Back in the 1980s, David Letterman’s show occasionally featured something he called The Museum of the Hard to Believe. Here’s something that I think belongs in that museum: A typical school district in New Hampshire spends more money on a 10th grader than it does on a 3rd grader.
What makes that hard to believe? Well, 3rd grade is often thought of as the end of the learning to read phase of school, while 4th grade the beginning of the reading to learn phase.
What this means is that, starting in 4th grade, a student should be taking more responsibility each year for his own learning. By the time the student is capable of reading at a 10th grade level, his teachers shouldn’t be doing much more than helping him choose appropriate materials to work with, and answering the occasional question.
When I think of a proper education, I think of helping a child to the point where he has the tools, temperament, and self-awareness to be able to teach himself anything he wants to learn, in order to make himself into anything he wants to be.
I haven’t found a better visual representation of that idea than Albin Polasek’s statue, Man Carving His Own Destiny (above). The sculptor’s job is to get the process started, by freeing the head and arms; to supply the necessary tools; and to let the statue finish the job in whatever way it wants.
With a few small changes, this is a model of education: The educator’s job is to get the process started, by freeing the mind; to direct attention to the necessary resources; and to let the student finish the job in whatever way he wants.
Note that artificial intelligence researchers have, from the beginning, sought to take this kind of approach to developing intelligent machines. They realize that the only practical way to get a computer to accumulate the kind of knowledge that a human has is to put the computer itself in charge of the process.
Which is to say, we take a more sensible approach with our computers than we do with our children.
Can you think of anything more ironic? Or more pathetic?
