Born to Learn: Class Reunion
“Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, let me do and I understand” – Confucius
We’re delighted to link to the 21st Century Learning Initiative’s newest video, Born to Learn: Class Reunion.
This second animation unpacks very neatly the significance of Confucius’s explanation that essentially it is only when you take the responsibility of having to do something for yourself that you really start to learn.
Which is almost an analogy for what the Initiative is experiencing at this moment. The book which we published a year and a half ago ‘Overschooled but Undereducated: How the crisis in education is jeopardizing our adolescents’ was described at the time as “possibly the most important and significant book that young people and those involved in education will read.” This is available from any good bookshop, or through Amazon. Once you have read your copy please pass on to other people. The first animation has been downloaded in 171 countries and so, one day, it may be translated into other languages. We have had many very strong endorsements to these ideas but we are discovering that the new communication technologies are, for many people, sidelining the printed text. It is because of this that we see the importance of these animations which very quickly, and in a way that is both fun and fascinating, transmit key aspects of the pedagogic change that is needed. A third animation is being prepared for early in the autumn.
For enough people to really understand what is involved in building a new model of schooling, large numbers of people need to read this book. The intention therefore for each of these animations, and those which we hope will follow, is to awaken an enthusiasm to do that reading, and so develop sufficient numbers of people who can persuade the politicians that these are the critical issues that have to be addressed.
Once you have seen the animation and checked on the FAQs do please pass this on to as many of your contacts as possible. Because of the numerous networks to which those of you who see these animations have access, that first video has been viewed more than 50,000 times.
Donations
If you are in a position to help financially with the production of subsequent animations we would be extraordinarily grateful if you could send us a donation through Paypal. We have set up a payment facility on the Born to Learn site at www.born-to-learn.org/donate The cost of a four minute animation is between £12-13,000 which is expensive for a small charity, but with more than 50,000 people having seen the first video this is a highly effective way of disseminating the message. To enable us to produce more high quality animations please do help us collect the funds to do this. Literally every little helps and it is worth noting that if you divide £10,000 by 50,000 viewers, 20p is not expensive for delivering this message to a newcomer. For £ read $, € or any other currency. If you have any separate suggestions, or are able to make an even larger contribution, please send them to mail@21learn.org marked for the personal attention of John Abbott.
