To begin part 2 of n in my series on pedagogy, I want to share a story. If I possessed a time machine, and inexplicably used it to go back to meet my childhood self, myself would probably describe myself as a strange frustrating child. I liked to ask a lot of questions, especially to things that most adults see as having no answer. In preschool, we were treated to a series of books wherein letters of the alphabet would go about their daily lives interacting with lots of objects that happened to begin with the same letter. I loved these books because they entertained my imagination which had the sneaking suspicion that each letter had its own personality. On this particular day that I’m recalling, Mr. M went to the market. Mr. M was in the produce aisle. Mr. M was buying melons (can’t remember this exact detail, it may have been mangos which are also delicious) because they were his favorite fruit. I raised my hand and had roughly this exchange with the teacher:
Me: Why were melons Mr. M’s favorite fruit?
Teacher: They were his favorite because that is what he enjoyed the most.
Me: But why were they his favorite?
Teacher: Well I’m not sure why they would be his favorite. The book just says that.
Me: Why would the book say that though?
Teacher: The author must have thought that melons would be a good favorite fruit.
Me: But why would they be the favorite?
Teacher: Patrick. If you keep asking me questions the rest of the children won’t be able to hear the end of the story.
Me: Maybe you should do a better job of answer them then you unimaginative bitch.
Okay that last thought may be my present self projecting, but I think we get the point. This experience taught me a valuable life lesson that would be reinforced every year of school until I entered a field predicated on breaking this lesson, “Don’t question authority.”
Of course, there’s nothing particular to the teacher mentioned. This occurs constantly, in one form or another, in educational institutions across the nation. Now as a shepherd of man I have two huge problems with the actions of the teacher in the above example.
1) The supposed purpose of the education system is to educate. The actual system we employ more resembles a process by which inquisitive and creative children forcibly deteriorate into automatons who access information from a database, placed in them by visionless hacks called teachers, like computers. Which is more indicative of an educated and successful person: the accumulation of dates, facts, and trivia or the desire to see the world, question what one sees down to the core, and to be excited about the process of the discovery? The former makes me a jeopardy champion while the later makes for an intelligent person. The former can be learnt by any person and some lower species while the later cannot be taught and is rarely reacquired after it has been snuffed out. We focus on one of these aspects and complete discourage the other. Questioning is actively discouraged in the classroom. There’s a variety of reasons. Teachers are petty and don’t like being questions. Teachers are too stupid to know the answers to the questions. Teachers are too lazy to deviate from the format of a lecture. Teachers are stressed out by the system. Kids need to learn a certain set of material, in a certain frame of time, and pass certain tests to prove that this has been done. Whatever the particular reason in your sample classroom happens to be, it is a given that this process occurs. Questioning should be encouraged and rightly be seen as fundamental to the education process. Questioning by a student is now viewed more as a weakness rather than as strength. We should be actively trying to reverse this perception.
2) This response to a question reinforces the flawed flow of information present in classrooms. The current delivery method mimics the sprinkler you use to water your lawn. The water comes from a single sprinkler which delivers the nourishment to the grass. The water flows in one direction only. The sprinkler alone possesses water and needs no water. The grass needs the water but has none of its own. Information flow should more resemble natural selection. Ideas are generated freely and without guidance from each individual member and brought into the classroom environment. At this point the classroom tests the knowledge. Those items surviving the questioning and thought process survive as true information. Those deemed insufficient are left to die. Obviously the teacher still has a focal role in weeding out the bad ideas, but the responsibility does not rest solely with the teacher.
Now I may be somewhat contradicting myself going through this whole rant. I did just say in my prior post that no method can effectively work for all students. However, certain methods will be more effective in general. Changing the information flow in classrooms and the role of the student will go a long way towards rearing a more intelligent population. It took me several years to recover from the horrors of current education system and regain the ability for independent thought and excitement about acquiring knowledge. My philosophy of education stems from two basic beliefs: Children are educated, and children love to learn. We’ll go a long way if we simply stop destroying what is already basic to children.
