In class our teacher often references how it's possible for people to cheat the school system. Some students figure out what teachers want, and give it to them to earn top marks, without actually learning anything. So then what is the value of getting an education in a system like this? What are we really learning? If students who are taking an active role in their education and actually obtaining useful information don't necessarily earn the grades to show it, and the students who have just found out a way to give the teachers what they want, what does that say about the real world. Are the people who are most successful the ones who took the effort to learn? Or did they simply find a way to work the system?
I hate to say it, but maybe that's the point of education. In the real world, it probably doesn't matter how much you know, but rather how well you can fit into society's rubric. Sometimes it's not the best idea, but the best presentation that gets selected.
If I had to categorize myself I would say I'm a happy mixture of both. In the subjects I cared about, I genuinely tried to learn, including investigating the subject matter on my own time. But for subjects like math and science, I learned the bare minimum to get by, until I could get away with no longer taking these courses. If you asked me to use some of the equations I learned in high school, or do a "proof" I would probably look at you blankly, and have no idea how to. But for my future plans, I only need the most rudimentary math skills.
I doubt that anyone in charge of the education system would come right out and say that schools subliminal purpose is basically to teach people how to do as they are told, without necessarily taking all of the proper steps. But that's kind of the way I'm starting to see it.
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I am surprised to learn that I often talk about this, but yes, we did discuss that there seems to be a way of performative learning that does not always reflect 'resl' learning. I think your view has a lot of merit. I wonder, too, if 'learning' is not measured by growth in curiosity and engagement with content, but if it is socializing into the norms for success... How does that change the way we think about reading? Writing?
ReplyDelete"I doubt that anyone in charge of the education system would come right out and say that schools subliminal purpose is basically to teach people how to do as they are told, without necessarily taking all of the proper steps."
ReplyDeleteI find this really interesting. You should read a little Foucault, specially Discipline and Punish. He basically says that school systems are set up and similar to prison systems. Its a harder read but very intriguing.
Andrew,
ReplyDeleteI think your post is really interesting, and something that I often think about. I notice that many people, even later in life when they are working full-time jobs, just do what they need to do to "get the job done" or get paid enough so that they can support themselves. I wonder if somehow as we get older, life just has this effect on people. When we are children, aren't we absolutely fascinated and curious about every new thing we see? As we get older, maybe we just become desensitized to learning and discovering new things. Maybe we learn that in order to get what we need (money, grades), all we have to do is the "bare minimum," and we will get these things regardless of whether or not we have truly learned and made personal discoveries in the process. It's really sad to think about, but maybe this is true for some people. I wonder also if Gergen's "saturated self" plays a role in this phenomenon. Maybe there is so much going on in our lives and we are always being so overstimulated by the social that we lose track of what's important.
Julie
Andrew,
ReplyDeleteI find this blog entry really interesting. I can relate to you in the fact that some classes that I take I really just try to figure out how to "get by" so to speak, or do well by learning exactly what the teacher wants and doing it. Once these classes are over I am often left with these unsatiated feelings as if there was so much more I could have learned but did not want to use the time to do it because I felt it would not benefit me, but rather follow the idea of doing what I am told. I liked how you questioned this idea, and it really made me think about this concept, especially in relation to my father. It seems that the opposite is true to that sometimes employers try to enforce their job in the system as the "teachers" when the students or workers actually want to make a difference and learn. The past few months my dad has been really miserable at work. Not because he hates what he does but because he hates his "teacher," or boss, who enforces the idea of teaching people to do what they are told in the workplace, not even in a classroom! This idea may also be applicable to life in general it seems because my dad does have an interest in what he does and he would love to explore ways to do his job better but his boss limits him and tries to keep him in his shadow almost.
In addition, I also wonder if the msot successful people took the time to learn or simply found the way the system worked. This idea always bothers me because I feel that the hardest workers and genuine people should be favored in job selection or school selection, but this seems hardly the case. At least I feel like the kids who know how to get by are always the ones seep the rewards even though they do not display half as much effort usually. These topics prove frustrating, I wish there was a way to fix this.
-Amanda U
Several authors, actually, have come out to say that school is about teaching people to do what they are told-- to follow the system, to play the game, or to reproduce the status quo!! Makes it peculiar to me to study theories of education based on the idea of 'revolutionizing' the process, when such an aspect of reproduction is so deeply ingrained. Thanks for your thoughts, everyone! Clearly a hot topic.
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