Isn't That Interesting!

By Ron Rude

"But I'm not interested," cried the child.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! The child is bored," lamented the reformer, waving his hands and running about in circles. "Hurry! Hurry! We've got to rebuild the universe to suit her."

"No," muttered the cynic. "She must rebuild it herself."

In an essay that appeared this past spring in these pages, the filmmaker George Lucas is quoted as follows: "My own experience in public school was quite frustrating. I was often bored. Occasionally, I had a teacher who engaged me, who made me curious and motivated to learn. I wondered, 'Why can't school be interesting all of the time?'" ( "Seeking Edutopia," May 16, 2001.)

The essay's writer uses Mr. Lucas' question as a springboard for launching his version of what public schools need. Like other idealistic critics, he assumes that schools are "deeply rooted in the past." He also assumes that the unhappy public school experience of the few makes a valid condemnation of the entire system. And he hints that the failure so far of technology to revolutionize education is due to the fact that educators...