In American public Middle and High School, I’m unaware of any formal hands-on classes in actually designing and building things.
The Korean economy seems firmly committed to staying in the design and building of products and this three-year course is a unique way to introduce students to that thinking and have them experience the process first hand.
Based on the principal’s translated explanation and the EQ/IQ teacher’s enthusiasm for this class, it is clearly one of the students’ favorites and is highly regarded by the school.
To me, this harkens back to the 1970’s in America, in high school "Shop class." Although without the esteem this class is accorded in Korea, “Shop class” in the 1970’s in the U.S. was a chance to integrate math, art, physics and other classes and actually build something useful.
As I recall, we worked with a wide variety of materials and pieces of equipment. I distinctly recall forging and turning a steel chisel; drawing, sawing, sanding and waxing a wooden tie rack and designing, measuring and cutting an aluminum dust pan. Not particularly exciting products, but we were learning how to make things and our shop teacher was a gruff, disciplined man who taught us skills throughout the year.
I don’t know why “Shop class” was removed from the curriculum – legal liability, I suspect – but it was the one class that used the whole brain in the process of making a product.
I think we might have something to learn from the Korean Middle School “IQ/EQ Class” – that the making of products is a process that should be hands-on and is engaging to students.
Having seen this classroom and discussed the course with students, I think American education might find real benefit in emulating the Korean example of a class that uses the whole brain and teaches students how things are made – from idea, to design, to schematic, to prototype, to quality control, to testing and to final production.
what about the arizona school district cutbacks?
Posted by: arizona seo | August 16, 2010 at 12:49 PM
This sure doesn't gel with the stories perpetuated among American educators who suggest constantly that the US kicks you-know-what on the creativity front and that foreign educators visit the US constantly to learn how to "teach creativity." So... is this total myth or just uninformed exageration? Perhaps that would be a good topic for a future film? 2MM I touched upon this but it seems like there might be a bigger story to tell. Of course, there is that nagging little problem for the US that creativity is pretty useless without a solid base of knowledge upon which to create...
Posted by: Derek Redelman | December 11, 2009 at 03:11 PM
Shop class might also have been removed from the US curriculum because of:
A) The stigma attached to any class that smacks of vocational training vs. something seen as being necessary for admittance to a university
B) The fact that it is usually populated by males and in many places not available to female students because of perceived gender role stereotypes.
Posted by: Kitlat | December 11, 2009 at 11:11 AM