On my first day of journalism school, we all received a surprise test (I had just arrived in Canada and I had no idea of what was happening).
We received a general test to assess if we had any knowledge gaps or difficulties involving high school subjects. Being the nerd that I am, tests have never really scared me, so I was quite confident.
After assessing my results, my instructor called me into his office to have a private talk. I was expecting to receive some compliments. However, my instructor told me my math results were 鈥渦nsatisfactory鈥� and he even suggested a private tutor.
That was quite a shock to me. At that time, I had just completed a bachelor鈥檚 degree where I had to pass advanced math classes. We had to use scientific calculators and solve complex math problems. So I couldn鈥檛 understand why my math results were unsatisfactory.
But my instructor was completely right. The truth was that I had forgotten basic school math. And that鈥檚 not all 鈥� I forgot a bunch of other things I learned in school. Countless scientific concepts, historical events and chemical formulas - all gone down the drain.
This has made me reflect about the role of basic education and whether or not schools are giving students the right tools to prepare for the world.
This week I interviewed Dustin Louie, who is about to finish his PHD in educational research. Louie grew up in 亚洲天堂 Lake and has recently accepted a tenure track assistant professor position at the University of Calgary.
During his interview, Louie mentioned how education is rapidly changing. The new focus is the so-called inquiry-based learning, a process where students formulate questions, investigate to find answers, build new understandings, meanings and knowledge, and then communicate their learnings to others.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a major shift from the pedagogical models ubiquitous during my high school completion in 1999,鈥� Louie said.
Although I graduated high school a few years later than Louie, I completely relate to what he said. When I was in school, we basically had to memorize things. Instead of educating us to be critical thinkers, our teachers鈥� main concern was that we possessed knowledge.
The problem is that the world is rapidly changing. It鈥檚 not important anymore if you know how old Napoleon Bonaparte was when he died, or exactly when the battle of Hudson鈥檚 Bay took place. A simple click of a button on your cellphone can get you those answers in five seconds. We basically carry electronic encyclopaedias in our pockets. This means that the old school models do not make sense anymore. The role of education had to change鈥� and that is what we are starting to see now. Instead of having students memorize formulas and dates, schools are preparing students to become critical thinkers. At the same time, there is a new ideology that involves rewarding students鈥� every effort. When I was working in Saskatchewan, I was sent to cover a high school science fair. I was surprised to find out that there were over 50 categories of medals being handed out (needless to say it took me a very long time to cover that event).
This new ideology seems incompatible with adult life. The truth is that in the adult world, if you don鈥檛 do a good job, you get fired, not a medal; if you don鈥檛 respect the law, you go to jail; if you make bad choices, you can put yourself in danger. Life comes with failure, loss and pain; not only success. Learning how to deal with the feelings associated with pain is part of growing up. What I question is this 鈥� are we really giving students the right tools to handle their adult lives?
Education sure is changing, but it鈥檚 important to never stop questioning what makes sense and what doesn鈥檛.
