Yes, Disney does inspire. The theme parks, the movies—they are awe inspiring and often bigger than life. A recent article entitled "To inspire, schools take a page from Disney" by Michael Alison Chandler in the Washington Post, noted that more than 300 school systems and charter school operators had undergone Disney training in the past two years to help them improve performance. Improve performance? With the help of Disney? How does that work?
For those of us that have been to one of the Disney theme parks it’s abundantly apparent that the people who work there are happy, happy, happy to be there. And, they are happy to make you happy about being there too. One of the first things new employees learn is that they can help make dreams come true.
So, educators are learning from Disney how to create an environment to motivate teachers to make dreams come true and in turn to help create a place where kids are happy to learn and be at school. The ultimate goal is to raise the level of education by changing the way kids experience school. As we all know, the reason for Disney’s theme parks and movies is to experience fun! Why not make school fun too with Mickey and Minnie standing by in the shadows watching kids get an education in a way that can make us all smile.
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Comments (4)
This article is so funny my sides hurt. Without sounding like too much of a luddite, the problems within education stem deeper than 'smiles on faces' and a tablespoon of Disney isn't going to fix it in any meaningful way.
I object to the way that this article is written- as if the teachers are the problem. They're not. The teachers are (mostly) intelligent, 'can-do' people with a good sense of their own specialist subject. They are asked to motivate and manage dozens of students and guide them through the next sector of their lives. This is thankless, soul- destroying work at times, often, with the students fighting them at every step of the way. For some reason in the States (and the UK), the buck stops with the teachers, and the parents are left unaccountable for their stupid lazy children. Why this is, I'm not sure.
I'm not saying there aren't bad teachers- there are- but there are bad employees in any number of given occupations in The World, who don't get half as hard a time as the lowly teacher.
And by the way, why should school be fun?! Yes, there are some parts of it that can be made 'fun' (Lord, I hate that word), but let's face it- a lot of subjects aren't fun- they're boring and serious but that doesn't mean they're not important. Why is so much focus put on the 'F' word... because my lessons aren't fun they're not meaningful or educational?!- Wrong!
Within the context of VFX there are many aspects that are not fun, in fact none of the techniques within VFX are not fun- roto? tracking? rig removal?! These are topics that will numb your brain quicker than you can say 'industrial light and magic' my point is that they are absolutely necessary, but in no way 'fun'.
Why can't we all admit that education isn't for everyone? Why can't we start that discussion? I don't know why, but it seems to me that we're all different on this planet, some of us built to study and some of us are not.
Hello Alex,
I read your comments with interest. Mostly because I have been thinking of writing my own response to this article in the Washington Post from a UK's perspective. Stay tuned. I'll post something shortly in our UK blog.
Best,
Isabelle
Cool Isabelle, I'll look forward to that.
Alex
I think instead of fun, what engages students is 'interesting'. As you said Alex, roto and tracking can't be considered fun, but from the POV of a beginner VFX artist (at least in my case), learning about the process is definitely interesting.
On a side note, I'm not too sure that Disney is the right role model for employers, regardless | http://goo.gl/jzTc9
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