Learners Dilemma

A key part of my work at curious.IO is speaking to students. An important takeaway from these conversations about why students can’t seem to succeed at institutionalized education is that often they are not entirely at fault.

The education system simply does not make its demands clear.

On one hand, excessive dependence on a static curriculum encourages rote learning and, in more ways than one, encourages students to game the system to succeed. Preparing for exams is suddenly different from actual learning, and learning itself is motivated by the incentive of finding employment— as opposed to “learning for learning's sake”.

On the other hand, however, the fast-moving world needs critical thinkers and people with immense creative and analytical abilities. And here, students are taught that learning is a product of curiosity.

The teaching methodologies of the future need to be built in order to allow students to learn in a manner that fits their goals and priorities. This can only be done when educators and students take joint-ownership of the problem and acknowledge the conflicting ideologies at play.

After all, the stakes are too high. Perhaps high enough to make this a joint concern.