I'm pretty sure every school district in the entire state of Washington changed their vision from "college and career readiness" to "college, career, and life readiness" last year. I'm not bashing that. I actually really appreciate the intentionality behind the idea of crafting vision statement that doesn't only value people based on their contribution to the economy, as it points out that schools shouldn't just be factories churning out bodies for an assembly line. It emphasized that we are raising human beings to make the world a better place, to decrease the suffering they see around them, to be kind, compassionate, and empathetic. I love that these ideas are now explicitly stated in big signs hanging in district offices and schools.
The problem is that there was really no way to measure whether or not we were successful at that part of the vision statement, preparing students for life, at least not in a way that gave us quick enough feedback to adjust accordingly before a student was out of our school. Ideally, we survey students a few years out about various success metrics, analyze college dropout and completion rates, and gather data about incomes and careers as our way of determining whether or not we're on the right track. The problem here is that the world is changing rapidly, and that method of determining whether or not we are successful takes YEARS to give us meaningful feedback, at which point...it's completely meaningless. Without a measure, too often this vision becomes a way to check the boxes.
So what do we do?
Well, in steps Coronavirus and the school closures.
Essentially, within a matter of days, we began conducting an experiment. We sent students home to determine whether or not they could succeed outside of school.
So far, the answer is concerning.
Now, let's be clear. There are so many societal factors contributing to whether or not students are able to engage in academics right now. To expect all students to be able (and frankly, to care) about school right now is completely unfair. I have students pulling more weight in their families right now than I do in mine, and a few worksheets-turned-into-Google-slides really aren't worth their time.
However, even taking that into account, I think it's pretty clear that when we took away the traditional school model with grades, strict schedules, etc., we were left with students who aren't at all what we claim to be creating - people who are college, career, and life ready.
I've spent a lot of time processing through why I feel this so strongly, and more importantly, I spent time talking with my students.
Here's what I've gathered:
Our Students Aren't Intrinsically Driven
You want to know what makes someone a terrible employee? Being driven by extrinsic motivation. You want someone who does the bare minimum? Train them to value grades as compensation so that when they get to their job they are trained only to do what is expected of them in order to get their paycheck.
The biggest thing I hear across the board is, "My students aren't engaging."
YOU'RE SURPRISED?! For YEARS we have told students, "Do your work so you can get the grade," and now we're surprised when students stop doing the work when we take away the grade. What's the most common question we hear in the classroom when we assign something? "Is this graded?" How about when we get towards the end of the semester? "How do I raise my grade?"
Is any of this about their learning? Is any of this about their passion? Is any of this about their intrinsic motivation? NO!
We've created grade-obsessed gremlins who treat our class as a vending machine - assignment in, grade out.
Are these people ready to be successful in the real world? Goodness, no. These are people who work jobs they hate to get a paycheck they use to determine their worth.
What should we be doing instead? I'm going to stop myself from going on a tirade about the ridiculousness of modern grading practices in the classroom, which I would equate to a surgeon using a rusty spoon for surgery, because there is clearly a better way that has been proven time and time again in research and it's actually good for people instead of harmful. </rant>
But really, stop using grades as the motivator to get students to do things. Step one in preparing students for life is to stop using grades as the only way we motivate students. It works in the moment and screws them up long-term.
What should we be doing instead? Help students identify and pursue their passions. You want people ready for the world? Create people who know who they are, know what they are passionate about, and don't value extrinsic motivation above all else, because people who value extrinsic motivation that much are people who can't handle setbacks because their value is based on external forces.
Want to prepare students for life? Help them discover their reason for excellence. Help them tap into the passions and motivation connected to their own personal experience. Most importantly, allow your classroom to be a place where those passions are celebrated.
What does this look like, and how can I do it with my students? If you want to dig into this more, check out this blog post about tapping into students' passions.
Our Students Aren't Learners
But they got an A in my class?! That must mean they're a learner.
Wrong. They were the best at following orders. They were rewarded for being good at compliance. School doesn't teach students to learn; it teaches students to follow. We're seeing this so clearly right now.
If we were truly successful at preparing our students for life, we should be able to send home two things: a learning objective and a way for them to assess themselves. A real learner would be able to take those two things and access resources to teach themselves whatever they need to know.
You might be saying, "That's ridiculous to expect someone to do that!" Really? Because that's how I've learned virtually everything I know about teaching, woodworking, yard care, archery, etc. I found something I wanted to learn and a way for me to put my skills to the test. From there on out, I had to figure everything out. That's what learning is in the real world, yet so often we send kids out of school with this false sense that they are a successful learner, when really they're just a successful follower, and the first time they encounter a situation where they don't know everything they need to know, they fail. It leaves them with two choices: (1) Never try anything new, or (2) constantly rely on other people to hold their hand.
I don't know about the rest of you, but neither of those choices sounds like someone who's being successful at life.
"So you're telling me I just shouldn't answer my students' questions? That I'm just supposed to let them struggle?!"
Uh, yeah. Every time you hold their hand, you're conditioning them to be reliant on other people. Every time you give them the answer, you are depriving them of a chance to build the skills they need to seek answers on their own. It's the whole "give a fish versus teach to fish" example, except instead of giving someone a fish, we are shoving their heads underwater and making them look the fish in the eye while we shove it into their mouth (metaphorically speaking, of course).
So, we just let them struggle? Not exactly. We teach them how to struggle productively.
Raise your hand if you've explicitly taught students what the learning process looks like and given them a tool they can use to navigate it.
My guess is there wouldn't be many hands raised (aside from the few show-offs who are faking it). To be fair, before this whole ordeal, my hand wouldn't have been raised either.
I was really good about teaching students what I wanted them to learn, but I was really bad about teaching my kids how to learn, and right now, it's really showing.
What do we do?
Well, I can't promise to have all the answers, but I have some things that will help. Check out this post about how to create independent learners.
Final Thoughts
I don't want to go on and on, so let's bring this to an end.
The school closures have shown us that our lip service to preparing kids for life was simply a way for us to feel better about doing school the way we've always done it. Now that rug has been pulled out from under us, and we're left recognizing that at its core, education is simply a way to uphold the status quo. The education system was never created to be something that empowered students to own their own lives, but rather something that instilled a sense of compliance. This worked for certain periods of our history, but in a rapidly changing economy that requires people to develop their own business and think creatively about solutions, finding and solving the problems along the way, this isn't enough anymore.
We need to be explicitly emphasizing the importance of having students tap into their passions while also explicitly teaching them how to learn independently.
Now, I know a lot of you are thinking this right now: "When I'm back in my classroom, I want to do this."
But here's my question.
Why not do it tomorrow?
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