The Aim of Education

Dean William Ralph Inge said, "The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values." This is one of my favorite quotes about education. I am inspired and refreshed again each time I come across it.

Find Yourself? Or Lose Yourself?

So, how do we teach kids what they need to UNDERSTAND, not just what they need to KNOW? Here is a thought-provoking little article that got me thinking about that again. It is from Newser and the link is: http://www.newser.com/story/119794/david-brooks-sorry-grads-weve-taught-you-all-wrong.html

Sorry, Grads: We've Taught You All Wrong

As another class graduates from colleges across America, David Brooks reflects on a generation “ill served by their elders”: We haven’t given them the skills to “navigate” an unpredictable world. “This year’s graduates are members of the most supervised generation in American history,” Brooks notes in the New York Times. “Through their childhoods and teenage years, they have been monitored, tutored, coached and honed to an unprecedented degree.” Problem is, “upon graduation they will enter a world that is unprecedentedly wide open and unstructured.” On top of that, they’ve been doused in “baby-boomer theology:” “Follow your passion, chart your own course.” But actually, adulthood is about “finding serious things to tie yourself down to.” Fact is, “most successful young people don’t look inside and then plan a life. They look outside and find a problem, which summons their life,” whether it’s a disease to cure or a bad boss to compensate for. The self isn’t necessarily “the center of life;” instead, “the tasks of a life are at the center.” In other words, “the purpose in life is not to find yourself. It’s to lose yourself.” By Matt Cantor

Jesus encouraged a similar truth.

The Focus of Teaching & Education Reform

I am currently reading another book on education. With the heart of a student advocate, I am always interested in and often engaged in reading and reflecting on the current traditional public school social system, what works, what doesn't, the pressures, the pain, and the promise. I am currently slowly reading Students on the Margins: Education, Stories, Dignity, by Jaylynne N. Hutchinson.

This got my attention: "If we were to measure our education proposals against how well the dignity of all our children might be sustained or helped to flourish, perhaps our schools would look different indeed. And perhaps teachers would finally be able to act upon the desires and intents that brought them to teaching in the first place." [page xii]

From the back of the book: "The focus on teaching is not on what we teach or how we test but, more fundamentally, on the quality of relationships, according to [the author]. Amid much talk of educational reform that focuses on pedagogy, curriculum, and policy, Hutchinson attests that when we don't pay attention to student's personal stories, students can become marginalized from the process of learning...Using story as a metaphor for paying attention to the meaning children create in their lives...."

I have seen this to be true in my classroom, the research I've seen, and other educational experiences. I am looking forward to reading further and seeing what the author has to say.

This book was published in 1999. The dilemma seems still so current. I often wonder why we are not further along on this.

For further information on the book, click here:
http://amzn.com/0791441660

"It's Boring!" A Complicated and Annoying Opportunity

PART I: DEALING WITH BOREDOM
Boredom. A problem. But who has to solve it? Unfortunately, a lot of deep, long term learning happens in boring (steady, drill, and practice) ways. Children learn that work is hard and not always new and fun — I get that. I don’t, however, want a student to lose the love of learning. I do want students engaged and challenged.

Each child learns differently. Working through “bored” is also a chance to mature and stick to a task somehow, even when bored. Tough for kids, but a huge life long lesson that impacts success. The flexibility of homeschooling is often an advantage in adapting. In the traditional classroom, a student, parent, or teacher may have some limits in addressing boredom.

The delicate line is to guard against losing motivation. Can we get kids to work hard on boring stuff through intrinsic motivation and values, or external motivations and empower their healthy sense of self? That is the delicate dance of education, the big picture beyond just memorizing and practicing over and over. 

Intrinsic motivations:

• The value of doing his best and feeling that pride
• The value of doing what one is asked to do because sometimes it is the right thing to do — submission to authority in a work setting
• The value of completing a task in timely fashion — even if one hates the task
  

Extrinsic motivation for completing the task:

• Free time
• Time with someone special doing something you both enjoy
• Time doing an activity of higher value the Wii, computer game, or ride the bike
  

When do we need to “force” kids to do what is good for them in the long term, and risk squashing their joy in learning? There must be a compromise, a middle-ground. The big question for any student when bored is, “What is the right thing, the important thing, the best thing to do now?” and “How am I going to solve the problem of being bored and still achieve the goal?” Adults can assist in the process of answering these two questions. We do not need to rescue a student from boredom, especially if we can model and facilitate how they can resolve the issue well.

Kids that count on adults to make education entertaining, fun, interesting all the time lose the chance to solve their own problem of boredom, and get a false sense of reality. We all must learn to make ourselves get a task done — perhaps we determine a reward for ourselves at the end of the task, listen to music while we work, have a good cup of coffee while we work, work with a friend, take a walk or watch a TV show/movie when we are done, or somehow change our mind — adjust our attitude to get through the task. This is as much a part of the reality of education as learning the basics. Often, the reality is simply getting down to business and getting the task done takes less time and effort than complaining and procrastinating. Funny how that works!

PART II: DETERMINE WHY A STUDENT IS BORED
In order to evaluate a student’s needs for the learning environment and curriculum, we need to know why the student is bored. Then we can determine what to change or how to encourage the student in resolving boredom. There are many reasons for boredom:

• Too easy
• Too hard
• Too much pencil and paper; not enough action
• Not enough graphic interest on the pages (all black & white print, no color, no pictures)
• Too many problems on a page
• Too many steps to solve a problem (often the case in upper grade math)
• Takes too long...shorter attention span needs short work periods
• Other “more fun” things in working environment (distractions)
• Too isolated...a more social child may need one or more people working in the same area
• Too quiet...may need some soft background noise
• Disinterest in the topic or task
• May not see the application or value

Boredom is a complex symptom of a greater need. Is it an opportunity for adjustment in curriculum, environment, learning style, or maturity? If only there were enough time in a day to truly address the root issue, and walk with a student to a new place where they are better equipped to move on through boredom in the future, with a win-win outcome.