Words of wisdom from across the pond.
By Leah K. Stewart
You know those fist-pumping speeches that invariably include the line, make this nation’s schooling the best in the world! Almost without exception we hear this wherever national schooling exists: US, UK, Canada, Australia…
Am I the only one who shudders at this wholly accepted rhetoric around competition? Does this really make sense?
You might say competition drives improvement! Or national pride is good. Yes! I wholeheartedly agree with both of these excellent points. But let’s explore what this means.
Competition
Would a world-class sprinter have any interest racing the nearest 30 people of the same age? We all know this race would be pointless, for our sprinter would probably thrash the competition without breaking a sweat. Then we have the runners forced to race when they have other interests and strengths. What a joyless experience for everyone involved!
When we push all students through the same exams, students, like our sprinters, are not challenged. Other students, shamed by their poor comparative performance, lose confidence, as they’re beaten in races they never chose to run. This, my friends, is how a system creates student disengagement.
Some people may argue that school exams are the basics! Are they though? Basics? Are you able to read what you want to read in your own time? Can you add and subtract numbers when you are ready?
Even when students ace exams its said it’s because the exams are too easy. Governments add hurdles–a wall, a ditch and monkey bars until our sprinters finally feel the pinch of failure in the name of rigorous assessment.
What did our sprinter need? Competition, yes! But not externally defined compulsory competition that ranks all who happen to share a birth year and geographic region the same way. Not competition designed to lead to failure.
Governments that want competition, better step back and let teachers support students in connecting with peers regionally, nationally and internationally. Let mathletes find mathematicians, writers find journalists, bands find musicians, and tinkerers find mechanics.
We love challenge! Competition emerges naturally as we connect with others who love what we love regardless of age, location, social status, gender, religion or any other defining factor. The internet is here now. Let us connect and you’ll see how we really compete.
National Pride
Pride in yourself, your family, community, nation and humanity are all good things. When teachers must batch students through a career of hoops that lead to failure, our students are left with little time or energy to develop true self-pride.
School grades, certificates and prizes condition the idea that hoop-jumping is something to be proud of. This is empty. This system leads to stressed teachers calling students lazy, exasperated and parents bribing their children to learn. When the media plasters students supposed incompetence throughout the world and politicians shout about lost futures we must ask: Governments, don’t you see any fault in this system?
What if schools were places where students develop real personal pride by doing the difficult work of finding themselves, discovering a purpose, then learning and growing from there? Perhaps we’d see this pride of purpose filter to families, communities and, yes, to the nation. The best thing is it would not stop there. By doing this, we might even have a chance at discovering pride of purpose for humanity. Now, that would be something!
Schooling in my country is better than yours! This line never served us well. Is it not time to reach a higher level? Local, free and non-selective schools standing for self-selected competition and the search for true pride among nations–is this not what we all long for?
Leah K. Stewart (@LearntSchool) is on a mission to bring students and teachers together with this call Dear Governments, Trust Our Teachers! Leah is a Teaching Consultant and Public Speaker on Schooling from the Students Perspective from the U.K. leahkstewart.com.
You write with great style Leah. And the content stands up too. Please feel free to visit my website and leave comments.
https://rogertitcombelearningmatters.wordpress.com/
Thanks Roger. Hey, your book looks interesting! Give me some time and I’ll be on your site with questions.
You have sidestepped the classic ‘competition vs nurture’ argument beautifully Leah with your wonderful race analogy. and left me thinking ‘why didnt I think of it like that’. It makes so much sense and opens up so many doors as well. It allows the recognition and encouragement of abilities by the whole class, and a sense of pride of being in a group where so many talents are existing, at the same time as encouraging everyone to find their own talents. A truly inspiring read. Thank you
Hi there Teresa, so great to hear your perspective on this (and thanks for joining my mailing list by the way!). So much of my own school-time, which wasn’t that long ago, was spent in confusion thinking ‘this isn’t real competition’ and ‘this isn’t real pride’. Time to put the pieces together! Don’t know what’s next, but I’m looking forward to it. xx
I love how you always see through the rhetoric, Leah. People like you are dangerous to the establishment mentality. Keep it up!
Thank you Lisa. I’m hoping to not be dangerous to anyone, even to the sharks and jellyfish in the deep water… I’ve pulled myself onto the beach and I’m pretty chilled out, ice cream in hand, ready to talk with anyone else who’ll come out the water and look at what we are doing. P.S. My Grandma is still warning me of getting arrested for writing articles like these. It’s a sad example of how engrained this fear of the establishment can be.
Yes, Leah, what if?? “What if schools were places where students develop real personal pride by doing the difficult work of finding themselves, discovering a purpose, then learning and growing from there?”
Without awareness of purpose, what point the struggle? As much as this applies to the individual, so too it applies to the system. In America, at home in Britain and across the globe so many who desire to lead their nations choose not to acknowledge the importance of personal identity, a sense of purpose and a desire to grow as fundamental attributes of an education that may yet make us more human. Without a wealth of such currency, our civilisation is bankrupt.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, so eloquently crafted. Let’s hope those with the power to reverse the tide of hopeless tinkering with education read and take your message to heart.
What if? Such a human question. I could reply on a few levels, but I’ll go with a short version for now: What if it’s all about joy? Not the joy of a lottery win or a new hat, but the joy that develops when individuals become self-empowered to do whatever they can with whatever they have towards their own purpose? Schools that say to teachers and students; “go! do! think!” instead of “wait, follow, fail” P.S. you’ve got my signature and support for your ‘Ordinary Voices’ campaign. Let me know if you’d like me to help more directly in any way.
It is late as I read this and yet I want to stay up and talk into the wee hours of the morning about education, bringing students together with those they could learn from, natural talent and so much more.
Your voice inspires me to action, Leah! I want to see you standing before government leaders saying these words and so much more., I want to stand beside you in support. You have the perfect balance of heart and intelligence to turn this entire conversation – with its years of stale, flawed thinking – on its head.
Thank you for bringing new life to this education conversation. Keep using your voice! I believe in you. You have tossed the stone into the pond and begun the ripple of change.
Ah Natasha, you have a breathtaking way with words… and a gorgeous website! Thanks so much for joining in! And, you know, if government leaders want to talk with me I’ll talk with them, but (in a whisper) I’m more interested in something else. I’m more interested in what people like you are doing. Truth be told, if everything that restricts students and teachers was removed overnight -detailed syllabus, rigid timetables, national testing etc. all gone- we’d all be in a pickle. Too few people believe their own worth is far beyond the reach of titles and labels. You don’t just talk about creativity, as so many ‘in power’ do, you show those who don’t believe they’re creative that they are. Keep going!