Changing the Role of Education

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Changing the Role of Education

When I sent my oldest son to school, I started paying more attention to the reports of problems in our educational system. Being old enough then to appreciate my motherπs wisdom, I asked her what she thought. My mother is a thirty-year veteran of our local school district. She made the point that up until about thirty years ago, schools could, and did, teach a body of knowledge to their students. Excluding professional specialties, a student could learn all the basic facts, and become aquainted with most of the major theoretical schools of thought in twelve years of public education. Since then, the sum total of manπs knowledge has doubled several times, and continues to increase exponentially. The most obvious course for our schools to take is to begin teaching students how to learn, how to seek the information they need, judge what they find and apply it to their lives. But this change in direction seems to be as difficult as changing our nation from a cold war economy to a peacetime one. Until the dust settles and some kind of workable system rises from the ashes, what can you do to ensure that you learn what you need to know? You need to become responsible for your own education. You need to become aware of your own needs, interests and motivations. Educators and experts can offer help and guidance, but the reigns are in your hands. By taking control, you gain authority and power in the world of learning.

A Personal Education

Education is a personal experience by its very nature. Every person has unique abilities and interests. A subject that you find thrilling may have the rest of the class winking at the sandman. Two students using the same study guide and devoting the same amount of time for study may end up with very different grades. Teachers and professors and daycare professionals could all be trained to recognize and adapt to the different learning styles of their students. But given the shear numbers of students these professionals have to deal with, how could they possibly fill in all the gaps and encourage all the potential for all the students in their classes? The best way for you to learn as much as you need, or desire, to know is by taking responsibility for your own education.

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