Education Prohibited: Solutions Are Yet to Be Imagined

I found the documentary La Educacion prohibida very provocative and informative. I know a lot about education and I have kept myself up to date on educational reform in the US and in Puerto Rico, but I still learned a lot form the film.  I liked to see images of school kids and schools in Latin America:  it was fun to see the differences as well as the similarities of here.  I once talked with a professor in PR who had taught in Peru I think it was, and I remember her talking about how little resources they had. They basically had nothing but a cold room - no paper, books, or supplies.  They sang a lot and did role plays.  It sounded like fun, but she said that none of the kids liked it.  They didn't like school and didn't want to learn English. It was boring and useless.  "Wow," I remember thinking, "just like here."  She seemed liked a very good and dedicated teacher, but yet, little response.  So this seems to be a feature found all over the world.   I suppose it makes sense given that we all live and feel the same global conditions: stresses on environment, on traditional patterns of family and social relations, the ubiquity of drugs and street violence, of war and political repression.  And we see that the conclusions drawn in the film are very similar to what Logan LaPlante and Ken Robinson say: students need to be nurtured for their individual interests and talents, and allowed to pursue their passions -- guided and assisted, but in a serious manner - no matter what the interest. And I agree when I hear them say this -- all of them: but then I wonder how would that happen on the scale that it needs to? Can for example, the whole state of Colorado, support a few hundred thousand Logan LaPlante's method of learning?  Would they all be able to work in a small workshop making products in their favorite field like he does with designing ski clothing? Could they all grow up to work in skiing industry?  I suppose we would never know unless we try, but it seems unsustainable on a large scale.  IN other words, the solutions that seem to be offered are limited to those communities or people with resources available: either in terms of human resources (people who know how to do creative things at a level of excellence and are willing to teach others) or money.  Which is what most communities have little of.  I heard Ken Robinson talk in another context about some initiatives that have been started in public schools in the states that are very innovative - such as paring kindergartners up with elderly in nursing homes to learn how to read, which seems promising.  As long as the elderly are able to read and well disposed to working with kids.  Perhaps that is the ultimate answer: whatever the solution is to improving education - or making real education possible - we are going to need to be creative about it!