TL;DR: Times has changed. If you are still focusing on the product of education (e.g. knowledge, graduation, certification), then you would have missed the most important aspects of schooling and that lies in the process (i.e. development of skills and attitude). Interested to find out what we can do to support our children? Read on!
So what is school really about? If you were to pop this question at students, you are going to be responded with most likely the S word — Studying. After all, the word “student” refers to someone who engages in… the act of studying! It gets interesting when we push the question one step further: So, what are you studying? You would be surprised at how sensible our students are since most would describe how they are studying “for their future” or even, to “land a good job or earn money”. What a 10/10 response!
I am not sure about you but that definitely sounds too manicured and “PC” (politically correct) to come from these kids or young adults. They sound like the exact things that we adults expect out of the education system. Of course, if we go down the age group, we will have greater chances of hearing more innocent responses, such as “school is for us to have fun/make friends/ do projects.” Now, that sounds more age-appropriate isn’t it?
Different Stakeholders. Different Perspectives.
To broadly categorise the stakeholders involved, this will include #1. Learners (student/child), #2. Parents and #3. System (ministry, policymakers, curriculum developers). Learners and parents would be more concerned about the micro (i.e. individual) level of education while the system will be focusing on the more macro (i.e. societal, social, economical) aspects. Without a doubt, each stakeholder will have a different response to our question.
You might have noticed that Educators is not placed within these 3 categories. As the people on the ground, we Educators straddle between the micro and the macro as we are emotionally attached to our students and at the same time, professionally committed to delivering the curriculum. With this said, this unique position allows me to make a balanced claim of the TRUE purpose of schooling.
Let’s jump into it!
What we can all agree
While there will be differences in the details, there is little to argue that the purpose of school IS to develop our younger generation and prepare them for the future.
Everyone is agreeable to that. Fortunately, in this day and age, nobody will refute the importance of education. In other words, we share the same mission of providing assistance to our children in preparation for what’s to come. And in my humble opinion, all stakeholders should recognise this very important starting point. We should all appreciate that every decision made is in the best interest of our child.
But, kind intention does not always meet with positive outcomes. Often, disagreements stem from the “what”s and mostly, the “how”s. Personally, I feel that it is more important to address the focus of education first and hence, this post’s focuses on “what” the purpose of schooling would be.
Recognising the Blackbox
There are two fundamental facts that we have to recognise when discussing this topic on Education:
- Nobody has perfect information (especially about the future).
- Inevitably, the stakeholders (namely learners and adults) come from different generations.
Because of these two facts, the adults (stakeholders #2 and #3) often have to reference their schooling experiences and tend to project that onto the learners. We make use of our prior knowledge and experience, combine it with our present observations and make a prediction of the future. With these inputs, it is easy to appreciate how we, individuals with unique personal experiences, would arrive at a diverse range of conclusions on what is the BEST for our learners.
Diving deeper into #1, who then has more perfect information? We can recognise that the System would have an arguably clearer view of the economic and societal needs based on the current macro trends. At the same time, Parents would have a clearer understanding of their child in terms of character, talents, nature, temperament, etc. This shows that each stakeholder holds a different piece of the puzzle and therefore emphasises the need for constant communication between stakeholders to determine the best way forward for our children.
Let’s talk about the Present & Industry 4.0
As we progress towards Industry 4.0, one major factor that we have to recognise is that our society has progressed BEYOND the knowledge economy. With the rise of machines that can store information better and more reliably as compared to humans, knowledge is no longer as critical as compared to the past. Therefore, in the current and future generations, we will find a greater focus on skills as well as attitudes since these are less replicable by machines.
As the education system is meant to prepare our children for the future, there are very deliberate attempts to shift the focus of education onto the development of skills and attitudes… Yes, you must be wondering right now: How do we teach and assess skills and attitude! The fact is that it is VERY challenging. Of course, knowledge is still important in developing literacy but more importantly, it forms the context in which questions are framed for educators to assess the skills and attitudes exhibited by the learner during the process of problem-solving.
Relating back to the point raised previously on how we adults are heavily influenced by our personal experiences, many of us are still pushing our children to memorise content and drill practices. We will realise that while it is (currently, but not for long) possible to achieve decent grades through these old strategies, we are NOT doing our children justice in reaping the full benefits of their education. In fact, this will result in the development of DESTRUCTIVE skill sets and attitudes, resulting in difficulties in adapting to the demands of the new economy.
What shall we do then?
Once again, the relatively abstract nature of skills and attitudes as compared to knowledge makes it challenging for every stakeholder. Unlike knowledge which can be “transferred”, skills have to be honed and attitudes have to be developed. To put it more simply, this endeavour focuses more on the process, rather than a product. All stakeholders have to be more patient and mindful about the purpose of this endeavour, even if there are easier/faster means to achieve the same outcome of graduation. Based on my experience, our children get frustrated too. Many would rather memorise notes and complete Ten-Year Series (if these will produce results) than go through the mentally tedious thinking and inquiry processes.
As adults, we need to do more to encourage our children to accept and even embrace a less structured approach towards success. Here are some examples of what we can do:
- Encourage learners to stay inquisitive
- Challenge learners to derive the first principles of issues
- Model how to deal with failures positively
- Emphasis the importance of constant improvement over numerical results or grades
- Support learners in their attempts to learn organically
- Guide instead of instruct
- Help learners develop processes instead of providing them with a plan
And, the list can go on. (such as encouraging them to upload their self-made concept map on LEARND.online!) If you have more suggestions and ideas to share, drop them in the comments below!
If we were to identify a commonality among the suggestions, it will revolve around empowering learners to take greater ownership of their learning. As uncomfortable as it might be, we must be willing to step back and let our children venture, experiment and develop their qualities. I say this is the BEST way to make use of their schooling years… and this is what school is really about.
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