What if...

What if we let students study what they wanted and we taught them the math, science, social, oral skills and reading skills that go along with it. Instead of forcing the students to learn what we want them to learn why don't we teach them what they want to learn? I recently read an article on student learning and how they retain knowledge. It spoke about how we don't store new information in our long-term memory until we ascribe meaning and relevance to our prior knowledge. Being in the discipline of mathematics I spend a good deal of my time going over concepts and ideas that were covered in the course or sometimes even the two previous courses. Students ability to recall prior learning is becoming a serious stumbling block to further learning built on prior knowledge.
My feeling is that if a student is allowed to select some topic or idea to study then the relevance and meaning will be more likely to occur since the students motivation to learn is intrinsically driven because of the self declared interest in the topic. For example, when a young boy is all of a sudden introduced to the land of dinosaurs they will read every little bit of information about them and can recall names and facts that I'm sure most paleontologists would have to look up. If we are there to guide them in their discovery of learning we can emphasize the math, science, English, etc. within their selected area of interest.
Now obviously their is going to be questions of how can we guarantee all students will be getting the same education? And, how can we assess and evaluate what they do know? First of all, I don't think we can say that even now every student is receiving the same education. The gaps in resources from one school to another and various curricula being taught throughout the country is preventing students from getting equal opportunities in our education system. Secondly, the way we have traditionally assessed and evaluates students is superficial and irrelevant in my humble opinion. So would we really be that far off than we are now if we just let them learn what they wanted to learn and guided them to the different avenues of leaning along the way? At least they might remember something.

I have recently come across some software that incorporates such an idea. Now I am not endorsing this companies software but I think it has huge potential to open students up to discovery and expose them to cross-curricular learning. I will give you an example. Let's say a student was interested in birds and wanted to make a bird house. During this process the student could learn about the birds that might inhabit their bird house (biology). Along with that they may look at environmental issues(which could lead to social issues) that may be affecting these certain species of birds(Science, Social Studies). Also, the student could learn about ratio and proportions of the house, slope of the roof, cost to make it (math). The student could also learn about different types of wood to use, which is strongest, easiest to build with (physics). The student could learn about supply and demand, marketing and budgeting if they wanted to produce for distribution (business/accounting/English). Maybe they could look up how different cultures view birds and what role they have in their society and how birds have been viewed in the past (History). This is just an example but you can see where it can lead.
This may not be the answer or maybe just the tip of the iceberg, but I think the way we approach leaning has to be changed to incorporate and encourage student inquiry and love of learning.