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We live in an age where information is free and easily accessible. There are many benefits to 24-hour cable news, high speed internet, and social networking. Many of my previous posts have focused on ways that we can prepare our students for the information age. Being able to identify bias and misinformation is of paramount importance when being constantly bombarded with new facts, ideas, opinions, and theories.
In this post I'd like to examine a few beliefs about students, education, and schools that are both widely believed and untrue. These myths about education are holding us back in developing the 21st century education system that our students deserve. They have permeated our culture to the point that educators often base decisions on these bits of misinformation. Many people call for "educational reform," but until we are willing to focus on the learning process of each student, "reform" will continue to mean change that benefits a few people in position of power.
Myth #1 - Failure is a bad word.
Our fear of failure has crippled us. Failure is an opportunity to learn. One quality shared by all successful people is the ability to learn from mistakes. Walt Disney was in financial ruin and had lost his most well known character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, to a competitor before creating Mickey Mouse. Abraham Lincoln lost a senate election before becoming the greatest of American presidents. We could spend all day making a list of people who failed and then became great success stories. We focus so heavily on the "right answer" in class and not on the critical thinking that goes into decision making that we rob children of the opportunity to grow from their mistakes. We focus on correctness and not on learning. As a result, the one thing our children learn best is that failure is not something to learn from, but something of which to be ashamed. Imagine a world in which people, companies, and governments did not learn from mistakes, but rather repeated them over and over again. That world will soon be a reality unless we start teaching our children to think differently.
Myth #2 - All students need to learn the same information.
Do you think that Steve Jobs, Maya Angelou, Yo-yo Ma, Warren Buffett, and Lady Gaga needed to learn the same content in school to become successful? Do we really believe as a society and an educational system that the ability to find the right answer to math calculations and getting the main idea from short passages are what paved the way to success for those who achieve it? Successful people have a few things in common, none of which is reading and math ability. They are innovative in their fields. They are passionate. They understand others and how to communicate with people. They learn from failure. These are the things that should be focus upon in schools. The information that students learn should be determined by their strengths and passions. I'm sure that Lady Gaga didn't need a high school computer programming course or Algebra II, but that Steve Jobs would have found both interesting and useful. We need to allow our students to identify that which will allow them to be successful, and then provide the opportunity to pursue those passions. Standardization kills greatness and promotes mediocrity.
Myth #3 - The teacher is the most important factor in student achievement.
I'll be the first to say that teachers should never use parents or a student's home life as an excuse for a student not learning. Actually, I did. Doing so allows us to stop examining what it is that we can improve upon in our own practice. With that being said, however, a plethora of studies show that socio-economic situations are a vastly higher factor in student success than the teacher in the classroom. Several recent studies have shown that student achievement in US schools with low poverty is higher than schools in countries that have similar low poverty levels. Those same studies show that our high poverty schools perform as well as those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Until we begin to address the inequities in how we fund schools and the issue of poverty we will never be able to claim that we are doing a good job of educating our future generations.
Myth #4 - Good grades are an indicator of future success.
This myth happens to be based on past fact. A few decades ago it was true that if a student worked hard, attended school, and got good grades that they would be able to find a good job. It simply isn't true any more. Due to the speed at which knowledge is growing, we are preparing our students for jobs that don't even exist yet. Employers aren't looking for workers who are good at reading, 'righting, and 'rithmatic anymore. They want employees who can think on the fly, bring new ideas to the table, and adapt to rapidly changing economic environments. Those are things that are all but ignored right now in schools, and certainly don't show up in a student's grades.
Myth #5 - Teachers will improve if we provide financial incentives.
I think that everyone agrees that it would be fantastic to have a great teacher in front of every student. The question becomes "How do we develop those great teachers?" Merit pay seems to be the current focus. The problem is that most teachers don't know how to get better. Most teachers were educated in a system that was well designed for the factory model of the Industrial Revolution. The college courses they took were rooted in the same model. For the past decade we have not only followed the same model, but have taken it a step further by focusing increasingly on narrow standardized tests that are the ultimate example of a desire to place the importance on knowing information rather finding and using it. In order for us to improve the quality of our teachers, we need to provide them the opportunity to learn how to prepare students for the 21st century. They need professional development. They need to be encouraged to network with other teachers, discuss great pedagogy, and share successes. They also need to be allowed to take risks in their lessons, have lessons fail, and learn from their mistakes. Merit pay allows for none of those things. It simply provides more money for teachers in better socio-economic areas and punishes teachers working with our most needy students.
Now, it's your turn. What are your thoughts on the above myths? Do you disagree? What other popular beliefs about education are holding us back from giving our students opportunities to learn? What suggestions do you have to overcome such misperceptions? Please share with us in the comment section and pass the post along to others, both inside and outside education, via Twitter, Google+, Plurk, or Facebook so that we can hear as many points of view as possible.
We live in an age where information is free and easily accessible. There are many benefits to 24-hour cable news, high speed internet, and social networking. Many of my previous posts have focused on ways that we can prepare our students for the information age. Being able to identify bias and misinformation is of paramount importance when being constantly bombarded with new facts, ideas, opinions, and theories.
In this post I'd like to examine a few beliefs about students, education, and schools that are both widely believed and untrue. These myths about education are holding us back in developing the 21st century education system that our students deserve. They have permeated our culture to the point that educators often base decisions on these bits of misinformation. Many people call for "educational reform," but until we are willing to focus on the learning process of each student, "reform" will continue to mean change that benefits a few people in position of power.
Myth #1 - Failure is a bad word.
Our fear of failure has crippled us. Failure is an opportunity to learn. One quality shared by all successful people is the ability to learn from mistakes. Walt Disney was in financial ruin and had lost his most well known character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, to a competitor before creating Mickey Mouse. Abraham Lincoln lost a senate election before becoming the greatest of American presidents. We could spend all day making a list of people who failed and then became great success stories. We focus so heavily on the "right answer" in class and not on the critical thinking that goes into decision making that we rob children of the opportunity to grow from their mistakes. We focus on correctness and not on learning. As a result, the one thing our children learn best is that failure is not something to learn from, but something of which to be ashamed. Imagine a world in which people, companies, and governments did not learn from mistakes, but rather repeated them over and over again. That world will soon be a reality unless we start teaching our children to think differently.
Myth #2 - All students need to learn the same information.
Do you think that Steve Jobs, Maya Angelou, Yo-yo Ma, Warren Buffett, and Lady Gaga needed to learn the same content in school to become successful? Do we really believe as a society and an educational system that the ability to find the right answer to math calculations and getting the main idea from short passages are what paved the way to success for those who achieve it? Successful people have a few things in common, none of which is reading and math ability. They are innovative in their fields. They are passionate. They understand others and how to communicate with people. They learn from failure. These are the things that should be focus upon in schools. The information that students learn should be determined by their strengths and passions. I'm sure that Lady Gaga didn't need a high school computer programming course or Algebra II, but that Steve Jobs would have found both interesting and useful. We need to allow our students to identify that which will allow them to be successful, and then provide the opportunity to pursue those passions. Standardization kills greatness and promotes mediocrity.
Myth #3 - The teacher is the most important factor in student achievement.
I'll be the first to say that teachers should never use parents or a student's home life as an excuse for a student not learning. Actually, I did. Doing so allows us to stop examining what it is that we can improve upon in our own practice. With that being said, however, a plethora of studies show that socio-economic situations are a vastly higher factor in student success than the teacher in the classroom. Several recent studies have shown that student achievement in US schools with low poverty is higher than schools in countries that have similar low poverty levels. Those same studies show that our high poverty schools perform as well as those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Until we begin to address the inequities in how we fund schools and the issue of poverty we will never be able to claim that we are doing a good job of educating our future generations.
Myth #4 - Good grades are an indicator of future success.
This myth happens to be based on past fact. A few decades ago it was true that if a student worked hard, attended school, and got good grades that they would be able to find a good job. It simply isn't true any more. Due to the speed at which knowledge is growing, we are preparing our students for jobs that don't even exist yet. Employers aren't looking for workers who are good at reading, 'righting, and 'rithmatic anymore. They want employees who can think on the fly, bring new ideas to the table, and adapt to rapidly changing economic environments. Those are things that are all but ignored right now in schools, and certainly don't show up in a student's grades.
Myth #5 - Teachers will improve if we provide financial incentives.
I think that everyone agrees that it would be fantastic to have a great teacher in front of every student. The question becomes "How do we develop those great teachers?" Merit pay seems to be the current focus. The problem is that most teachers don't know how to get better. Most teachers were educated in a system that was well designed for the factory model of the Industrial Revolution. The college courses they took were rooted in the same model. For the past decade we have not only followed the same model, but have taken it a step further by focusing increasingly on narrow standardized tests that are the ultimate example of a desire to place the importance on knowing information rather finding and using it. In order for us to improve the quality of our teachers, we need to provide them the opportunity to learn how to prepare students for the 21st century. They need professional development. They need to be encouraged to network with other teachers, discuss great pedagogy, and share successes. They also need to be allowed to take risks in their lessons, have lessons fail, and learn from their mistakes. Merit pay allows for none of those things. It simply provides more money for teachers in better socio-economic areas and punishes teachers working with our most needy students.
Now, it's your turn. What are your thoughts on the above myths? Do you disagree? What other popular beliefs about education are holding us back from giving our students opportunities to learn? What suggestions do you have to overcome such misperceptions? Please share with us in the comment section and pass the post along to others, both inside and outside education, via Twitter, Google+, Plurk, or Facebook so that we can hear as many points of view as possible.
