What did you think of school?  Was it a good experience for you? How is school working for you and your own kids?

I had great friends and some good teachers, but I still hated just about every second of my school days.

…and yet it was a bit of a surprise to me when the TechBandits launched into an impromptu, Education Takedown?!

I like to let our TechBandits sessions wander where they will.  There’s a lot going on in our live sessions, but it’s a way of communicating that the Bandits seem very at home with and they seem to enjoy the variety of topics that the platform inspires. There’s a ton of text comments from our fabulous and highly active, Twitch viewers and almost as much back and forth between the Bandits on our accompanying discord channel, where they can share thoughts, links and pictures and the like amongst themselves.  But every so often a Bandit comes in with something that they want to talk about…and those are my favourite, especially when that topic resonates with the other Bandits!   

This week a few of our Bandits complained about school.  It’s no surprise to hear kids complaining about school, but this was different.  The thing that struck me was how consistent the series of complaints were.  The issues the Bandits had with their schooling were not just coming from what I’d say are probably non-neuro-typical learners, but also from those who seem to be doing very well in the existing system!?  And these weren’t just about the current state of education with all the COVID pandemic disruptions. 

I started TechBandits because I was worried that kids weren’t equating learning with fun…they seemed to start their school days (certainly in The UK, US and Canada…from my experience) full of wonder and curiosity and full of passion to learn everything they can about anything they could…but just a few years later, these same kids were bored, uninspired and desperate to escape school any chance they get!?  This week I was being told the same thing from my TechBandits…and not only that, they had a video rallying cry that they feel backs them up!

Wikipedia and YouTube seem to be the predominant sources of information for our Bandits… and the amazing power of YouTube to shape and inform, educate and entertain our kids is both terrifying and wonderful.  I like to remind the Bandits about is to check the facts…research multiple sources and look out for misleading or flat out untruths. The Bandits presented me with the following video from Prince EA.  This is a YouTuber who all the Bandits seem to be familiar with…I’d never heard of him! And I have pointed out that it was funded in some way shape or form by an almost 16 billion Euro a year oil refining and marketing company based out of Finland.

If you are a parent, a teacher, or have even a passing interest in education, or education reform I really think you should watch this video because it resonates so much with kids. It’s well made…possibly because of that big oil corporation?!   There was some heated pushback in the Twitch chat about the validity of Prince EA’s claims that there hasn’t been changes in education for over 150 years.  But this guy’s message obviously resonates with the Bandits and they were really passionate about it:

I’m trying to find out what works and what doesn’t with kids and learning…in the hopes of turning them all into life long learners.  My assumption, based on what works for me, is inspiration over education. I feel that if you’re not inspired, then no amount of education is going to teach you what you need to know…but if you’re inspired then nothing will stop you!

Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Brilliant!

Cheers,

D!

PS.  We’ll be talking with a Magic The Gathering gaming expert on Wednesday February 17th at 4pm EST…please feel free to join us and let your trading card gaming friends or family know!