Since understanding of what constitutes superior education that will
help almost all students excel and produce fully functional citizens
seems to be poor for many people and countries, I've created this blog with the hope that it will help to improve education worldwide. I'm on a mission to educate because as long as education continues to be what it is, the masses will always remain the "great unwashed", and the super-rich will continue to exert inordinate and unfair control over the world, simply because they earned or inherited great wealth from a broken system. We are not boxed products, chickens or robots; we are humans, and we can excel if we are given education that has that as its goal: excellence, full effort to reach full potential, and a better world for the future generations instead of a dystopian world that will seem like Dante's Inferno.
Audience
This blog is useful
for just about everyone, but I think parents, those who are studying to
become educators, new educators in a traditional education system,
politicians and board members who are involved in the decision-making
process for education, and even traditional teachers will be able to
benefit from what I will, over time, share in this blog. In addition,
I'm available to teach groups about progressive and transformative
education.
Feedback
This is a work in progress, and it has been since I started researching in 2005. I had been teaching since around 2000, and I'd become quite dis-satisfied with traditional teaching, and decided that I needed to learn more. Therefore, if you note what appears to be an omission in an article, please let me know. If there's something you had hoped to see in the list of topics, may be added to the list over time, but please do let me kow. If you think I've made an error, please tell me - but do so nicely. I'm ever so interested in getting constructive feedback, but if you are offensive I shall most likely file your comments in the circular bin - the garbage can - without bothering to respond to you. I do not wish to be baited and trolled, and I don't appreciate people making personal attacks against me, especially when they don't even know me! So, be objective, constructive and pleasant, and I shall be happy to hear from you. You can contact me on Facebook and LinkedIn (Glenn McGrew II), and I'm also on Google+ and Twitter. Or just leave comments after each article.
Sources
Academicians love sources and why not? It allows people to look through what has been used as the foundation of research and determine its worth, as well as do their own research. Last year, my back-up hard drive was stolen and, with it, most of my resources, including books, articles, films and links. As a result, I am hard-pressed to give a list. It would've been an unbearably long list if I still had my HDD. So, as the Buddha supposedly said: "Don't believe what I tell you. Go out and discover for yourself."
I did have the chance to meet another educator who had spent 7 years or so researching better ways to educate, completely without any awareness of my own work. I chanced to meet her twice in 2015 and I was very surprised to discover that the results of her research mirrored my own in almost all respects. She was one of the consultants for the English part of the 2013 Curriculum for Indonesia.
Experience
I have researched on education and related subjects, discussed and debated with experts and colleagues from around the globe, and I have given several presentations and workshops on the topic of education during my time in Indonesia, including at General Diponegoro University, Semarang, General Soedirman University, Purwokerto, Siliwangi University, Tasikmalaya, the National Institute of Islamic Religion, Purwokerto, MGMP of (teacher's association), Banyumas and other counties, as well as at independent events on education. The knowledge I have accumulated dovetails very well with Indonesia's new educational system, KurTiLas. I did some training when I was working in the US at a few companies. I taught at courses and schools in Indonesia starting in 2001, as well as taking on private students. I most often teach about education, the environment, and English, and I give motivational presentations fairly often.
