Best of 2012: The Five Most Extraordinary Things to Happen in Education

It's been quite an incredible year in the education space. While we've witnessed a surge in the number of politicians with no education experience make decisions on how schools should run and a wider adoption of nonsensical ideas like the "flipped classroom" and value-added teacher evaluations, there have been some memorable, equation-changing events and initiatives that have emerged.

So, let's highlight five of the most extraordinary things that happened in education in 2012:

1. The Students Speak Out: Students around the nation have seized the national microphone and have begun articulating their voices in education. With hundreds of student protests documented, young people are no longer willing to sit idly on the sidelines. In September, I published my first book on revolutionizing education from a student's perspective. Earlier this month, Stephanie Rivera and few other college students launched Students United for Public Education in an effort to stop the takeover of public education in America. The group even had a protest.

And this past summer, Zak Malamed founded the StuVoice movement, corralling student leaders onto one platform, giving spotlight to their voices, and making some dents in education policy. For one, Malamed, Matthew Resnick, Joshua Lafazan, myself, and a few other students signed a letter to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo demanding that students be added onto the New York State Education Reform Commission. With the power of social media, we will not stop petitioning, marching, protesting, and rallying until our voices are heard and represented. As educator Diane Ravitch once said, "When the students awaken, the national conversation will change."

2. Alternatives to Higher Education: Half of new college graduates are unemployed or underemployed. Student loan debt is now more than one trillion dollars. According to a Pew Research analysis, “Among households owing student debt, the average outstanding student loan balance increased from $23,349 in 2007 to $26,682 in 2010.” As former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich told the Class of 2012, "You're f**ked."

As someone who constantly questions the ivory tower of higher education, there are alternatives to the four-year college degree springing up left and right. For example, 2012 was the second year of the Thiel Fellowship, a two-year program that offers $100,000 to 20 people under 20 years of age (Full disclosure: I was a semi-finalist last year). The catch? Fellows have to stop out of school for two years. Applications for the 2013 class are due shortly.

In addition, a few months ago, I wrote about a new nonprofit called E[nstitute]. It is a tuition-free—including housing—two-year apprenticeship program that "provides an alternative path to traditional post-secondary education." The 15 fellows have been working under entrepreneurs for the past few months. The application period for next year's class is now open. Apprenticeship opportunities have expanded to digital media and advertising companies as well as nonprofit and social good organizations.

3. Caine's Arcade: You've probably heard of the 9-year-old boy from Los Angeles, Caine Monroy. Over his summer vacation in 2011, with his imagination, he built a makeshift arcade in his father’s auto-parts shop. His father George Monroy gave him all the cardboard, tape, markers, and scissors he needed. Remember, this was summer vacation. As one writer put it, Caine “didn’t have summer camp, swimming lessons, soccer league, violin practice, a Mandarin tutor or anything that could even remotely be called an ‘enrichment activity.’” His father gave him the opportunity to engage in unstructured play. After 280 hours and a professional video documenting his efforts, Caine became a viral sensation, with millions of YouTube hits. And he did it without listening to lectures, reading textbooks, or filling in Scantrons.

Would you look at that?

Forbes magazine believes Caine will be a billionaire in the next 30 years. I wouldn't bet a dime against him. Albert Einstein's saying is fitting: "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

4. Chicago Teachers Strike: In September, the world witnessed thousands of Chicago teachers taking to the picket lines for the first time in a quarter of a century. The point of the strike was to stop the corporate reform takeover, which I described as pushing for “mayoral, not local control, closing schools and turning them over to charter corporations, evaluation of students and teachers with test scores, and weakening teachers unions.” Teacher bashing is a popular campaign around the country. But the blame game must end.

I was reminded of the struggle in the aftermath of the tragic Sandy Hook elementary school shootings where the media lauded the teachers as heroes. I read a tweet that went like this: "Those who bash teachers, remember they are the ones who will literally take a bullet for your child." I'm looking at you Mayor Emanuel, Eli Broad, Michelle Rhee, and Michael Bloomberg. How dare you disrespect our "nation builders?"

5. Massively Open Online Courses—MOOCs: Journalists are calling MOOCS "a revolution." I chuckle. How ignorant can someone be about education if they think hearing lectures from talking heads, taking quizzes and tests, and writing essays are a revolution? I'm not impressed. In an interview, educator Roger Schank calls MOOCS a "joke." Moshe Y. Vardi writes, "If I had my wish, I would wave a wand and make MOOCs disappear." Me too. One headline of a blog post is: "We can do better than lecture videos."

Let's bring learning back to the learners. Why are we disregarding the brilliant work of progressive educators like John Dewey, Maria Montessori, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Freire? We need to allow students to craft their own learning experiences through projects, apprenticeships, and hands-on engagement. In Anya Kamenetz's book DIY U, she argues that the DIY thinking reverts us back to the "basics—the universitas (guild) and the collegium (community). People everywhere will have a greater ability to create their own learning communities and experiences within and outside institutions." My advice: Let's get over the fads and understand that learning is best done through doing, creating, and exploring.

**

We're at the cusp of a learning revolution. Seth Godin writes in his new book The Icarus Deception, "When those who love you speak of a life well lived, we'll talk about the lines you managed to color outside of, the people you touched, and the ruckus you made. Most of all, we'll remember how you took a chance and connected with us." Those words should guide us as we travel into the new year—another opportunity to "put a ding in the universe." Let's go make some chaos in education.