Common Sense
JONAH GOLDSTEIN EMC2 2017
WELCOME
Welcome to the site, I'm glad you're here. Common Sense is an independent, inquiry-based research project that I am conducting this year for my EMC2 class at Guilderland High School. Throughout this year I will be posting regular Journal entries available in the Journal page, which will shed a light into the regular workings and challenges of my project. More intermittently I will be updating the site with elements of my formal thesis in the Dissertation page. Additionally, I will be posting about the various projects and actions that I am working on with other students, administrators and teachers at Guilderland as part of this project in the Initiatives page. Feel free to browse the Journals for a look into the evolution of this course, the Dissertation page for an understanding of what I have been studying, and the Initiative page to understand what I am currently working on in the community. If you have any questions, please leave them for me in the Questions box to the right. I would love to hear from you, and am excited that you are getting a look at one small project attempting a powerful change.
HAVE A QUESTION?
ABOUT THE COURSE
Through Common Sense, I have focused on understanding the complexities of education so that I can help to effect changes in my home, Guilderland High School of upstate New York, and beyond. Today our nation faces greater challenges than perhaps ever before, and because of this changing world, I believe education to be of special importance. How better to prepare ourselves and our country for the future than to better train our children? Indeed, today’s students are our strongest assets, but how we are preparing them to meet their own futures has become shockingly questionable. A fundamental change in education is needed, which will return the onus of learning to the student and teacher and restore inspiration to the foremost goals of our schools. These are lofty goals, but starting in one’s own local school district is the surest way of effecting them. The goal of this project is to do just that. By starting small and showing the reality of my community, I hope to inspire my peers and my administration to see school differently, and to join in building a better education for all our kids.
ABOUT EMC2
EMC2 is a yearlong independent study, guided by a student’s passion and inquiry. Founded on creative and innovative thinking, the course demands that students conceive, test, and perfect their own project. With regular Journal entries we document our thoughts, and with various larger projects, we analyze and synthesize our research. The main task of my EMC2 project is a formal thesis that will be constructed throughout the year under the input and advisement of a select thesis committee, drawing on all the research and experiences that I have and will continue to accrue. In May, I will conclude my thesis and present it to my peers, school administration, and local stakeholders at a symposium for all EMC2 studies, where my peers and I have the chance to showcase a year's worth of successes, failures, and questions. In EMC2, failure and contemplation are as important as are success and action. Though we applaud conclusions and answers, we cherish questions above all.
