Cultivating Passion

During the month of September I spent a lot of time in hospitals tending to my mother. Recently, I spent a day waiting for her open heart surgery and thought I would meander down to the gift shop to pass time. While there, I stumbled upon the book, The Mayo Brothers' Heritage: Quotes and Pictures. In the waiting room my sister was looking through the book and stumbled upon three quotes provided by the doctors William J. Mayo and Charles H. Mayo.

"Probably in the not far distant future we will crawl out of our old methods of education, as a snake sheds its skin, and reorganize a new plan." (Mayo, 1928)

Here we are, 89 years later, and we are finally reorganizing a new plan for educating our students. The JWP School District is well along its way in creating a personalized learning environment to ensure all students are learning at high levels. Specifically, we define personalized learning as an individualized learner-centered, teacher-guided partnership designed to reach intended learning goals. Although it has taken quite some time to shed the proverbial snake skin, we are making great progress.

"One of the chief defects in our plan of education in this country is that we give too much attention to developing the memory and too little to developing the mind; we lay too much stress on acquiring knowledge and too little on the wise application of knowledge." (Mayo, 1933)

With the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) into the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the federal government missed the boat. Our elected officials had a great opportunity to steer accountability away from standardized tests and to create a new system that fostered creativity and innovation. 

In 1933 William J. Mayo understood that the educational system at the time cared more about the student's ability to fill in bubbles on an assessment and recall knowledge. At the time, he was urging a change in the world of education. The desire was to allow students to apply their learning and pursue passions. It is now 2017 and the system as a whole puts more value on rote memorization than the application of knowledge. At JWP, we believe students should pursue passions and apply learning.

"Instruction from teachers and books teaches a man what to think, but the great need is that he should learn how to think." (Mayo, 1938)

At JWP we work hard to ensure our students possess a mastery of learning. It is our goal that students leave our schoolhouse gate college, career, and life ready. A great measuring stick for our educational effectiveness is if our students are contributing to and improving our society. It is imperative that our students are able to think critically, apply learning, and inspire growth and development. This success is fostered at JWP!

In closing, JWP is committed to ensuring our students are provided an outstanding educational experience, an experience in which they develop into outstanding contributors to our society and have the ability to cultivate their passions!