What is school for? 10 big questions

The subtitle of Seth Godin's rant about education is the important part. Stop Stealing Dreams is the grabber; what is school for?, the lesson. (The book is a free download available here.) I liked the manifesto a lot.

After 35 years in education, I've personally concluded that the very best thing I can do as a teacher is to ask a question or present a problem in a way that is so compelling, so relevant, so urgent, that my "students" are motivated to answer the question or solve the problem for themselves. That's it.

That's what Godin is doing in his manifesto. As the industrial age model of education (creating compliant factory workers) fails an increasingly large number of individuals, Godin asks readers what should be taking its place. And to answer that question, we need to ask "what is school for?"  

How often do educators ask themselves big picture questions that may help clarify and contextualize the day-to-day problems they solve?  Here are ten questions we spend too much time avoiding and too little time discussing:

1. Should education be more than vocational training? If so, can or should schools measure how one's quality of life increases because one is more thoughtful, more skeptical, more creative, and/or more humane?
2. What is right balance between learning content and learning processes? (How much do I want my dentist to know about best established practices and how much do I want her to know how to keep learning new best practices?)
3. At what age should a child be able to determine for himself what is in his best interest to learn? How important is exposure to a broad (and possibly irrelevant) range of experiences, opportunities, or ideas? If a child develops a passion for a topic early in life, should all her learning revolve around that passion?
4. To what extent do we honor individual learning styles and needs? Is learning how to deal with problems (a teacher or topic one dislikes, for example) an important part of education?
5. Should technology be used to support all educational practices or only those which are constructivist-based?
6. Should we insist teachers who are effective without using technology be required to use it? (Yes, I really do think that is a necessary question, as unpleasant as it is for many of us.)
7. Do libraries and librarians have a role in the era of digital information? (Yes, I really do think that is a necessary question, as unpleasant as it is for many of us.)
8. How many of us are less enthusiastic about libraries or technology but are simply excited about alternate ways of learning - and libraries and technology offer means to those ways?
9. What kind school experience do I want my own grand/children* to have? How should that guide me as an educator?
10. How should educational organizations demonstrate their efficacy? If we don't believe in test scores, what do we have to show those who fund us that we are doing good work? 

* The joy of creativity at Grandma's house this weekend 

My professor G. Robert Carlson at the University of Iowa suggested that you only ask a student one question after reading a book: "What did the book make you think about?" Read Godin's book and me know what it made you think about. What are the big questions you struggle with? 

Oh, Section 123 addresses the future of libraries. An excerpt:

The next library is a place, still. A place where people come together to do coworking and to coordinate and invent projects worth working on together. Aided  by a librarian who understands the  Mesh, a librarian who can bring to bear domain knowledge and people knowledge and access to information.

The next library is a house for the librarian with the guts to invite kids in to teach them how to get better grades while doing less grunt work. And to teach them how to use a soldering iron or take apart something with no user-serviceable parts inside. And even to challenge them to teach classes on their passions, merely because it’s fun. This librarian takes responsibility or blame for any kid who manages to graduate from school without being a first-rate data shark.

The next library is filled with so many Web terminals that there’s always at least one empty. And the people who run this library don’t view the combination of access to data and connections to peers as a sidelight—it’s the entire point.  123.The future of the library

Think on it.... 

Comments

[Nathan Mielke]

Reflecting on #8, while I do enjoy libraries and technology I find my enthusiasm moving in the direction of new ways to learn. Last night I spent about an hour on Khan soaking in tutorials on economics. Since the financial meltdown I've taken an interest in economics, reading and listening to several books on the dismal science. I don't have any want to peruse it academically, but want to understand it better. A lot of traditional education types are ripping on it, but if it meets a need...who cares who made it?

[Olga]

Reflecting on #3... I think that few vocations or subjects are limiting or limited if you really have a "passion" for one. Thankfully, we live in a complex, well-connected, whole-person world (may not always be the right description of a school), and thus learning one thing inevitably leads to another. If you are fascinated by planes, it's not just physics, but also chemistry, and joy of physical movement, and a good design, and lots of other things. Plus one may outgrow a passion and move in a different direction altogether, but one needs to know what a passion is like. I think there is a lot to be said about learning something in a way that works for you. Curiosity needs nurturing and an outlet. Look at people who turn to adult ed – most of them know a thousand things that don't work for them, but not so much what does. If there is a passion, one tends to persist through problems and frustrations, and learn to succeed. If one is given easy superficial tasks, one might learn what appears to be success, but not the real taste of it. Or one might get superficial difficult tasks, that kill all the joy.
So, "aye" for passions.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Olga,

Without passion, very little real learning happens. Things get memorized for a test and the game is played on. Getting kids stirred up about a topic is the sign of a GREAT teacher.

Thanks for you comment,

Doug

[Paul Barnwell]

Great questions, Doug.
I teach at a public high school in Louisville, KY, with many "at-risk" youth roaming the halls. At what point do we need to funnel some of these students towards vocational tracks to teach them real skills? I can't stand the push for all students to be college ready--they toil away in Algebra II classes and other requirements.
We should NOT require teachers who are effective without technology to use it. There is a place for restrained technology use in school and in life. I've written about what I see as the effects of too-much technology use on teenagers and their ability to communicate face-to-face. I'm worried about a generation that can't maintain eye-contact, listen, and respond in real time to each other. What do you think? http://mindfulstew.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/teenagers-immediacy-and-interpersonal-skills/
Stumbled upon your blog--I just restarted up my own--and I am intrigued by the questions and philosophy you are generally presenting.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the link to your blog. I enjoyed your post and left you a reply.

I've never known a teacher who is 100% effective with every student. Until that happens, every teacher should be trying new ways to reach students, including those that involve technology.

This high level math for everyone is a nightmare. It makes no more sense than requiring Latin. I'm pretty sure I could not graduate from HS today.

And so many practical skills go untaught! See:

http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2011/2/8/if-they-let-me-design-the-math-curriculum.html

Doug