By Mario deSantis, March 21, 1999

My son Eric is attending grade 12 in Nipawin, Saskatchewan, and his experiences are a testimony of the shortcomings of our educational system. Last semester, he took a class in physics and the related textbook included the description of the concepts of distance, velocity and acceleration through the mathematical understanding of the derivatives. At that time, my son was not taking Calculus yet and I mentioned how inappropriate this textbook was for the students. At the beginning of this semester, Eric, concerned that a teacher was marking his assignments down, asked him why he would receive such mediocre marks. The teacher mentioned that he told the students five times what to expect in the classroom and that Eric was marked down because he didn't listen; Eric became disenchanted by this incident and decided to drop out of the related course.

These experiences are typical of our students and point to the shortcomings of our educational system to compartmentalize the curriculum courses and to conceptualize the imparting of knowledge as a transfer of independent facts from the authoritarian teacher, the only source of knowledge, to the passive attentive students. When our students score statistically low grades in literacy standardized tests across Canada, the remedy is more of the same: another curriculum! This new curriculum--per se--will effect "...improvements in higher order skills..."(1) What a shame and run around we must bear from our governmental bureaucrats and politicians. After a "...mea culpa..."(2) in healthcare, it is now the turn for "...reinvestment in education..."(3) Our politicians and bureaucrats don't understand yet that cultural changes are not a matter of money but a matter of mind(4). This brainwashing educational philosophy to conceptualize knowledge as an objective reality to be dumped into the physical brains of students for their later regurgitation at examination time is carried forward to the university level(5). Our students in Saskatchewan are becoming the copycats of North America and if we don't stop this obsolete educational philosophy our students will become the proud successors of our tin pot dictators(6)(7) (8); isn't it scary? Does anybody care? I care, and my children care, we don't want to become the servile copycats of these shameful tin pot dictators.

In our previous articles we explained how we construct our own knowledge through our perceptual realities and how the proposed educational approach, System Dynamics, would establish a unifying foundation for the different fields of study. The implementation of System Dynamics in our educational system would provide a rich environment compatible with the most progressive educational philosophies(9) of a learner centred classroom, where students work together along with their teachers and use their imagination and shared knowledge to build models--virtual realities--of our world.

In the next article, I will be describing a simple model constructed through the VENSIM software package and at this time I want to introduce the terms: system, structure, and behaviour of the system. A system is the model created through an iterative and participative approach and it is composed of a set of elements interacting continuously over time. The elements of the system are called variables and their relationships and connections to each other form the structure of the system. Finally, the behaviour of the system refers to the way the variables change over time.

Endnotes

1. Sask. Students score low grade in literacy, By Kevin O'Connor, The StarPhoenix, March 11, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

2. Mea culpa prelude to election, by Mark Wyatt, The StarPhoenix, FORUM, March 19, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

3. Provincial election can't be far behind, by Bonny Braden, The StarPhoenix, March 16, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

4. Systems Dynamics in Education: Thinking Differently, February 21, 1999. Published in the North Central Internet News http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantis35/SysDyn-Feb21-99.htm

5. Unconventional Knowledge, by Mario deSantis, July 19, 1998. Published in the North Central Internet News

6. Hiding behind gag orders too common, SP Opinions, previous last sentence of the article, The StarPhoenix, Page C4-Weekend Forum, February 6, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

7. U of S hassles force early exits, by Robert A. Carlson, The StarPhoenix, March 11, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

8. Saskatchewan Tin Pot Dictatorships: Lack of Integrity Is Lack of Leadership, by Mario deSantis, February 8, 1999. Published in the North Central Internet News

9. Project Zero's research programs span a wide variety of ages, academic disciplines, and sites, but share a common goal: the development of new approaches to help individuals, groups, and institutions learn to the best of their capacities. http://pzweb.harvard.edu/Research/Research.htm