“The founding fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on their parents. So they provided jails called school, equipped with tortures called education.” - John Updike
Oh boy, so much truth.
And the way we’re taught to learn is as receivers of information, non-thinkers. Follow the rules. Read pages 100-132. Do the exercises. Memorize the information. Spit it out in a test. Do this project, because we tell you to, not because it’s fun or interesting.
The way we need to be taught to learn is completely different. It’s this: learn about what interests you, gets you curious, gets you excited. Figure out where to get the information you need. Read about it, talk to someone about it, find out about it. Try it. Do it, make mistakes. Figure out how to correct the mistakes. Figure out how to solve the problems you encounter. Repeat.
I really believe that “basic education” is not about the content. I say this because I’m pretty sure that the number one argument against this would be “they need to learn x”. No, they don’t, if they do, they’ll be interested in it first due to a given event in their lives.
And that’s the problem with schools. They can’t motivate kids to learn, because they’re forcing it. They’re trying to impart on them a rigid system of authority that kids naturally rebel against. In fact, this is the main problem kids face, and they come up with all kinds of incredibly creative ways to solve it, from skipping school and smoking pot to drawing incredible doodles in notebooks instead of listening to a history lecture to finding ingenious ways to communicate with peers, through technologies like texting and iPhones and through old technologies like passing notes and so on.
For a long while, I’ve always asked myself why do people whine about school all the time (including myself), specially professional education in which you’re supposed to choose what to study. But the answer is so obvious: you don’t have the complete freedom to choose what and how to learn.
The whole education system assumes everyone learns the same way, at the same speed, and is interested in the same things. Horrible assumption.
I still believe we need institutions in which people gather to share knowledge or discuss topics. A great example of this are GYMs (in theory, because nowadays it’s filled with marketing crap): people go at any given time, workout, and share knowledge (in this case fitness knowledge). They don’t impose a routine on you, they don’t tell you at what time you should be there. Trainers or experts only give you tips and advice, they guide you. And sometimes you can swap a trainer or expert for the great internet. And sometimes you can choose to stay home.
In general terms, that’s how schools should work in my opinion.
We need to get out of their damn way.
We’re halting kids’s progress if we don’t get out of their damn way.