What happens when you change the system?

Check out this article from Sir Ken Robinson. This is an article about the transformation of an ELEMENTARY school in Massachusetts that employed 6 security guards and no backpacks could be carried for the fear of students carrying in weapons.

From the article:

"The school had more than eight hundred students, most of whom qualified for free or reduced lunches. Half the students were learning English as a second language, and one in five were on individual learning plans for special needs. The school’s problems were not its students, Bott said. It needed a new approach to education. Having a broader curriculum, rich in the arts, engaged the whole student and promoted higher levels of achievement across the board."

The takeaway:

"The transformation of Orchard Gardens didn’t depend on any new laws being passed. All it took was a leader with the vision to see beyond the conventional habits of schools to the opportunities to do education differently."