PLANK SEVEN:
STANDARDIZED CURRICULUM…NOT

"Instead of a national curriculum for education, what is really needed is an individual curriculum for every child."

CHARLES HANDY
IRISH AUTHOR AND PHILOSOPHER

When it comes to education, one size does not fit all. Despite our highly-industrialized modern society, there is no way to automate learning. Even today, every child's education should be hand-crafted, with knowledge patiently passed from the teacher to the mind of the student.

We should not forget that the student is the customer. This will likely require a significant on-going investment to revise existing curricula and to create a wide variety of the absolutely best teaching methods for each subject that can serve as the antidote to any symptoms of torpor in the classroom. We should allow

principals and teachers to select the curriculum that best fits the needs of their particular students. We should spend the necessary funds to produce the best algebra course or the best western history course, as needed. These curricula should be both academically rigorous and high on the fun quotient. Most importantly, different curriculum approaches need to recognize that students learn differently; that pace of learning varies from child to child, and; that there is likely not just one way that will work for everyone.

Policymakers should take extreme care when considering whether the use of technology is appropriate for advancing a school's education mission. Today's technology is expensive to acquire, expensive to maintain and expensive to replace because of its rapid obsolescence. However, if a principal and his team decide that the investment in technology is justified, there are some exciting developments to consider.

An appropriate use of technology would be