I would like to ask: How did we ever come to believe that the bureaucrats, in a government office, should tell our children what to think?
To challenge this belief, educators will have to become innovators and show students that there is more knowledge than just what is required to know for a test.
For most tasks, it is much more important that the students “discover” the knowledge rather than being told of meaningless facts or algorithms.
When we push or force certain ideas onto students, we might be actually teaching them to hate the intended outcomes instead of learning it. For example, we can’t teach students to be creative but we sure can destroy creativity.
In its current paradigm, schools are producing compliant citizens who will have anticipated and controlled thoughts. Students who stand up and ask “why” are labelled as insubordinates or trouble makers, and most likely are put in an alternate learning environment.
Those who follow all the rules, complete school with the highest marks, and never question authority are not the learners we want. When a practical problem presents itself to these students, they will seem lost.
“I’m 25 years old and have two college degrees. I don’t know how to do anything. I don’t know how to do anything at all. If the fan belt of my car broke in a snowstorm out in country, I’d freeze to death reciting the Pythagorean theorem!” — quote from a student
The reason this is happening is due largely to the fact that the student, who has the highest marks, is usually learning information that another person deems necessary. This information does not come in small controllable chunks but actually in many specific outcomes a teacher must cover.
Students are leaving our schools with their curiosity destroyed. Any time they wanted to explore an idea further, they are reminded, by the leader of the class, that this is neither the time nor place to do so. We should be asking: “When is the appropriate time and place?”
Teachers need to start realizing that our focus should be on passions, interests, creativity and curiosity; if there is time after ... then we can focus on the mandated outcomes.
David Martin
Notre Dame High School
Red Deer