From Chris Lehman’s ribbon-cutting remarks on Thursday…
There is another idea central to the creation of the Science Leadership Academy – and that is that schools can no longer exist in a vacuum in our society. We need students to be able to see beyond the walls of their school, beyond the boundaries of their neighborhoods to the see themselves and their learning as part of a much larger world. We live in an age of interconnectedness, where the global village has allowed us access to information at a rate faster than in any time in human history. We must give students the tools to critically analyze that information, to make judgments for themselves, to draw their own conclusions and then to join that debate as informed and impassioned citizens of this country and our world. Today, more than ever before, it is our task to prepare students to be involved in the world around them, to be content producers as well as content consumers, and to be active participants in their immediate community of Philadelphia and the world beyond our city limits. Our students must understand that learning is not limited by the walls of the school or the hours of the school day, but rather that it is a lifelong, 24/7/365 endeavor.
Amen. Amen.
(And by the way…check out how they actually cut the ribbon. Too cool!)
technorati tags:learning20, education, school20
I was hoping you’d like that. 🙂