... that a director never known for his ability to properly communicate with actors on the set of a film would be preaching to others about the importance of communication?

Folks, let's not equate wealth with wisdom.

I could not agree with you more, Mr. Lucas. After 33 years in education, I can safely say that No Child Left Behind has been stunningly unsuccessful in its mission, and we need more influential voices like yours reminding the education community that there is much more to learning than the very limited scope of the high-stakes test that continues to drive day-to-day instruction in most of our nation's classrooms. Edutopia offers me electronic respite when I feel discouraged and real hope for a more meaningful education for all students.

Mr. Lucas,
It is true that all educational systems in America needs complete overhaul lest none of our children will ever be able to read past a 6th grade level. Those of us that are innovative in the classroom have been fired, laid off, or forced into retirement so we no longer upset the status-qo, (No Child Left Behind or as we call it "No Child Left With a Mind.")I am seeking a career with an establishment such as yours so we can raise the bar and get kids out of the classroom and into the sun.I would like to change, for example, Industrial Arts into Film Production.It would work well in New Mexico.

Teachers who are doing exactly as you are suggesting and are being canned, laid off or forced into early retirement,like I was. I learned about your Foundation and agree the curriculum needs to change and that is why kids aren't being educated. I am seeking a career in such a Foundation as yours because it shows there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Ron Sease, Indusrtrial Arts Teacher

When I started teaching, I made sure that vocabulary was a huge part of my art classroom environment, and related it across life. Kindergarten students learn about patterns in mandelas and flowers; first graders make sculptures from split logs; second graders a clay, scaled puzzle of Van Gogh and the list goes on. Now, As an art teacher in the elementary school, looking at loosing my job after five years, due to budget cuts, I feel a huge gap will be stretched even further in my student's learning. I have to agree with Mr. Lucas because I understand that our children are more interested in learning in a visual way, and that is due to our ever-changing visual world. But, when we eliminate this form of communication from the equation, their math and reading comprehension plummets. I also teach 9th grade English and find myself, more and more, wondering why learning what a verb is and why it's more important than scale, portraits or graphing, patterns in nature, classifying materials, or the history of our cultures (which is ALL based upon art - architecture, textiles, culinary, transportation, etc); what about the rhythm of how a story moves, or the way light moves through a spectrum, or the beat of a poem? aren't these all important to link everything in education together? Two thumbs way up George, but how do we change the minds of our government, our states, our school boards to realize the importance of critical thinking creatively and to save the most important, those that can not be tested on paper?

Comments from any one person tend to be an evaluation of strengths and weaknesses as perceived by that person. The true potential of new forms of educating will come when we find a way to successfully communicate, in an engaging way, the material we want the student to learn.

One of the great strengths of electronic media is the potential to create a refined and effective lesson through collaboration and then share the product with a very large number of classrooms.

A short example would be to:
1. Decide what material needs to be learned.
2. Find the best teachers and most successful methods for teaching the material.
3. Produce a video that enhances the teachers’ ability to present the lessons.
4. Share the produced video with classroom teachers who are charged with teaching those same lessons.
5. Have the classroom teachers work with their individual students to the point of mastery of the material.
6. Move up to the next level.

It is easy to see in Mr. Lucas’ video that educators are very sensitive to change. This is usually because they are so often being told they have to try something different. The example presented here would be the teachers helping themselves. I think Mr. Lucas is right, students are much more in tune with the new media. We need to bring better electronic lessons into the classroom to assist and bring relief to teachers and help insure that all of the material is covered. These could not replace the personal interaction, understanding and constant evaluation teachers provide.

Of course much more needs to be said, but the best way to evaluate this idea is to invest in a model program. The first step is to recognize the strength of teachers and of electronic media and merge them at the highest professional level.