Voice activated pencils – "The school that we'd like"

A school in a giant submarine with waterproof maps of the underwater  world.

Private helicopters to fly children to France for their French lessons.

Voice-activated pencils.

Rocket launch pads to take pupils on trips to distant planets to study the solar system.

Canteen robots instead of dinner ladies.

Clean toilets, swimming pools, a jug of water in every classroom, enough computers and books to go round, fast food school dinners, comfortable uniforms, flexible timetables, chill-out rooms and quieter school bells.

- the Guardian

The school that I’d like was first published in 1967. Decades later the Guardian (UK) newspaper repeated the exercise and asked children about their hopes and wishes for the school of their dreams. Students spend years of their life in school so it seems fitting to ask them for their insight and engage their imagination and intellect in shaping the experience. Some 15, 000 children participated . They were again articulate and passionate about how they wanted school to be. The article went on to say:

The… competition has unleashed the most imaginative, stimulating and provocative challenges to our educational system. And those challenges have come entirely from children. Entrusted with designing their own schools, where they spend an average working week, they have grasped the opportunity. They want change.

In summary the children wanted:

A beautiful school ….

A comfortable school…..

A safe school ….

A listening school ….

A flexible school ….

A relevant school ….

A respectful school ….

A school without walls ….

A school for everybody….

For more you will have to read the original article. I might not agree with every detail -and some of the flights of fancy are pretty wild – but the kids are onto something.

What do you think?