Go to the profile of John Bennett
John Bennett
Emeritus from UCONN Engineering. Now in Virginia. Scholar in Effective Learning and Effective Problem Solving. Go Huskies!!!
The End of School
Zak Slayback
949

You’ve Missed the Key Reasons for (GOOD) Formal Schooling

Consider this: You want a new home; and you’re pretty good at and enjoy working with tools. Great!!! To the Internet. First, you go to some webpage such as LocalRealtor.com or SellPropertyMyself.com, find a piece of land you like, and buy it. Then you go to HomeKits.com, find the house you like, buy it, and have it delivered to the land you just purchased. And then you (and hopefully a few of your friends) build the house you like on the land you purchased; you and your family live happily ever after… Right??? After all the internet made this all possible. No need to go visit the land to see what it’s really like; there are lots of photos. No need to investigate the town / state / federal laws and regulations; the land seller and the kit company must have made sure they were satisfied. No need to investigate the culture of the town and region; it will be your house and who cares about neighbors and town events — still have your friends and family. No need to find a house that has the features that really excite you and your family; those are unnecessary frills. No need to worry about any skills you’ll need that you don’t have already; you can learn them from posts and videos on the Internet.

What do you think the probability is of your doing this on budget and on time — IF at all??? I’d argue that probability is extremely low. Why? Because GOOD formal education still has value — at ALL levels of learning:

  • There is fundamental core knowledge (e.g. History) that all people should have. If there were no formal education, I strongly believe most learners would skip this learning to ‘concentrate on the material that I really need.’
  • There is a need to develop, practice, and convert to habit the skills associated with Effective Learning. To me, this is or should be the top priority of formal education. Our country, the whole world, needs citizens that are comfortable with and capable of the lifelong Effective Learning so important to addressing CREATIVELY the critical situations improving people’s lives. I’m reminded of two favorite quotes from Albert Einstein: “Insanity — Doing the same things over and over, expecting different outcomes.” And: “We can’t expect to solve our problems of today using the same skills and knowledge that created them.”
  • I noted in the previous bullet the ‘need for practice.’ In my concept of Effective Learning, this is a key component. But it’s important enough to expand here. Effective Learners get valuable feedback and continued learning when addressing real-world learning with a coach / mentor / educator nearby. Without someone monitoring and challenging choices of practice and assessing outcomes for common sense at least, I truly believe shortcuts will be taken. The lack of creativity will go unnoticed.
  • Finally there’s the ‘Quality of Life” issue. The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) has a phrase they champion and facilitate, LIBERAL EDUCATION (LE). That is not the same as the more familiar ‘Liberal Arts and Sciences’ which of course is included in LE. All majors should include (I’d say must) a Liberal Education. I have strongly suggested and will continue to suggest that LE should also be adapted to K-12 education as well. I do not believe the attention to the inclusion of LE in online options is likely to exist.

Let me be clear on two points: First, these four points could receive sufficient attention outside formal education. Absolutely!!! In fact we read and hear fairly often of LE Effective Learners that do just that. For example, Bill Gates has accomplished so very much, including beyond Microsoft, without completing college (but with parental encouragement). And, second, many if not most of the schools today, sadly, still are ‘industrial model’ schools discussed in the original Medium post. BUT there are many schools today that are following a model much as I have sketched in this post; THAT MUST CONTINUE!!!

By the way, on occasion, I have labeled my description of learning described here as “home schooling in school” in that the teachers need not be the experts but the motivated encourager, the common-sense assessment person — as the parent or family member does with home schooling. As the author of the original post nicely identifies, the experts can be available.