This Education Is My Own

Education. It is hated by many. It is desired by many more. It has supposedly driven 10-year-old students to attempt suicide. It has been correlated with increases in life expectancy in Denmark. Although there are many who (in many ways) embrace the existing education system‘, there are others who are pushing to change it. Education is a complex topic and continues to be on the minds of many people every day.

Memorization and Thinking; Knowledge and Skills

As the readers who have followed my blog for some time already know, by biggest peeve (probably) with the current education system is the intense focus on memorization and severe lack of focus on thinking. I blogged about this topic many times last year on my previous blog (Death of Destiny), and explored the topic quite extensively through discussion with both professors and fellow students as well as research. I also discovered that it is very largely analogous to a debate that has been ongoing for decades better known as the Knowledge versus Skills Debate. (That is, this topic is way bigger than me.)

My opinion has shifted a little bit since last year, though it still remains largely the same. Especially in this Information Age, I don’t think it is crucial for us to memorize every single bit of information thrown at us since that information is now easily accessible, often despite current location. And I’m not saying that people should stop memorizing anything (after all, that would kill thinking too: logic is an extension of memory!). What I’m saying is that information has value, and that its value is subjective. For instance, I do not know whether Obama is a Democrat or a Republican. I cannot recall whether A is Asparagine or Arginine; hell, I didn’t even recall that Asparagine, Aspartate, and Aspartic Acid all referred to the same amino acid. I can tell you, though, the gene order on the negative-sense single-stranded ribonucleic acid genome of Ebola virus. However, I am going to assume that to most of my readers, that information is of little (if any) value.

So when I am sitting in a biochemistry class, and my professor cannot recall all the amino acids, their abbreviations, or their structures despite working in that field, why are we students expected to do so? Not only is that information not necessary to the biochemists who will be using that knowledge, but a vast majority of the class is not aiming to be biochemists. Why is it the knowledge aspect that is pushed upon the students? Because it’s the easiest option?

Suppose instead that we instead switched evaluations to examine the students’ abilities to critically think rather than mindlessly regurgitate. This will likely lead to a test that is more time consuming, more subjective, more difficult to evaluate. Additionally, students would either have to be given the background knowledge they need to answer the question (which would likely vary from student to student) and the questions must not be so simple such that knowledge itself can present the answer. Furthermore, cramming, reading, and flash cards would likely have lost their critical roles in the current education system.

Alas! A dilemma! But also a false dilemma, since this supposed that the answer lied on the near-farthest end of either side of the Knowledge versus Thinking spectrum. But it also had many other presuppositions, such as the need for examinations. But imagine a world where there are no examinations. Doesn’t seem to look at all like our current education system, does it? Yet some people can see it (for reasons such as examinations change the focus of the student from what they should be learning to achieving a certain grade on an exam), and others cannot (for reasons such as evaluations not only enable an institution to weed out those who have not yet received an education, but also to identify those who have gone beyond expectations). Education is a complex topic.

Innovation

Despite its complexity, education is a focus of innovation for many people. The world that exists today was built by people, and those people are products of education. Thus, education is an immensely important topic of discussion. This is especially true since there are so many different aspects of education that need attention immediately.

One aspect of education currently under fire is the lack of creativity. Sir Ken Robinson, whose TED Talks are posted below, is focusing largely on this fault of the education system. His books The Element and Out of Our Minds exemplify this fact, and look at the lack of passion in today’s students during their learning. He suggests many different solutions to how to target this aspect of the education system.

Education has also been the target of many different presentations recently. Waiting for “Superman” examines many different issues with the American public education system. The impact of Western education on developing countries is examined in Schooling the World. In his TED Talk, Sugata Mitra (shown below) demonstrates the importance of technology in facilitating education.

Education is also a growing topic in the social media community. In the Twitter community, there are many different education focused hashtags. These include #edchat, #edtech, #edreform, #delearn, #cdned, #bced, etc. In the blogging world, education also has shown to be a very penetrative topic. Janet Steffenhagen blogs about education for the Vancouver Sun. SFU undergraduate Paul Hillsdon blogs about his ideas as a student towards improving education. A group of education enthusiasts regularly collaborate with each other to challenge each other to discuss and implement educational reform strategies at the Cooperative Catalyst. And the list goes on.

As is apparent by all those I have listed above (which is by no means anywhere close to an exhaustive list), the discussion around improving education is huge. It takes place amongst students, amongst educators, amongst the public. And yet these issues continue to exist. Why?

From Here

Last weekend, I took part in STAND UBC‘s Advocacy Conference. One of the speakers at the conference was Al Etmanski, the President and co-founder of Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN). One thing he mentioned, though applied to the current situation in the Congo, was that part of the reason that these problems have not yet been resolved is because they are complex. The complexity of the issue means that there are many different faces to see, and many different perspectives of each foreseen problem. There are also many different solutions to each of these problems, and each of these solutions is often attempted individually. Because there is a breakdown in communication between the many concerned parties (despite having an ultimately common goal), the lack of systems perspective and lack of cohesion leads to a goal that will not be reached.

This stuck with me. Many people have their own issue with the education system. My defining issue is memorization versus thinking. However, this will likely require a look at how examinations take place. In turn, this will likely necessitate that we modify how high school students are prepared for university education. Similarly, this will likely involve the re-education of teachers on how to educate their students. Etc. Improving education is a tremendous issue to tackle. Without cohesion in our tackling of these problems, our end goals will likely never be seen either.

So let us be cohesive. On October 15, 2011, some of the greatest collections of minds will be coming together to address this issue. UBC, McGill, Quest, and Waterloo are coming together to host the Interuniversity Conference on Education (ICE). In a collaboration between students (including both high school and post-secondary students), educators (including teachers, professors, and instructors), and the general public, existing issues in the current education system will be discussed, and more importantly, we will begin to converge on innovative solutions that will best address these problems.

To those students reading this blog: forget not why you chose to pursue your education nor what you expect to get out of it. If you are already satisfied, remember that you chose your future. Otherwise, here is an opportunity to shape your future. To those educators reading this blog: forget not why you chose to educate those around you. If you are already satisfied, remember that this world was shaped by your hands. Otherwise, here is an opportunity to improve both you and the extension of yourself. To those members of the general public reading this blog: forget not what education has done for you. If you are already satisfied, remember that you called this Utopia. Otherwise, here is an opportunity to help shape the members of the society in which you are immersed.

As has been stated by UBC’s most recent campaign, it is time to start an evolution. I don’t think it is possible to find a person who will claim that the existing education system is flawless. So let us be constructive in our critique. I invite you all to join us at ICE, whether it be at UBC, another campus, or simply via online discussion.

And as much as I complain about the existing education system, there is no place I would rather be than here at the University of British Columbia. From what I have seen and heard, UBC is the best enabler of student voices, the best tenderer of novel ideas, and the best place to evoke solutions. Here at UBC, we like to say tuum est: it is up to you. As big as the world is, we are all gears that allow it to work. I am going to take this chance to change what I can. Will you?

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‘I use this only as an example because I recently watched Waiting for “Superman”, so it is fresh on my mind.

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