Her Name is Lilly

She is the perfect student. Her clothes are pressed and neat, totally professional at age 12. Her hair is mostly braided or in a pony tail to keep it out of her face. But when it is down, she is so serene that she never fiddles with it. She focuses with a force that nearly makes the paper smoke in front of her. Mind like a trap she knows how to learn. She pays attention, knows just what to take down into her notebook. She completes worksheets with speed accuracy and efficiency. Tests are like candy to her. She leans in and dumps all of her brilliance onto the pages.

She is awesome. I meet about 2% of students like Lilly. The school system is 100% geared towards this type of learner. The rest of the rainbow of learning styles do not succeed to that level in school. That makes up about 98% struggle in the traditional school environment. Schools have responded by putting more pretty pictures in text books and brining virtual experiences to the schools that can afford multi media.

The truth is, most students struggle in the traditional school system. This system was created in the late 1800s to supply factory workers to a newly industrialized world. This was a well ordered world where workers did the same task over and over. Work was punctuated by the blow of a whistle. Workers punched in and out, had neat box lunches, and carefully completed paperwork and filed it appropriately. School was developed to train kids to be well controlled workers. They are required to show up on time, work hard without complaining and take home a grade, representing a paycheck.

But that world no longer exists. Gone are the days of American factory assembly lines — to India, Bangladesh, China, Honduras and Mexico. Gone are the days of the 40 year corporate career. Todays world is an innovative, team based, project oriented environment.