By David Decoteau
I have been running this topic down in my mind for some time now. I think we all know that education is already a good bit broken...if not completely broken. And, in a way, that’s a good thing. An 1800’s Prussian model, created to churn out obedient factory workers should seem “broken” in today’s society.
So why not give the whole thing a fresh look?
I have been listening to lots of people speak about “credentialling” and how our education system is built on the business academia. Many make a very compelling case that “credentialling” should be abandoned. It’s a big subject, but I’ll list a couple of the reasons they talk about:
It’s a lie - You are in elementary school, and they tell you to behave so that you can get good grades for your “permanent record”. Same with middle schools and highschool. All this, with the idea that the record will be critical to get you to a good college. And then, your college record determines if you have “success or failure” in life. Is ANY of that true? Or is it how to get kids to behave in daycare while mom and dad are at work?
Does it work? Can it work? Does the structure of school as we do it today educate the most children the most effectively? Not “contain them”, but educate them. Is it still sensible to send our kids to big, expensive brick buildings, to be taught basic skills by some kinda smart people from your town: when the sum total of the knowledge of mankind can be taught by the smartest people on the planet: all from a device in each kids pocket?
Money and how it divides - From who has the best new sneakers in school, to who got lucky enough to live in a school district with money: the present system divides people into basically a caste system based on socio-economic status. I hesitate to call it “racism” because that word has been abused, but if your district determines how likely you are to get a good job, and if your taxes determine your schools’ abilities, couldn’t a very good argument be made that schools are causing a economic and racial divide?
Doctrine - So say you do as you are told, and you make it to the big goal of a “good school”...then what? Well, now comes the payoff...but not for the student. The schools now have an army of obedient, compliant and awe-struck minds to do with as they see fit. They can fill those black slates with just about any idea they want. They are operating from a supreme position of power, and the students have 12 years training at obeying commands. It’s a pretty powerful position to be in. And if the kids don’t comply, all those hopes and dreams from their entire lives can be crushed.
Debt - And then comes the final control. If you do as you are told and if you worship all the things you are told to worship, you are saddled with a debt the size of a mortgage...but without anything tangible in exchange for the burden. But, you rationalize that away, by saying the “credentials” you now have finally earned to associate with your name will get you a job that will make that debt feel bearable, and in only a decade or two, it will all be in the past. How’s that working out for most kids? Sure, there was a time when that was largely true, but in today’s world of guaranteed student loans and admission for all: a degree realistically gets most kids very little.
So, why not consider getting rid of the whole idea of “credentialling” and start from scratch.
Take a white paper look, and see if we can’t do better using the tools we have today (instead of those available in the 1800’s).
Why not offer jobs based on knowing what you are talking about, vs. having two letters after your name that literally signify nothing?
Why not make a system that allows infinite paths to education: instead of one.
Why not unburden generation from the crushing debt of student loans; but taking away academia’s monopoly on how one gets “credentialed”?
All things that our modern society needs to consider. There might not be any single topic more pressing and important. But I guess the question is: will we bother to take the time to fix what is obviously badly broken, or will we continue to “go with the broken flow”, simply based in inertia?