The haughty (and disrespectful) dismissal of the current
paradigm shift in the British Columbia education system from teaching to learning suggested by some, beautifully
illustrates why a change in our education system is so desperately needed.
The problem with school is that for too long it has been
about adults forcing students to learn an overcrowded curriculum and behave properly at the
price of helpiing them to understand the real lessons in life.
Lessons like how to tackle a problem with the confidence of knowing several
strategies; the resilience to persist when a solution is not eminent; and the
insight to make meaning from the nebulous atmosphere of a language mediated
world – skills “successful” adults use every day (whether they know it or not!)
The school of tomorrow should welcome students who question what they are learning. They
do two things well: they critically
analyze what they are taught and recognize them for
what they are—a list of objectives used to assess which among them could
memorize, regurgitate and then, sadly, often forget them, the best. Those lucky
ones would get the coveted few positions at their university of choice. The other thing they do well is move their
lamenting into action by complaining to their teachers. This is exactly what some of us in public education today
hope for all our students: that they can
apply critical thinking techniques to the world they are presented with and
then have the confidence, albeit buttressed by like-minded peers, to
respectfully disagree with what they see.
That is called personal learning.
Put another way – each student needs to find their voice and feel
validated enough as an individual of worth to stand for something without getting
a zero for not doing it on time.
The arrogance of some who suggest that “feedback” from consumers
of public education (or anything else for that matter) is somehow “uninformed
opinion” is at the root of why we so desperately need to shift from trying to
teach endless learning outcomes in favor of helping each student in our classes
explore and develop their vision of the world.
21st century skills are exactly the ones personalized
learning and its close neighbor differentiated instruction strive to nurture in
today’s student. Creativity,
collaboration, critical thinking, communication and the knowledge to leverage
technology are what will make tomorrow’s student a much more enlightened and
empathic citizen. This is so because as
Oscar Wilde famously chided, “Education is an admirable thing, but it
is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be
taught.” And if further proof of this is
needed, any 7 year old with access to an iPod will happily Google any factoid a
teacher requires in .023 seconds.
It is unfortunate that some of us
define ourselves as English and Theatre Arts teachers when in fact, little to
our knowledge, we are actually teachers of students.
