For a civilized society, we need people who are creative, adaptable, and inspired to solve the problems we haven’t even begun to realize are problems. To accomplish this goal, we have to abandon the idea of broad-based credentialing (e.g., high school diploma, bachelor of arts, etc.) as the end result of “an education.” Instead, in the information age, we need to instill students with research skills to gather information and critical thinking skills to interpret and use the information for the betterment of society. This debate is very uncomfortable for those of us who have dedicated our lives to teaching. We wonder, “Are we still relevant? My subject is important, isn’t it?” The answer (probably not) is very scary for us.
Consider two subjects that we still teach but are currently being debated about their worthiness: cursive handwriting and algebra. The only time I handwrite anymore is when I write on the board for students to follow, or I’ll occasionally jot a note while attending a seminar; but, I print that information and use a lot of shorthand notations while doing so. The vast majority of written communication that I complete, I type on a keyboard, which is the way I learned to communicate. Now, however, I’m learning to use the voice recognition software in my iPhone to do a lot of the typing I used to do (e.g., emails, entering appointments, Googling information, etc.). So the question becomes, do we ALL still need to know how to write at all, much less using cursive? As a math teacher, I cringe when I hear my colleagues argue that algebra is still relevant to ALL students. We justify this (the same way our teachers justified it to us), that we need the “algebraic thinking process” to solve problems. Newsflash: No, that “thinking process” is a combination of logical, inductive, and deductive reasoning, which is mainly a pre-algebra skill. The reason we learn algebra, is so we can do advanced mathematics by hand, especially calculus. Consider that every problem in mathematical textbooks (i.e., undergraduate or below) can be answered with a few key strokes and a mouse click (or oral command). So why do we cling to these subjects and many others? There was a time not long ago when most of us could have ridden a horse and driven a horse drawn buggy – not so much anymore…
To promote a literate, tolerant, and functional society will require exiting the merry-go-round and creating a new educational system. We can’t “fix” the current system any more than we could have fixed “the horse and buggy” as the dominate mode of transportation – the horse and buggy served its purpose and the classroom served its purpose – now we need to develop a system that ensures equal opportunity for intellectual growth and fulfillment. The first tenet to promote a literate, tolerant, and functional society has to be the recognition that we ALL no longer need a shared education; that is, something similar to the Montessori approach is probably what the future needs. Second, people should be taught to use real and modern tools (e.g., WolframAlpha instead of calculators). Third, time does not highly correlate to a better product when it comes to knowledge acquisition; in other words, some people will need weeks to master a concept, while some will only need a few hours. Finally, the final product of an education should be problem solving skills and an appreciation for learning new skills – not a certificate awarded for seat time and passing multiple-choice exams.