Education

Theories and goals of education don't matter a whit
if you don't consider your students
to be human beings.
--Lou Ann Walker

Some may find the words of Lou Ann Walker "don't matter a whit" in a meaningful exchange regarding education. In fact, there are undoubtedly people, particularly among the ranks of "educators," who find Walker's words professionally, and personally, insulting. In the final equation, regardless of the individual's reaction to what Walker is suggesting, she undoubtedly drives a stake into the heart of those institutions, groups, and individuals who choose to refer to children as "resources," "assets," or any other nominal term of depersonalization that scrapes away the child's skin of humanity, and replaces it with chainmail woven of integers, symbols, and assorted nondescript labels. John Dewey believed, "Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." If Dewey is correct in his assessment, then there is no choice but to first, and foremost, accept the child in all of his or her humanness before one enters into a conversation about education and learning. To do otherwise would not only dishonor the child, but dishonor the adult as well.

Equally important to the acknowledgment of the human qualities of the student is the development of a conceptual understanding of "education" in order to determine its purpose; its raison d'être. Paulo Freire believes, "Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world." Freire's "freedom" is manifested through the person's faculty of thought. As Bill Beattie suggests, "The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men." Or, as Oliver Wendell Holmes expresses it, "The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts but learning how to make facts live." Thoughts are equally important in Edith Hamilton's definition of education. In her words, "To be able to be caught up into the world of thought -- that is educated." The ability to think is directly linked to the tendency of the individual to question; to question anything and everything. William Allin believes this is where education comes into its own right, suggesting, "Education is not the answer to the question. Education is the means to the answer to all questions."

In The Ascent of Man, J. Bronowski addresses the importance of helping, and more importantly, allowing, students to become thinkers, and questioners of their human existence. According to Bronowski, "It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot, irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it." There is little reason to doubt that insistence on teaching students to think might be unnerving to some individuals and social institutions. It would seem almost sacrilegious to believe that a society and its governing structures would find reason not to invest heavily in the education of its citizens. However, from the perspective of Henry Peter Broughan, "Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave." In the words of Aristotle, "All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth." One of the United States' founding fathers, John Adams, insisted, "Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially for the lower classes of people, are so extremely wise and useful that to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant. And, George Peabody notes, "Education: a debt due from present to future generations."

Education is certainly no enemy to honest government ,and an honorable society. Such a government and society does not fear education, but embraces and supports it to the fullest. As Nelson Mandela acknowledged, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Especially, if that change we seek is peace, then education, not politics and the arsenals of war, should be the weapons of choice. Maria Montessori believed, "Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war." Education is essential to removing the obstacles to a universal and lasting peace.

Prejudice is one of the major obstacles education must be aimed at removing. Charlotte Bronte states, "Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among rocks." Peace is also more likely to come about when, as citizens of one planet, we recognize that being of service, rather than being at odds, to one another is a step in the right direction. Addressing this line of thought, Marian Wright Edelman stated, "Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it."

Although education and learning is frequently measured by its utility and tangible value, there is also intrinsic and intangible value as well. Edith Hamilton would argue, "It has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life. To be able to be caught up into the world of thought -- that is to be educated. For Helen Keller, education had existential meaning. In her words, "Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? I was like that ship before my education began, only I was without compass or sounding line, and no way of knowing how near the harbor was. "Light! Give me light!" was the wordless cry of my soul, and the light of love shone on me in that very hour."

Intrinsic and intangible qualities cannot, must not, be overlooked, or devalued, in the planning and development of educational institutions and environments for all learners, especially children. We must also guard against substituting "indoctrination" for "education," both in our lexicon and in our and operations manual. The first restricts, constricts, and pushes the individual in a predetermined manner. The latter broadens, loosens, and frees the individual to determine his or her own future. The first controls, the latter encourages. In the words of William Butler Yeats, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."

Education and learning should not be such a difficult task. We merely need to tap into the natural curiosity of children and add meaning to our efforts. In the words of Simone Weil, "The joy of learning is as indispensable in study as breathing is in running. Where it is lacking there are no real students, but only poor caricatures of apprentices who, at the end of their apprenticeship, will not even have a trade." Why should learning not be fun? Why is it that we still hear such worn and pitiful clichés as, "school is not meant to be fun. The children are there to learn, not to have a good time?" Do we really believe that? Can we allow ourselves to believe that? All each of us has to do is to look at our own lives; our own learning experiences. Which meant the most to you? Those performed under duress, or those gladly entered into?

For education and learning to be a joy, fun, and rewarding, it is believed important that we expend prodigious amounts of energy, effort, time, and financial resources to make learning exciting. Anyone that has spent much time around children knows how quickly they can become bored with what they are engaged in at any given moment. For those that subscribe to "learning shouldn't be fun," the fact that children are bored with the intended learning activity may not be of any consequence. On the flip side, the rest of us realize that boredom quickly kills enthusiasm, and as enthusiasm dissipates, so does learning.

Speaking to the issue of boredom and its impact on learning opportunities, Fritz Redl, in When We Deal With Children notes, "Boredom will always remain the greatest enemy of school disciplines. If we remember that children are bored, not only when they don't happen to be interested in the subject or when the teacher doesn't make it interesting, but also when certain working conditions are out of focus with their basic needs, then we can realize what a great contributor to discipline problems boredom really is. Research has shown that boredom is closely related to frustration and that the effect of too much frustration is invariably irritability, withdrawal, rebellious opposition or aggressive rejection of the whole show." If we can accept the point Fritz Redl is making in this statement, then we can find the utility in eliminating boredom from the learning environment, as well as the intrinsic value. With discipline issues frequently being a hot topic in school-related conversations, here we see an opportunity to increase effective learning, while reducing the disruptive student behaviors. Does this perspective not hold out the possibility of the proverbial "win-win" solution so many organizations and individuals seek in their daily operations and exchanges?

Before ending this reflection on education and learning, it seems appropriate to remind ourselves of how important the adult's role is in the "total education" of the child. Contemplating the role of the adult in children's education, one would be well served by embracing the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: "“Who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying.” Or, in the words of James Baldwin, "Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." The duty and responsibility of the current adult generation to provide for the education of the younger generation is not to be taken lightly. There is no denying that educating our youth is quite an obligation, but it need not be considered burdensome, instead, a privilege. Rachel Carson, in her book A Sense of Wonder, reminds us, "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in."