Back to the Future of Rows in Classrooms
Great Scott....Search for a photo of a classroom in any era of the 1900's and you will see something peculiar. The classroom arraignment always looks similar; actually they all look nearly identical. The only thing that really changes in the photos is the student and teacher clothing and possible the clarity of the picture. Our education system is resistant to change, very resistant, annoyingly resistant. The same classroom setup with forward facing straight rows is a byproduct of our industrial revolution school system. At the time it served an important purpose for education. However, nearly everything has changed in the world outside of that classroom. Most, if not all, of the companies and careers our students will have will not force them to sit facing forward, discouraged from turning around to communicate with a colleague, to collaborate about how to solve a problem. So if we aren't simulating environments that our students will see in the future, why aren't we changing that picture? Why are we still allowing our classrooms to look the same as they did in 1920, 1940 or 1960?