What is
Education?
According to the
Education Act of Ontario: “The purpose of education is to provide
students with the opportunity to realize their potential and develop
into highly skilled, knowledgeable, caring citizens who contribute to
their society.” I would argue that this defines schooling.
Education is so much more.
Education happens
all the time, all around us, particularly with children. Education
is a lifelong process whereby we learn. From the first words to the
last task on our bucket list, we are being educated. We are educated
by parents, teachers, storekeepers, police, older siblings, friends,
relatives, and a myriad of other people whom we meet. We are also
educated by situations and observations. Descartes said that we are
thinking beings. We are also learning beings. We can't help it. We
are always learning.
What is School?
School is a formal
institution which teaches a given curriculum. This can be academic,
skill building, career training, etc. Just as your health and your
doctor are not the same, education and school are not the same. A
school is a part of education but only a part.
What is a Good
Education?
This has been
debated for years and will continue to be debated because we all want
different things from life and for our children. It is up to each
parent or guardian to decide what makes up a good education for the
child. But it is up to our society as a whole to decide what role
our public school system should play in providing that education.
Many Goals : One
System
How can you achieve
many different goals under one standard system? This is the problem
that the Ontario Public Education System has struggled with for many
years. And it is a problem which cannot be solved within the
structure of the current system. As many have explained before, the
public school system is based on a manufacturing model. (Sir Ken
Robinson – Changing Education Paradigms) Given the raw material,
the goal is to turn out the finished product with the most efficiency
and cost-effectiveness. Thus we apply theories of best practices and
maximizing resources. Works with lumber, oil, cars. Not with
children. It is like trying to produce a lovely wooden dining room
table at a car factory. It comes out all wrong.
Children may be raw
material, in some sense, but none of them are the same. So why do we
keep on feeding them into the same system? Because we are shackled
to this system. It is the one that failed us. It is the one that is
failing our children. But it is familiar. It is time to do away
with the familiar and embrace something different. In order to do
that we need to change the very way in which we look at education.
Remember the
characteristics of school: 1) children sorted by grade (age); 2) one
teacher for each group of 30 or so children; 3) teachers deliver the
material and assign the work; 4) students are to do what they are
told and be respectful. That is the ideal situation, for the
traditional school. And it works for some, if the goal is a child
who can listen well, follow instructions, and attain outside goals
for outside rewards (grades or diplomas). Listening well is a good
trait as is following instruction. But I have an issue with
attaining goals for outside rewards. This means that the child is
not learning for himself but for others. That kind of learning does
not develop the individual that he is or could be. That learning
produces the end product that the society thinks it wants. What it
usually does not produce is a happy child.
To get back to
characteristics of school, there are some other things which seem to
be constant: 1) boredom, leading to 'zoning out'; 2) confusion,
leading to 'zoning out'; 3) pressure to conform, not just from peers
but from the system itself which rewards certain types of learning
(oral and visual) and discourages other types (tactile and
kinesthetic); 4) disengagement of students because they are not
interested in the subject matter or are not ready for it. All of
these characteristics lead to a great deal of time and effort being
spent with the net result that little learning is going on. I heard
a great quote about how sitting a child in a classroom and claiming
that you are teaching her is like throwing marshmallows at a child
and claiming that you are feeding her. In order to learn, children
must be engaged. That is so blatantly obvious. And so is the fact
that children are only engaged with subjects that interest them. I
don't mean teaching mathematics by using skate boards as your example
or teaching writing by texting on smart phones. Children are not
that dumb. They can easily spy the lesson amidst the surface
paraphernalia. I mean let the children learn. What they want, how
they want and when they want.
In today's schools
children learn to blindly obey, without being allowed to question
why. They learn to do the minimum amount of work to achieve a goal,
since being punctual with assignments or doing more than asked is
seldom if ever rewarded. They learn to wait while others catch up or
until someone can explain in a different way what was just taught.
They learn that being different is bad, being subservient to adults
is good, that you can only be creative within the boundaries laid
out. They do not learn to take responsibility for their work. They
do not learn self-discipline. They do not learn to always do their
best. They do not learn how to be happy. They do not learn to love
learning. School is a necessary trial to get through. How sad.
Let's start with a
whole new model. Keep the school buildings. They are institutional
and bland but they are already there so we might as well use them.
Ideally we could use any structure or even location. Keep the
teachers. They have been trained to deal with large groups of
children, a skill that many parents lack. They also have a broad
understanding of the many different ways that children can learn.
They are also a wonderful resource as guides for safe and purposeful
education. Keep the resources. The books are another wonderful
resource. The computers can be very useful as tools for exploration
and information. So the physical structure remains intact. What
needs to change is the imposed structure within the school day.
Since it is an impossible challenge to produce many different goals
with one system, let's get rid of the system. Who knows best what a
child wants to learn? The child. Who knows best what a child should
learn? The parent, in consultation with teachers who may have
broader experience on how to achieve specific goals.
To determine how a
day should go, look at most kindergarten classrooms. There are areas
for different activities. The book area for quiet time. The block
area for constructive play. The house area for imaginative play.
And others. So design a school on the same idea. Each teacher
creates a space filled with his or her passions. These would include
not only the curriculum topics but any interest that any individual
teacher might have, be it butterflies, hockey, fishing, stamp
collecting, or zombies. But the key point is that these are the
passions of the teachers, not constructed for the interests of the
students. Children can spot a fake very easily. They will know
quickly whether or not the teacher is sincere. It is amazing how
quickly students will be drawn to a real passion, even opera. (Here
I speak from personal experience with a class of Grade 7 and 8
students.) Allow students to wander as they will as long as they are
in a classroom under supervision. Teachers don't teach, guide. Just
stand there and answer any questions or help with solutions to
problems which may arise, or talk about butterflies to anyone
interested.
Total chaos is the
result. I would agree. But there is nothing wrong with chaos. We
seem to think that children left to their own devices will be
destructive. Maybe we all were influenced too much by “Lord of the
Flies”. Truthfully, children left unfettered by adult restrictions
quickly work out rules of conduct. Children have a very strong sense
of fairness. We are told that children need a quiet studious
atmosphere in which to learn. Actually they learn a lot more when
interacting with others and playing with objects. And there is
always the quiet book corner to which those overwhelmed by the chaos
can retreat. You will sometimes find me there because another
passion is books.
Next challenge I
hear coming from the doubters: my child will spend the whole day
playing a video game. Which is okay, as long as they are achieving
the set goals. Oh, goals, you say! That's better! But who sets
those goals? Why, the child, of course, in consultation with parents
and teachers. The more children control their education the more
they are invested in it. They set the goals which are meaningful to
them and then they are motivated to reach them. Obviously the
younger the child, the more input from adults. But children as young
as eight can understand the value of learning to read or understand
numbers. They set the goals, they set the plan to reach the goals,
they provide evidence which can be assessed to demonstrate that they
have achieved the goals.
Children learn.
They can't help it. Every minute they are learning. But when they
are sitting in a class, being taught a subject they have no interest
in, they are not learning what we think they are. They are learning
how to entertain themselves without getting caught (texting each
other, throwing spitballs, doodling, etc.) I remember writing many
Star Trek fan fiction stories while I was supposedly learning history
or literature. All of us can recall how we spent our time in class.
Seldom was it being engaged in the subject matter. Yes, there are
exceptional teachers who can inspire many students but there would be
much more learning if the students actually chose to be there.
If you want evidence
that this is so, you can look at programs in the United States like
The Agile Learning Centers or Compass Centre for Self-Directed
Learning right here in Ottawa. Or, better yet, talk with people who
homeschool. There are thousands of them and their children are all
happy and learning like crazy. Learning can be fun. Therefore,
school can be fun.
Pipe Dream?
I think that we have
two choices. We can continue with the existing system which provides
well paying jobs for many and is familiar and has left several
generations now with a dislike for school and education. Or we can
take a chance and work out a system which will still provide those
jobs but which will also better serve our children. Why are we so
convinced that something must be hard and dreary to have value? Why
do we continue to send our children to schools that aren't fun? Why
do we think it is a silly dream to have fun while working and
learning? Are we really so fated to be miserable? A resounding NO!
I have my own
experience teaching for over a quarter of a century. Comments from
past students: “Thank you for showing me that school can be
fun.”(Grade 7) “I have never worked so hard in my life, or had
so much fun.”(Grade 9) “Thank you for allowing me to blossom.”
(Grade 9) “The best teacher that I ever had (Mrs. Holzscherer)
allowed me to be me – as silly as I am.” (Grade 8) I have
never worked within the public system, despite having a Masters of
Education. I could not reconcile my own experiences with the way
that children learn and the way that teachers are expected to teach.
My own children only attended the public system for a few years.
Creating a system
which treats each child as an individual and allows them to explore
the world as and when they see fit is not a pipe dream. It can
happen simply because we live in a democracy. The government has no
incentive to change the system. The boards of education are doing
their bit to keep everyone within financial guidelines and
accountable. Teachers need to do what they are told to keep their
jobs. The only source of change is the mass of parents who know that
the child they send to school is not like any other child and should
not be treated as raw material in need of molding into a finished
product which will blindly do what it is told. How much are you
willing to do for the happiness of your child? Learn about other
systems. Learn about other options. Join groups like OPERI in
Ottawa. Watch the videos of Sir Ken Robinson. Talk with other
parents. The more you learn the more you will see how the Public
School system in Ontario cannot work. Tell your local MPP that you
want to see significant change. Not the bandages of the last twenty
years.
We all have
different expectations for our children. We all want them to learn
different things in different ways. But I think that we can all
agree on one thing. We want our children to be happy. So ask
yourself this one question: Is your child happy at school?
Links:
Sir Ken Robinson
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms
OPERI – Public on
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/1416370692001490/
Compass Centre for
Self-Directed Learning http://www.compassteens.org/
The Agile Learning
Center NY http://nyc.agilelearningcenters.org/
