Martin Luther King
"To create enlightened students, we need an education designed for more than exams and earnings.
For most people, the word ‘enlightenment’ probably sounds a bit rarefied, elitist even; something which might consume the thoughts of a philosopher in an ivory tower, but which has precious little to do with the rest of us down in the square. Which is more than a little paradoxical, considering the central idea of the 18th century enlightenment was that the people in the square need no longer defer to elites or submit to their claims to authority; that all of us, armed with evidence and guided by reason, can build a better world without recourse to superstition, revelation or dogma.
This enduring humanistic belief – that “we the people” are capable of discovering what is true, deciding what is right, and shaping society accordingly – amounts to a declaration of intellectual, moral and political sovereignty. But claiming that sovereignty, and exercising it, are quite different things. If we are to create a 21st century enlightenment, we need to educate our children for that task.
That means inducting them into the great conversation of mankind – the unending dialogue between the living, the dead and the yet-to-be-born. It means introducing them to the best that has been thought, said and done, and equipping them to appreciate it, interrogate it, apply it and build on it. It means providing them with a more complete and generous education – an education in academics, aesthetics and ethics, or, as we refer to it at the RSA, an education of the ‘head, hand and heart’.
Yet too many children and young people today receive the opposite – a narrow, hollowed-out, instrumentalist education that is specifically designed and tightly calibrated for the task of getting them through exams, but which doesn’t prepare them fully for life."
10 PROBLEMS CAUSED BY 'EDUCATION BY NUMBERS'
A NEW ATTITUDE TOWARDS YOUNG PEOPLE, AND TOWARDS SCHOOL
"The final ingredient in an enlightenment education is perhaps the most fundamental. It is to challenge widely held views about both young people’s characters and schooling’s purpose.
In a recent RSA-commissioned poll, adults were asked to choose from a list of six adjectives – three positive, three negative – to describe teenagers. The most popular answers were ‘selfish’, ‘lazy’ and ‘anti-social’. Yet a parallel survey of 14 to 18-year olds found that 84 percent want to help others, and that 68 percent have done so through volunteering and social action. This gap between perception and reality is shocking and cannot help but damage young people’s sense of worth. If we give up on our children, we should not be surprised if they give up on themselves.
The other prevailing attitude that needs to be challenged is that school is a necessarily joyless experience but that it will be ‘worth it in the end’ – that sacrifice today will be rewarded tomorrow. The problem, of course, is that tomorrow never comes. Which is why we need to tell students that today matters – that they don’t have to wait to create, contribute and make a difference."
For most people, the word ‘enlightenment’ probably sounds a bit rarefied, elitist even; something which might consume the thoughts of a philosopher in an ivory tower, but which has precious little to do with the rest of us down in the square. Which is more than a little paradoxical, considering the central idea of the 18th century enlightenment was that the people in the square need no longer defer to elites or submit to their claims to authority; that all of us, armed with evidence and guided by reason, can build a better world without recourse to superstition, revelation or dogma.
This enduring humanistic belief – that “we the people” are capable of discovering what is true, deciding what is right, and shaping society accordingly – amounts to a declaration of intellectual, moral and political sovereignty. But claiming that sovereignty, and exercising it, are quite different things. If we are to create a 21st century enlightenment, we need to educate our children for that task.
That means inducting them into the great conversation of mankind – the unending dialogue between the living, the dead and the yet-to-be-born. It means introducing them to the best that has been thought, said and done, and equipping them to appreciate it, interrogate it, apply it and build on it. It means providing them with a more complete and generous education – an education in academics, aesthetics and ethics, or, as we refer to it at the RSA, an education of the ‘head, hand and heart’.
Yet too many children and young people today receive the opposite – a narrow, hollowed-out, instrumentalist education that is specifically designed and tightly calibrated for the task of getting them through exams, but which doesn’t prepare them fully for life."
10 PROBLEMS CAUSED BY 'EDUCATION BY NUMBERS'
- Goal displacement: what's being measured, not what's important.
- Teaching to the test
- Gaming: putting the school's interest before the child's
- Schools in the most deprived areas struggle to retain teachers
- Encouraging short-term approaches
- Pupil disengagement
- Stifling experimentation and innovation
- Increase in teacher workload
- Demoralising teachers
- Inability to attract and retain enough teachers
- Inquisitive Students
- Reflective Educators
- Mission-oriented schools
- Supportive communities
A NEW ATTITUDE TOWARDS YOUNG PEOPLE, AND TOWARDS SCHOOL
"The final ingredient in an enlightenment education is perhaps the most fundamental. It is to challenge widely held views about both young people’s characters and schooling’s purpose.
In a recent RSA-commissioned poll, adults were asked to choose from a list of six adjectives – three positive, three negative – to describe teenagers. The most popular answers were ‘selfish’, ‘lazy’ and ‘anti-social’. Yet a parallel survey of 14 to 18-year olds found that 84 percent want to help others, and that 68 percent have done so through volunteering and social action. This gap between perception and reality is shocking and cannot help but damage young people’s sense of worth. If we give up on our children, we should not be surprised if they give up on themselves.
The other prevailing attitude that needs to be challenged is that school is a necessarily joyless experience but that it will be ‘worth it in the end’ – that sacrifice today will be rewarded tomorrow. The problem, of course, is that tomorrow never comes. Which is why we need to tell students that today matters – that they don’t have to wait to create, contribute and make a difference."
Julian Astle Director, RSA Creative Learning and Development
Laura Partridge Senior Researcher, RSA Creative Learning and Development
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