I got to thinking about all the other products and services which have undergone individualization just as license plates have done. Think back even a few years ago and consider the explosion of choice available in: Choice: Happiness and Spaghetti Sauce, @gladwell), beer, coffee, whiskey, vodka and on and on. Then there is the internet which is the ultimate individualization factor. There is a website, blog or group for almost every endeavor no matter how large or small of a group participates in it.
communication and entertainment--telephone companies, cell phones, radio and TV including service providers and channels; food and drink--probably every food type but the ones which come to my mind first are Doritos cereal, yogurt, spaghetti sauce and soda (thanks for the TED Talk "
Education inevitably must catch up with society and allow people to select their own way of doing things, and follow their own passions. Do you like your Pepsi regular flavored with cherry, lime, vanilla, dragonfruit or something else? It must necessarily follow at some point we will ask the question, do you like your English class flavored with physical science, geography, history, business or something else? Do you want to research and produce a project which will impact the lives of children, animals, shut-ins, veterans or somebody else?
Twenty percent time is the start of such a revolution in education. There may not be adults getting rich by encouraging individualization in education like there are in the business world, but there are millions of students who stand to love learning because of having Genius Hour or 20% time in their weekly schedule.
The days of the Industrial Revolution where everyone is in the same boat and going in the same direction
are gone.
Today the world looks a little bit more like this:
except with a million other options to get where you want to go.
It is time schools catch up to the rest of society.
