Over the weekend I watched the short film Most Likely to Succeed and the Ted Talk Education as if people mattered. In both videos, a theme of reimagining education and learning occurred. Where students curiosity, problem-solving skills, collaborative abilities, and interests were nurtured and prioritized instead of grades and academic performance.
Do we need to re-imagine education?
What resonated with me most was a phrase that Jeff Hopskins opened with in his Ted Talk: “learning is already inside of us, it just needs to be sparked and then nurtured like a flame” Initially, when I heard this I was like duh!!!! Of course everyone has unique learning styles and endless potential, but wait does our education system support this nurturing of self exploration? Well, the short answer is no.
What obstacles do educators face when they try to change pedagogy?
So where are the obstacles? Well to start an example can be seen in the short film that highlights a school that does not take the conventional educational approach and instead creates an environment that is student centred, inquiry based, and prioritizes learning life skills to prepare students for life beyond school. However, even in this school that has moved away from the past educational approaches that prioritize memorization and grade; when students were asked what is more important grades for college? or life skills to prepare people for the adult world? Unanimously the students all agreed that grades were still more important to get into college.
What concerns and/or excites you about this approach?
This highlights an EXTREME gap in ability to reimagine and change pedagogy. Even in the most advanced, inquiry-based, non-graded schools, students are still being convinced that grades matter more, So, how do we combat this as educators? How do we convince students that their creativity, inquiry, drive, and ideas matter more, when universities still require an A GPA? How do we expect students to let go of their anxieties about getting into the “right” college, when the first question on university applications and job interviews is to list your educational experiences? How do we convince students that grades do not matter or university degrees are not as important as curiosity about life, when their caregiver have worked 4 jobs to put them through college?
Unfortunately, I have more questions than answers… All I know is in order to spark students innate learning abilities, we need to be willing to challenge current pedagogy and professionals in the field who still view student driven inquiry less important than academic performance. One way the short film suggest to combat narrative is to show students interviews with prominant tech companies who explain that in interviews they are looking for applicants with curiosity, problem-solving skills, collaborative abilities, not what university they attended or their high school grades. I’ve also included an article that discusses how to prioritize learning versus grades in class.
