In August we shall have our annual ‘assessment’ of education standards and our perennial outcry over falling standards. The A-Level and GCSE results are but one of the many incomplete and misleading indicies in which we project our notions of education into.
Gordon Brown, inheriting a country with a profound distrust of politicians, faces a key challenge in trying to overhaul our failing approach to education that is failing our young people.
The New Labour obsession with targets was one of Blair’s primary weapons in convincing the public that a Labour government can spend public money accountably. In education these targets, means by which we judge the governments success with education, are based on the numerous examinations that kids are put under. Every three years we test our youth’s aptitude of English, maths and science (whatever that means), the results supposedly giving us a clear illustration of how successful our education system is. The limited scope, means and ambition of these targets lift the lid on just how fundamentally flawed our approach to education is.
Recently, a study found Britain to be one of the worst places in the world to be a child. Both a cause and consequence of this is the apparent ‘anti-social behaviour’ of much of youth culture. Though the topic is poisoned with class snobberies (in both directions), I’d argue that the disillusioned, alienated, and too often aggressive culture that pervades is an essential issue facing our society (terrorism, supposedly the gravest threat to our society has caused a fraction of the misery in comparison). Given that our kids are subjected to six hours of school, five days a week (until they take matters into their own hands), the obvious place to start, when looking at this issue, is our schools. And where better then Labour’s very own targets?
These suggest that under 10 years of Labour management schooling is improving, yet our children are seemingly unhappier and face more problems with and in society. All of which, points to a (for there are a few) route of the problem – our conception of education. Notice that for all that the targets do include, there is no mention of social confidence, personal contentment, relationships with others etc. Obviously these are harder to index (though we happily measure anti-social-ness), but their absence illustrates the misplacement of our priorities with education.
Our teacher training, national curriculum and targets by which we evaluate education should include wider personal and social issues. Key social factors such as identity, relationships and (imagined) concepts of race and gender our harnessed at school, yet completely ignored by educators. When this alienation manifests itself in society we are all suddenly surprised and offended.
Perhaps, rather then banning hoodies in shopping centers, or even hugging hoodies in shopping centers, we should have a radical and honest public debate about what education means, what we want from it, and how we should achieve it.
Right now, I’m wandering around India. Having finished my undergrad, I ran out of ideas (or had too many – the effect is largely similar), so decided travel was my only option, admittedly a well worn one.
As with any decision many, especially myself, questioned why I was doing this and what I hope to achieve from it.
Three months on I still can’t answer that. What has occurred to me though, is that at every stage my mind is being blown. I literally mean the limits of my mind were being smashed, and (hopefully) when they form again they will be extended.
Children are in the fortunate position of having their minds as of yet unmade. They can learn, absorb and undertake new experiences very quickly and easily. Then as you travel through education and life you learn/experience more and more, but consequently the boundaries of your mind begin to form. You lead to conclusions, derive opinions. It’s an essential part of maturing and becoming an individual.
The tricky bit starts from there. New ideas, different opinions, peculiar perspectives and understandings become inaccessible. If they cannot be absorbed into the current framework of your learning, they are left out. Systems of thought are lost this way and our education becomes halted.
Travel, I have found, has helped me, just a little, to unlearn these boundaries. Having so many unexplainable experiences and perspectives flung at me has helped to blow these limitations and left me slightly more open to new ideas. It’s a simple concept but there are many people who are much, much smarter then me, but have, as a product of their learning and knowledge limited their capacity for learning more.
This affects all aspects of our lives: politically we decide our ideology and find it difficult to move from that, socially we decide what we like and dislike in people and emotionally we conclude how we respond to metaphysical questions. All of these are judgments we necessarily make in our lives but often without recognizing our limited scope. Our response to the great social and environmental challenges we are currently facing could be fundamentally improved if we allow ourselves to unlearn a little more.
