How can we change the education system as we know?
Like most nine-year-old kids in Vietnam, I enjoyed playing soccer in the alley where I lived, appreciated watching cartoon programs and movies at night, and loved playing “addictive” online games with my friends. However, what I loved above all was reading. I wanted to read about everything, from Japanese comics, Harry Potter novels to books about world history and sciences. I could’ve spent all day lying on my bed reading a book of my choice or scouting the internet to learn about a topic I liked.
Everything changed, however, as I got into middle school, where students needed to learn what they were told and in the way they were told. Teacher-centered instruction method and rote learning became the norm, and exam scores became the sole determinant of one’s success. Struggling to cope with unengaging lectures and stressful exams, I realized that all those fascinating readings wouldn’t help me to become “successful”. So I gave up every book, every cartoon, and every hangout with my friends to make sure I could keep up with other students. It took me a while, but I eventually accustomed to the culture of the whole education system.
It was not until I prepared for my US college application, when I was asked about my non-academic interests, that I realized all I knew (and cared about) was getting good grades: I no longer read books, rarely cared about news, and hardly inquired about the world around me. And despite having some academic achievements, I possessed too few useful skills — skills that are necessary for one to succeed in life such as critical thinking, problem-solving, decision making, and social skills.
I realized that grades only reflect what we’ve learned (using the method we’re taught to use); impressive grades can’t reflect how I’m prepared for life.
I decided to focus more on learning what interested me and what matters to the world. I started reading again. I took advantage of going to a US liberal arts institution to enroll in all kinds of classes I found fascinating such as biology, politics, history, and philosophy.
However, I also understand how fortunate I am to have access to resources and opportunities I needed to get this far. There are numerous less fortunate people who couldn’t adjust themselves to the system and remained at a disadvantage.
This prompted me to study more about alternative approaches and ideas in education, especially in higher education sector. And I have learned some crucial things. First, information has become accessible nearly everywhere across the world. Anyone can search for Washington’s birth date on the internet; anyone can Google a math formula or the chemical components of a substance with a cellphone — all within a blink. Second, gone are the days when the traditional classroom is the only place to learn something: a few minutes searching on websites such as EdX or Coursera can provide us with numerous courses offered by well-known institutions with zero charge. Third, the world is changing faster than ever with new technologies. AI/machine learning is predicted to take many jobs from human, and many other jobs are not yet to exist. By the time we graduate, the knowledge and skills we have learned will be less relevant.
Such trends, along with many complex and unpredictable issues, will continue to arise. And a program of study — with a teacher-centered method, test score focus, and few-year duration — cannot prepare students for the long run.
This must change! An education should prepare students to become true humans who can adapt to an ever-changing world. Instead of trying to cram a large amount of knowledge into students, testing their memorization of such knowledge, and concluding about their life-readiness based on test scores, we can focus on training students with skills that can help them to deal with a variety of problems and succeed in many types of jobs (even in those that do not exist yet).
Throughout their lives, future graduates will face issues that they’ve rarely (or never) encountered. When dealing with a strange problem, a person should first identify what s/he needs to know about that issue and research on the subject on his/her own, and then learn such information in an effective way. In other words, students need to first become effective self-learners. This can be done by training students to have inquiring minds and self-learning skills.
Likewise, as they seek new knowledge, students will also need critical thinking skills to evaluate which sources of information are legitimate to use. In addition, since problems confronting students will likely be interdisciplinary, they will need problem solving skills to connect information from multiple disciplines and perspectives that they find to solve those issues. They may also need decision making skills to determine which solutions should be employed in specific circumstances.
Moreover, in real life, most problems cannot be fixed on one’s own. Thus, one must learn how to collaborate with others to design and deliver such solutions into practice through communication and teamwork skills. Those are only several examples of the abilities with which students should be trained.
In preparing students with such essential skills, the traditional classroom model should be revised. Many new ideas have been proposed; one notable among them is the flipped classroom model. Instead of lecturing to students, educators let students search for information outside the class (training them self-learning skills) and use class time to train students how to use such information to resolve problems together (teaching them skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, decision making, communication, and teamwork).
Outside Class: Training students to become critical and effective learners
To develop inquiring minds and self-learning abilities, students should be in charge of seeking information on their own. However, teachers should help them to improve their research skills and strengthen their information-evaluation (critical thinking) skills. For example, teachers can train students to look for knowledge through multiple sources (videos, articles, PowerPoints, etc.), demonstrate what makes a source credible, and explaining advantages and drawbacks of using each source.
Moreover, students should be trained how to learn effectively. In their book, educational psychologists Brown, Roediger III and McDaniel show that the method of massed practice and rereading, which are common to most students and instructors, produce no notable effect on long-term memory. However, by applying habits supported by research in the science of learning — such as retrieval practice, spaced practice, and interleaving — teachers can structure their teaching and assessment in a way that significantly improves students’ knowledge retention.
In Class: Engaging students
The classroom should be the place for students to learn how to use such information to solve problems or generate more knowledge. This can be done with questions like “how can we plan to solve a pressing issue?”, “what are the alternatives of that plan?”, or “what would you have done to deal with that issue if you were the president of country A, the CEO of company B, or the head of organization C?” Even in more abstract subjects of math and natural sciences, students can be engaged by questions such as “in what ways can this math formula be used?”, “giving the characteristics of a disease, what kind of medicine can cure it?”, or “which chemical processes should we use to produce the medicine?”.
Along with asking questions, instructors can design assignments or projects and train learners on skills that can be used to solve problems creatively; techniques including design thinking and rapid prototyping will help students to produce great solutions to any problem. In addition, in-class testing (quizzes and exams) can also be utilized as a learning tool. By building classes activities around questions and activities like these, teachers will not only excite students but also show them how to connect and apply what they have found.
Redesigning the classroom and reimagining the role of instructors and students will have a key role in shifting the education system — a process in which policymakers and educators should be active players. However, as the ones directly or indirectly involved in the education system, we individuals are also capable to change the current education landscape. As individuals, we can lessen the society’s high regard for academic achievements by choosing not to judge people based on their grades and awards. As a parent, you can lower the pressure imposed on your kids to have a good GPA and encourage them to engage more with the world. And as a student, you can be brave to focus a bit less on what you’re often told to, explore what fascinates your mind, and encourage others to do the same.
It’s a long way to go. But if we start changing our perspectives and practices now, we can gradually get education back to what it’s supposed to do: teach what’s interesting and what’s important to help students create a better future, both for themselves and the society as a whole.
References
“The Flipped Classroom Model”. YouTube, uploaded by Sprouts, 28 September 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdKzSq_t8k8.
“Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning”. Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, & Mark A. McDaniel, 2014.
“The critical role of retrieval practice in long-term retention”. Henry L. Roediger III and Andrew C. Butler.
