It should be the goal of a society to bring up its children to be highly competent adults, operating at near their potential. On average, we do not do that. Most people operate at levels well below their potential. Educators and parents are given the task of developing the potential in our children, and are not doing even a mediocre job of it. The system is broken. What is wrong with what we are doing? How can we do better?

Assumptions Used in this Essay

The students of this discussion are assumed to:

• Possess reasonable multiple intelligences.
• Not have a mental condition that could be categorized as a learning disability.
• Not have been "brainwashed" into believing they are failures or incompetent.
• Have their fundamental survival needs met.
• Be those who are at risk for not doing well in school and/or life.

A Common Sense Approach

This is an "age of specialization." We often use specialists to do special things. Nothing wrong with that idea, where is makes sense. But this reliance upon experts does have a very definite downside. It tends to shut down our own thinking. If we have an expert to tell us what to do, then we don't have to think!

Being a lifelong philosopher about life, I step back and take another look. In the fields of human behavior, and of learning, I see a lot of experts (specialists) who are pushing one theory or another about education, and how we learn, and why so many are not learning. As an observer of human behavior, it seems to me that our experts are rather myopic. They see their field through the biases and sociocentric prisms of their field of study. A lot of argument fills the air.

But we humans are more complex than the theories can account for. We have two brains, and work at two levels: the intuitive and the logical levels: neither of which is well understood. Both have many variables between individuals. Even the experts cannot agree on "what makes us tick." This is what makes teaching "an art."

If you take a teacher and try to overlay in their minds all the complex theories (many of which do not agree) you run the very serious risk of removing judgment and good sense. This tends to remove ADAPTABILITY from the Teaching/Learning equation. In this writer's mind, that is a formula for failure.

One of this author's favorite ideas is "If our explanation is very complex, then we likely don't really understand the situation."

To follow common sense rather than follow experts may sound like edu-heresy! But is it? In the long history in this country before public education (and its rotating crop of experts) we had 97% literacy rate. The level and sophistication of literacy was far higher than now. People learned to read from non-experts. Those "teachers" were mainly just applying a little bit of knowledge and a lot of common sense! It is true that some of them made mistakes. But overall, they got the job done.

And what about the misfits who did very poorly in school, but spectacularly well in life? How did they manage that, if not by their just plain common sense?

Please do not believe that I might think that "Just common sense" is all that is required to Teach/Learn. Not so. But common sense should have the upper hand - the veto power. I don't care how nice you may be, if you are JUST a meat-robot who is regurgitating some line of education theory, I don't want you teaching MY granddaughters! I want you to be a human being, with knowledge, understanding, and empathy (the three are not the same!). You need wisdom. I want you to believe in your own common sense. I want you to be ready to change direction as soon as you see a theory or method isn't working.

And, most of all, I want the teachers of my granddaughters to be able to instill intrinsic motivation to learn for life. THAT is the biggest piece of the education process! If it isn't in place, then failure lurks nearby.

Troubleshooting Philosophy

Troubleshooting refers to the detective work and analysis needed to find out what is wrong with a system, and to figure out how to fix it. It doesn't matter if it is a mechanical, electrical, digital, or a human system. The steps are the same. They are:

1. Understand the starting point. That is, what we can all agree on as the starting point.
2. Analyze what the system is supposed to do. What are the goals to be reached?
3. Determine what goal or goals are not being met.
4. Analyze why those goals are not being reached.
5. Formulate corrections (fixes) to the system.
6. Implement corrections.
7. Monitor results.
8. Modify the fix as neeed.

 

Troubleshooting Education

The Starting Point

 

The starting point is the basics of human nature. I present these.

• Humans have an innate drive to solve problems. In general we are very good at it.
• We spontaneously solve problem only to the extent we are internally motivated to solve them. If we are hungry, we are motivated, and will find food.
• We are inventive. If we are highly motivated to solve a problem, and there is no ready solution at hand, we will invent something or some method to solve the problem. In general we are very good at it.
• We have two ways to solve problems: Intuitive and Logical. In general, we are able to use both systems.

 

What is the System Supposed to Do?

 

What are the system GOALS? The system of educating for our young people should produce adults with these characteristics:

1. Motivated to learn for life.
2. Equipped with thinking skills needed to do well in life.
3. Equipped with global tools (life-skills) to do well in life.
4. Equipped with specific algorithms, such as reading and math skills.
5. A general knowledge base with both breadth and depth.
6. Specific knowledge bases, as needed, with both breadth and depth.

 

What Goals are NOT Being Met?

 

Far too many young people fall very short of meeting any of the goals listed above (compared to their potential at their ages). I would estimate the number to be one third of the writer's students. I feel that some of them would eventually reach some of these goals to a reasonable degree, but they certainly would NOT attain their maximum capability as adults.

 

Why those Goals are NOT being Reached

 

The answer is not at all mysterious or difficult to understand. The list of goals above is sequential in nature. That is, lower numbered items must be mastered in sufficient degree before higher numbered ones can be mastered. The most fundamental and requisite is number 1, "Motivated to learn for life."

 Successful students seem to be those who have become motivated to learn for life. For the younger students, they may be motivated to please parents and teachers (extrinsic motivation). For older students, that motivation weakens or disappears. If they have not developed intrinsic motivation to learn for life, then goal #1 is missing. Learning slows or stops at that time. This is the basic failure in our education system. We do a very bad job of instilling intrinsic motivation to learn for life.

 

Sometimes it is difficult for adults to see through the eyes of a young person. At least some of us view learning as a wonderful and useful adventure! We love to learn. We can immediately see the value of what is presented to us to be learned. We are intrinsically motivated to learn.

 

Students can discover a love, an intrinsic motivation for learning via influences of other people, such as teachers or parents. Their own thought processes can do it. Some young people do not seem to learn this on their own or from others. They are the ones struggling in school, because they view learning as meaningless busywork.

 

Sometimes we receive this gift of internal motivation early in life. I think it started in me at around age 11, and has been going strong ever since.

 

Unfortunately, too often the process of schooling deals mostly with only the higher levels of the above goals, such as learning facts, procedures, and specific algorithms and databases. Little effort is made to teach intrinsic motivation, thinking skills, global, and Life Skills. These are the foundations that are required for building more specific facts and skills, especially above the 5th grade.

 

 

Formulate Corrections (Fixes) to the System

 That is what this web site is about

 

We must start the process of fixing education at the most fundamental layer (above basic survival needs) by working steadfastly and explicitly to instill intrinsic motivation to learn.

Extrapolating the basics of human nature to Education.

 

If a student has strong intrinsic motivation to learn something, he is going to find a way, find the time, find the method, find help if necessary, and do the hard work to LEARN that thing. "Just give him the material and get out of his way!" If he has to "invent" a way to learn it, he will! In a very real sense, the student becomes his own expert!

 

The Role of the Teacher

Be they teachers in a formal school, a home schooling parent, or just a parent, the teachers in a child's life should have these roles.

1. Motivate, with the focus always upon the ultimate of intrinsic motivation to learn for life.
2. Help the student understand the relevancy of the presented learning material to his own life, both now and in the future.
3. Provide a menu of ways and approaches to learn.
4. Mentor and facilitate the student in his quest for learning.
5. Provide content that is based upon the wise decisions of the school or teacher as to what the student can benefit from knowing. Sort out the most valuable, in relation to the time available and present that. (Be careful here! Don't assume the old priorities are correct! Instead, assume everything will be removed from the curriculum, and stay that way until it is shown that it MUST be included!)
6. Provide the tools required, such as the algorithm for long division.

NOTE: Concrete and specific knowledge is not as valuable as the skills of knowing how to learn, to think, to have global skills, and to make good choices! Schools should concentrate on those. The academic subjects follow and will be learned much faster.

 

The Role of the Student

 

The student who has intrinsic motivation to learn will be determined to find a way to learn. He may actually become very inventive to find "his" way of learning. He may be very quick to "snap up" an idea presented to him that he perceives as having the potential to help him learn something of value to himself. He will put in whatever time and effort needed to learn. But it all starts with, and relies upon intrinsic motivation to learn (for life).

---

---

Page TOP - - - Philosophy of Education Contents - - - Rethinking Education Contents

Master Contents - - - Message to Parents contents