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The Gaffer's Philosophy:
Part 50: Child Welfare:
Mythology:
May 12, 2003:
In the next essay, I will get to the heart of my philosophy and
plan for K-12 education. First let us set aside some educational
mythology. We must dispense with the notion that everyone must
learn exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. We must
even debunk the notion that everyone must learn the same things
at all. The very idea is nonsense. We must treat primary education
the same as we treat adult education. It is guided by the person's
interest, not some arbitrary laundry list of must learn things.
Someone is sure to ask, what if the kids are not interested in geography? Then they will never learn it. I reply, so what? If we beat them over the head with it, will they learn it? Did you learn history in school when you had to memorize dates? I think not. How many people do you know who can cite history with confidence? I sure cannot. I have to look things up regularly.
Where is the writ that says all kids must know geography, or history, or geology? It's bull! It is an obsolete notion of education. Kids must learn what they need to learn to be effective and happy in what they choose to do. That's all. Ask you tax accountant how much history he remembers. Don't bother. You already know the answer. What is the sense in bullying kids into learning things they will forget right after the test? Instead. let's encourage kids to learn whatever attracts them. They will learn it well and be good at it.
It is impossible to make an honest case for any specific subject, excepting communication which is essential to all human activity. Even math will fail this test. You may demonstrate that knowing math is useful. You may even demonstrate that some of us must learn math. You cannot demonstrate that knowing math is essential to the success of any particular person. If it were I suspect there are several politicians who would be immediately disqualified.
As a people, we need to know history and geography and the entire body of accumulated knowledge. This does not mean that each individual person must acquire all of this knowledge. One of the things wrong is this silly notion that each kid must acquire the same basic body of knowledge.
We should be teaching our kids how to learn rather than teaching them facts. What we really want to give to these kids are the tools that will make them able to acquire knowledge when the see the need for it or develop an interest. Call that set of tools anything you want except library science. I will call them communication and investigative skills.
We must let each kid set his own program of learning. Then, if he should discover that he needs to know math, he will learn it eagerly. Here is a truth we all know and ought to admit. Most people who were force fed math because they had to learn it, forgot it as soon as they could. Not only that, they developed a phobia about it which keeps them from ever seeing the beauty of math and wanting to learn it.
We do not have to move kids around in gangs with one teacher shouting English grammar at all of them. Then move the gang to another place where another teacher shouts geography, another one math, and so on. This is not about making it easy on the teachers and the system. It's about fulfilling the kid's potential.
There is no established body of knowledge that we can feed into our kids like prepackaged breakfast cereal and have them prepared for the future. They must be dynamic. Conditioned responses will not work. Our kids must be capable of real thought. They must be prepared to quickly evaluate new situations and respond to them.
Generation by generation we want to become better. That is what child nurturing is about. Our potential is unlimited. There is no reason whatsoever to believe otherwise. From our perspective, future generations can and should be god-like, but only from our perspective, not from theirs. They will have goals beyond that, beyond God. Only by challenging our children in a very positive way can we ever hope to see what the human being might eventually become.
The first purpose of education is not to teach us things, but to provide us the tools of learning such that we never stop applying them. Education then becomes a for-life process. We continue to learn after we graduate because, though we outgrow the institution, we do not outgrow the need to learn, nor the joy of learning.
Everyone says the kids are our future, but no one is doing anything about it. We are still into business as usual. More of the same. We are doing nothing different than what we have always done. By now it must be clear to even the most lame brained politician that what we are doing does not work. Curricula driven operant conditioning does not work. It is time, past time, for a fresh look. We need to bring out the best in all people. We want self actualized citizens, not conformists.
Our culture and all other cultures do not give us the space to actualize the higher powers in ourselves. In fact, we actively suppress self actualization. That suppression begins in the home and is carried vigorously forward in the schools, also in industry and government. We actively suppress individualism and self actualization.
We learn early on that to be different is dangerous. The most
dishonest phrase that we hear continuously from managers, government
people, and even educators is "team player." We know
what that means. Knuckle under and do as you are told. Don't think.
Don't question. It is time for us to turn that around. The only
reasonable place to begin is in primary education. We begin by
encouraging natural curiosity and communication.
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