The Difficulty of Reimagining

From all sectors, I continue to hear the plain acknowledgment that school, as it is, is fraught with problems. But what can we do about it? What other choices do we have? As we consider how education might be restructured, two forces make this reimagining difficult. The first is Experience Bias, the belief that whatever I have experienced, or are currently experiencing, is “normal”… that my experience and perception is pretty much objective reality. We often don’t have other reference points or historical memory and may not realize that what we experience is just one way of doing that thing. The second force at play is Novelty Bias – a belief that what is newer is better. I’ve always liked how CS Lewis challenged this idea: “We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.” It is common to assume that whatever we are currently doing is superior to everything that’s been done in the past (or, for that matter, in many other cultures today), and we would do well to recognize and challenge this internal bias.

Joel Hammon of the Princeton Learning Cooperative expresses this beautifully:

Taking a longer and more historical look at learning, we see an obvious fact that is largely ignored today: schooling and learning are not the same thing. Sometimes learning does happen in school, but not always and not for every kid. The system of compulsory education we have today with age-segregated levels, standardized curriculum, textbooks, periods separated by bells, grades, tests, quizzes, credits, diplomas, etc., is a fairly recent development if you consider the whole of human history. It has actually only been around for one hundred and fifty years or so—a blink of the eye. And it is definitely showing its age.

How many of us, if we closed our eyes and tried to imagine the best way to support young people’s learning and growth, would imagine something even remotely close to the system that we have in place today?

The truth is that all people, including teens and children, learn new things all the time in all kinds of places and in all kinds of ways. It is not necessary to huddle everyone into a building for seven hours a day, segregate them by age and ability, and have standardized curriculum in order for learning to happen. That is just one way of organizing the education of children. So the traditional model of schooling should not be considered the starting point for any discussion of learning, but simply as one option among many. We tell families who are interested in joining PLC all the time that once you step out of the traditional model and start looking around, you’ll be amazed at all the resources and opportunities available to young people who do not go to school. Our role as adult educators needs to change from expert dispensers of information to guides, facilitators, and mentors for young people as they explore the world and figure out their roles in it.

(Joel Hammon, “The Teacher Liberation Handbook: How to Leave School and Create a Place Where You and Young People Can Thrive”)

So what needs to change? If we had no other work commitments and could pour our time and energy into crafting a new way of learning for young people, what would it look it? What is worth keeping from the current systems and what needs to go? What is not being addressed that would benefit kids?

This is not a rhetorical question. I am listening. And taking notes.