Challenge & Adventure as Educational Experiences

The Government now seems to be worried that kids are losing out by not having the opportunity to get the learning experience offered outside of the classroom.

Of course the core delivery mechanism of the Scout Association for nearly 100 years has been just this very avenue. However, the Scout Association itself seems to be moving further away using challenge and adventure as an educational experience, and more as an entertainment experience.

Or is this just my bias about the changes that have happened to Scouting over the past few years?

Mini - manifestos

I like this idea from Gaping Void - the mini manifesto - Powerful ideas that could be easily summed up in 500 words or less.

There's a list of those already submitted here, however the Classroom 2.0 manifesto from Clarence Fisher strikes a chord.

Confidence, desire and a hunger to perform….

Andy Monfrieds post about creating value in a start-up.

An Insidious Parasite

What's the difference between these two groups of companies:
- O2, Pilkington, Manchester United and (in the not too distant future) Scottish Power, and
- Endesa, Danone, the Italian banking industry, and the US airline industry

Well according to The Herald, the first group represents a groupd of UK based companies who have been taken over by overseas companies, and the second are overseas companies (industries) that receive protection from their own Government to protect them from being bought over by overseas companies.

According to new CBI President, Sir John Sunderland, this protectionism within the developed economies of the world represent an "insidious parasite" that prevents the level playing.

Where's e-Learnings Pizzazz ?

The Search is On

Getting to Maybe

Harold Jarche has pulled a great comment from the book "Getting to Maybe":

"Similarly, we organize our schools to be efficient in supplying education to large numbers and largely unresponsive to the wide range of learning styles and capacities that we know exists. Then we diagnose those who cannot learn efficiently as suffering from learning disorders and attempt to treat them, not the system."

I tend to refer to it as mass producing mediocre learning experiences, but this quote pretty much captures things.

The Desperate State of English Football

Now coming from north of the border, this may not be the most neutral of posts, but I can't believe how happy the English seem to be about their result with Holland last night.

Looking at the two teams on show, it was set to be an entertaining spectacle, so it should be worth bearing the inane drivel the commontators spout when it comes to the English and their sport.

However, this had to be balanced with the fact that neither team had been performing to their potential of late, so you could expect a fair bit of experimentation to give them the opportunity of getting the crap out of the system.

What I saw last night though, was a poor looking Dutch side keep possession (the bulk of it in the English half of the pitch) for approaching 70% of the game.

The Dutch game was about getting the ball to Robben and Kuyt, and seeing what happened as a result.

The English tactic was about getting 11 men behind the ball and hitting the home team on the break as fast as they could.

However, having listened briefly to the commontators and match summarisers, and reading what Steve MacLaren had to say, I think I was watching a different game. The consensus seems to be that England were the better team, and were unfortunate to lose a goal in the last couple of minutes. The game showed a great deal of progress over recent performances.

I'm sorry, but are you telling me that with the talent which England have at their call, they are happy with this crap. England were awful, diabolical, and played like a team in fear of their opposition.

For England, this game was all about not losing. They had 10 subs on their bench, but it was 76 minutes before they used their first. They were leading at this point, and McLaren was desperate not to throw it away.

I shouldn't complain though, for if this is the way England are to play over the next few years, then I can be pretty confident that Scotland will give them a sound thrashing the next time they play.

Parlour Tricks in the Classroom

Donald Clark takes a shot at NLP.

The Handy Guide to the Gurus

A series from the BBC World Service where Charles Handy examines the roles and teachings of Business Gurus, with text, audio and an explanation of common management terms.