In the previous blog, I talked about some of the current trends in education. I would like to add to my chain of thought. There is another issue with eliminating certain things from the curriculum in the name of efficiency. Although on the surface, some things on the chopping block seem irrelevant to our current lives, at a second glance we might discover some value. Yes, there is some truth to having less need for memorization of facts when there is our good friend Google who soon will able to read our thoughts. Works of old authors like Shakespeare have very little relevance to the life of today’s students. Who needs cursive writing in the age of touch screens and voice commands?. So looking at the primary functions of these tasks and topics, yes perhaps they are outdated and irrelevant.
However, they are very much relevant some other ways. They address under the surface things such as national heritage, belonging, respect, ways of viewing things etc. Tending to these tasks provides students the opportunity learn important skills, like the ability to deal with irrelevant or meaningless tasks. They present as stepping stones to learn sub-skills that are important in the development of additional skills or in brain development in general. And from this perspective, they do increase our efficiency in life.
I also often hear, “but today’s kids don’t WANT to learn that, they are not interested. Learning is more meaningful, and they can hold their attention better if they are interested in what they are learning and is relevant to their lives”. This is definitely true. But we are already facing the millennials, the entitlement generation, the generation that always did what THEY wanted to. We as already seeing some negative outcome of that. Kids are unable to make such decision about their education. They don’t always know what is good for them, that is why they still need adults. So please, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
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