Is school simply practicing life?

As school starts for our students here in Minnesota this week (we start late, as I tell my Kansas-resident grandsons, because MN students take less time to educate), we as a nation seem to agree that education is more important than ever, but seem ever more divided on the purpose of education.  (Read this great post Learning that matters by Robert Schuetz in his Nocking the Arrow blog for a review of a number of influential voices on the topic.)

In response to Seth Godin's manifesto, Stop Stealing Dreams: What is School for? back in 2012 I suggested 10 big questions that as educators we spend too much time avoiding and too little time discussing that deal with the purpose of education:

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?

Increasingly I think about question 4 "Is learning how to deal with problems (a teacher or topic one dislikes, for example) an important part of education?" The most memorable challenges my own children dealt with in school were along the line of:

• What can I do about this teacher I dislike?
• Why do I have to learn this subject/take this class?
• How do I get others in my group project to do their work?
• How will I get everything I need to do done?

How are these questions much different than those we ask as adult workers?

• What can I do about this boss I dislike?
• Why do I have to learn this new work skill?
• How do I get others in my team to do their work?
• How will I get everything I need to do done?

What if the best education is simply one that gives us a chance to practice the skills we need to use everyday regardless of our profession or stage of our career? Is school a place to make "safe mistakes" from which we can learn? 

Oh, my standard answer to my children when asking some of the questions above was "Formal education is primarily a weeding tool used by society to determine who is willing to play by the rules, willing to conform, and willing to delay gratification. For those people, there will be a place in an ordered work environment that is somewhat secure."