reason to exist.

To fix Traditional Education’s lack of advanced, student focused, sustained, student success, performance improvement outcomes, FOR ALL STUDENTS, traditional education must start at the beginning. ALL the research supports, traditional educators, completely and totally, replacing the flawed, discredited, 20th century, one size fits all teaching paradigm, with educationally innovative, 21st century methodologies. It’s now time to ask your educators, to document to you, what they are currently doing specifically, that is educationally innovative, to empower themselves, to empower ALL their students, to advance, sustained,  individual student success, performance improvement outcomes.

one size fits all

one size fits all

Education exists to advance student success outcomes. Without students there is no revenue and no purpose. Student success outcomes are judged by students and the funding public, after the students have graduated. Is their education relevant to employers, will they be hired in their field of study with a corresponding educationally relevant wage? Will they be able to pay off their student loans AND be financially able to live on their own? Will they directly and measurably contribute to society? Is there direct, measurable student value and is there direct measurable value to society?

This is educations new reality. These questions don’t always have a positive answer.

What is the best way to honestly and ethically convince new students to initially enroll and stay through graduation?

The answer is to honestly, ethically and measurably document similar students successes. This validates, for new students that their investment in money and time will be worth the effort.

This measurable student success outcome, happens by empowering students to be successful throughout their entire student experience..

Let’s look at one size fits all teaching, the common approach in traditional education.

Does one size fits all work for all, when  purchasing the following?

  • A Vehicle? Does a black pick-up, with no radio and no air work for all?
  • A House?  How about one bedroom and no garage for all?
  • Clothes? What if the only size was small and the color was purple?
  • Food? What if the grocery store only sold beef? What if the restaurant only had large salads?
  • Jewelry? What if the only ring choice was onyx in size 6?
  • Furniture? What if the only dresser was pine, with 2 drawers.
  • Beds? What if the only bed was a single, with a lousy mattress?
  • Phones? Flip phone, in orange.
  • Drapes? Lacy, only in blue.
  • Carpet? Burber, only in white.

Henry Ford, when he offered the Model T offered one color, black. At the time that worked, but it doesn’t work any more. Interestingly enough, the Model T, ALSO, doesn’t work for individuals and society any more. Imaging driving a Model T in heavy highway traffic? You would be a threat to everyone’s safety, including your own.

People want choice, they want what they engage to be individualized and they want it to work for them.

Traditional educations beginning was factory based and one size fits all teaching worked nicely. Like black, as the only color choice for a car, one size fits all teaching doesn’t work any more for THE CUSTOMER, the student. Imagine if all car manufacturers tried to convince their customers that the color black was best for them, in a world that provided personal choice otherwise? ONE manufacturer would offer color choice and they would satisfy the customer.

Traditional education has not evolved with the times. They continue to offer Model T’s with black as the only choice of color and continue to sidestep the issue that students and the funding public want/need something other than a black Model T.

To compound the problem, black is functional on a car. One size fits all teaching does not empower students to be successful. But traditional education continues to sidestep and nay say  education innovation, which is proven to provide relevant student success benefits to ALL their students.

The consequences to students are obvious. The consequences to society are not so obvious; money spent to deliver the following to at risk students who drop out (who are failed by a flawed system of one size fits all teaching): underemployment, unemployment, welfare, crime, violence, incarceration, drug use and drug intervention. But traditional education continues to ignore empowering their students, by embracing a 20th century, one size fits all teaching methodology.

Imagine if medicine did not change from 20th century practices? What would have happened to IBM if they didn’t change and evolve to provide obvious value to their customers? What if “ice boxes” remained the norm and air conditioning was available, but not made available to the public?

Truly personalized learning IS available, regardless of what you hear otherwise. Traditional education is aggressively maintaining a flawed, one size fits all teaching methodology, nay saying individualized learning, ALL to the direct detriment of advancing students success and empowering students to be successful. Why? Because one size fits all teaching works for them and “change is hard”. WOW! In any other scenario, an entity unwilling to change, consistent with their mission and vision, would soon be forced to close.

Traditional educators are now realizing that student success outcomes are now directly connected to student revenues.

The funding public is now unwilling to perpetuate a flawed methodology which is not aligned with advancing student success outcomes and directly contributes to problems within society.

Traditional education MUST embrace their defined mission and vision of empowering students to be successful and totally change paradigms from one size fits all teaching, to individualized learning, OR die a slow death.

Its inevitable that one size fits all teaching will not continue to be funded by the public and will be replaced by educationally innovative methodologies that advance student success outcomes.

Everyone, including traditional educators expect choice in their purchases, but traditional education expects to preserve a flawed methodology that works for them, but doesn’t work for their students, or the funding public.

What’s wrong with this picture?

For those of you that disagree, please review the research that validates this position. If after reviewing the research, you still disagree, provide me credible research validating YOUR position.

Let me know if you agree that one size fits all is no longer an option in education and traditional education must IMMEDIATELY evolve to meet the needs of their students and the funding public. Or let me know that you just don’t care if students are empowered to be successful.

Reference:

The “Average Student” is a Lie

Harvard University:

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Tom McDonald, tsm@centurytel.net; 608-788-5144; Skype: tsmw5752

one size fits all