Jan 16, 2026 Reflection
In this first blog post I am reflecting on the educational approach described in the documentary “Most Likely to Succeed”, as well as the importance of following FIPPA, and the incorporation of creative commons images in blog posts.
Most Likely To Succeed had a lot of interesting points about education, and proposed an interesting alternative education model based on inquiry projects, which moves away from standardization and testing. Two flaws with the documentary that I’ve seen pointed out are the total lack of female teachers and experts, as well as the oversimplification of the history of education.
When it comes to educational practices, I don’t think we need to reinvent the wheel, however there are many ways of refreshing the ways in which we teach to keep it relevant. Educators must adapt their teaching methods to the students in their classes. Any given educational model has flaws, and when used in isolation from influence of other models, those flaws become pronounced. A teacher can incorporate aspects from multiple models to serve their students well, as the strengths of one will cover the weaknesses of the other. Ultimately this should be left up to the judgment of teachers, who can receive feedback directly from their students, and assess what is and isn’t working with their class in any given week.
Unfortunately, when teachers try methods different from current norms and standards, they often get a lot of pushback from parents, students, admin, and other teachers. Humans tend to be averse to change and uncertainty, so as seen with MLTS, students know that performing highly on standard tests puts them on a specific path to college, whereas the uncertainty of how life skills could benefit their futures is less appealing.
The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act serves to protect people from having their personal information displayed and distributed. As teachers working with vulnerable people, aka minors, it’s extremely important that we follow FIPPA guidelines to protect our students.
Using creative commons-licensed images in blog posts breaks up the large wall of text into manageable chunks, making it more accessible and interesting, and contributing to a better flow. Readers may also find it more memorable, having appropriate visuals accompanying the words.