All the prompts of this course have truly made me go deep down
through the fundamental questions: the nature of human as a social being and
relationship between individuality and sociality. Today a school appears to be
undeniably a center of human development in our society. Preschool and
elementary school enrollment rate is almost 100% in Korea. College enrollment
rate is over 80% of high school graduates. That’s a huge percentage. With the
simple fact that a lot of students are being taught in schools, we could easily
see the importance of a good school. Thinking about What Does a Good School
Look Like, I focused on the Eisner’s article. There I found meaningful messages
that struck me and got me in thinking about schools today and tomorrow. It is
about what a student can do and what a student will do. He suggests that a
school should prepare students to apply what they have learned at school to the
outside world. If the life in and out of a school is separate and distinct, it
may mean students are wasting their time meaninglessly. I remember AlvinToffler once said about the students in Korea when he visited for a conference
in 2008. (Toffler says Korean Education System Needs Reform.) That was a striking message that no teacher would deny. “Korean
students are wasting their time in schools and private institutes for 15 hours
a day to obtain knowledge that will be unnecessary in the future and for jobs
that will not exist in the future.” And he also pointed out “uniform standards”
hampering diversification in education.
“We need to determine whether
students can use what they have learned. But even being able to use what has
been learned is no indication that it will be used. There is a difference
between what a student can do and what a student will do.” (Eisner, p.331)
There are a lot of questions raised in the articles of Eisner and
Noddings regarding good schooling and aims of education. Here is a brief
summary of them.
n
About school activities:
whether they are inviting students to think and engage in the activities,
whether they are related to the problems and issues outside of the classroom
n
Cooperative learning opportunities,
and possibility of creating and designing learning environment for cooperation
n
Interactive assessment to
improve students and in turn schools
n
Feasibility of widening and
diversifying what parents and others think matters
n
Whether every lesson should have
a specific learning objective and what form it should take
Every question seems to lead us to think about what a good school looks
like. Schools should not be isolated from our real life while they provide academic
knowledge and ideas. I think relevance to our life doesn’t necessarily mean
something practical or hands-on activities. It is about certain way of thinking
and finding significance through learning process. Even when we teach a subject
that is not directly related to the real life or future job, we could get
student to learn critical thinking skills and cooperation through which
learning takes place. I think that is relevance of learning helping students to
stand on their own feet.
“The function of schooling is not to enable students to do better in
school. The function of schooling is to enable students to do better in life.
What students learn in school ought to exceed in relevance the limits of the
school’s program.” (Eisner, p.329)
Students are spending substantial amount of time in school
(especially in Korea). Considering their critical period of development,
schools should be the place where they can have every possible opportunity to
experience through trial and error, learn how to learn, and finally find and
choose what they think happy life. Noddings pointed out that we too often lose
sight of aim. I think that’s when schooling becomes separate from students’
life when we lose track of purpose and aim of education. A good school should
be able to provide with a way to raise questions (to actively engage in what
students are doing in class and later in life), prepare students for a better
and happy life, and finally keep these ideas continuously. It may be fair enough
to say that a school is good where students can learn how to think and realize
their personal value and the meaning in a society. These may sound so abstract
and broad, but that should be the very beginning and ending of the concept of a
good school.
Hello Jihyeon,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your Cycle 5 blog on what a good school should look like. There are a few spots that really resonated with me in a profound way. In your opening paragraph, you say:
“Today a school appears to be undeniably a center of human development in our society.”
http://jihyeonjudykim.blogspot.kr/
This is so true. We are not content to stick with the “3 R’s” (Reading, ‘Rating and ‘Arithmetic) or even some sort of “core curriculum”. We just can’t seem to help ourselves from pouring all kinds of well-meaning goals and intentions into the public school curriculum. Throughout our TE 818 course, we have examined this tension between whatever is deemed to be core and essential curriculum as opposed to every other possible laudable curricular element.
Your comments on the educational practices in Korea are very interesting. With two boys of my own working their way through the public schools here in southern Michigan, I have wondered from time to time what it would be like for them to be involved a more rigorous academic environment. Somewhere between 6 hours a day in the US and 15 hours a day in Korea would be a good balance.
The article regarding Toffler’s views on the Korean high school standards and strict college entrance requirements was very, very interesting to me. As you may already know, I teach college accounting; and what I’m seeing if that we need much tighter standards for US students transitioning from high school to college. Korean poses an intriguing example of what considerably tight standards look like and what happens with such rigidity. I wish the author had gone further. In the closing statement of the article, we are told that:
“Something should be done about our education and economic policies.”
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2007060488688
Ok, and what should be done? What can we do about our education and economic policies? Ok, keep going.
I think you are right on the mark with your ideas on relevance. Indeed, we do need to make the curriculum relevant. All courses can be infused with critical thinking practices and leanings toward real world application and relevance. I love the Eisner quote you share, I also have that one highlighted:
“The function of schooling is not to enable students to do better in school. The function of schooling is to enable students to do better in life.” (Eisner, 2008)
You also mention learning how to learn and choice. I wholeheartedly agree that these two elements must be a part of any good modern school environment. Many of my students really struggle with analysis and thinking through problems. Original thought and innovation in creative problem solving in woefully lacking in the students I see come through my community college classrooms. It is painful for students to be forced to think independently without models and examples. We do it, and we get through it; but for many students, it is very uncomfortable. We could do a better job with learning how to learn and thinking how to think. Choice is also a key element. When students understand that they have choices, their engagement and work ethic naturally rises. Like you, I believe that students need to have much more support, encouragement and praise for making choices about their future work lives as adults. There is not and should not be only one “college only” career path. Conceptually, there could be as many career paths as there are students. If you haven’t heard of Anya Kamenetz or http://diyubook.com/ and http://www.fastcompany.com/user/anya-kamenetz, you might find her books, youtube and comments interesting.
By the way, can you believe it’s just about the end of April and the end of our class? I have mixed feelings about TE 818 ending. I really enjoyed our readings and thinking prompts this semester. I hope you are doing well and ready for a great summer.
Take care,
Suzanne Kiess
sekiess@hotmail.com
Hi Jihyeon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post. While all of your posts for this course have been quite good, this one really stands out for the analysis and organization. An excellent job!
I tend to agree with the critique of any system that has students cramming 15 hours a day. If we want students to learn how to learn, we have to provide them leisure in order to see what they do with it! That is one thing I always found so fascinating about Ralph Tyler--he was actually interested in that question. Like Eisner, he wants to know if anything in school actually changes the habits of the child outside of school. It is such a more challenging mission for schools, in my opinion, then test scores or college-entrance exams.
I really appreciate that you make a distinction between relevance and practical/hands-on. One point of learning: it feels the desire for more learning! Like Socrates, the more we learn, the more we should realize how little we know. This experience is another name for relevance, I think. It can be the most abstract mathematical or grammar rule, but if we see how it fits into life, if it allows us to see a part of life in a new way, then we have relevance.
Thanks for your wonderful post!
Kyle