Is Our Education System Still Antiquated?

Last week, my department chair sent me the link to this YouTube clip by RSA Animate about our education system. As an American history teacher, I found it fascinating that our current education system was founded during the industrial age - an era where vertical and horizontal integration led to monopoly, and production was standardized - and many of our schools today look just like those of the late-19th and early-20th century. Of course I know this factually, but I'm surprised there has not been more change over that length of time so that we were not still practicing it. **(If you aren't interested in the history lesson, fast forward to around minute 8, which is really the message today.)

Standardization still sounds like an oft-used word in education today - standardized tests, standardized curriculum...and in my opinion, I'm not a huge fan. It seems to me like our goal at the federal level of government is to have our education system create the same product of the early model of education.  I hope that the Common Core will allow for more flexibility and creativity in the classroom so that this is not the case.

But locally, what can I do now to get my classroom looking less like this model and more like a 21st century classroom? This conversation is occurring all over Twitter & Facebook, but systemic change takes time. I hope I have a good answer for my classes once this school year gets going.