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On Motivation and Learning
Much of the scholarship on adult learning can be summarised in the following statement:
Adult’s learn what they want to learn and what they find useful and applicable to their life experience.
In contrast, young people, certainly up to teenage years, are happy to learn what is put before them. Adults, on the other hand, will discriminate and select when it comes to learning.
It stands to reason therefore that motivation for learning is an important topic in adult education. Motivation theories address the question of why we learn as distinct from cognitive theories that try to explain how we learn.
When we use the term “motivation” in everyday life it can mean several different things – we often say “the football team came out motivated by the half-time talk” or such a person is a “motivational speaker”. In these examples we see motivation as a kind of energy or mind set that can be triggered for short intervals of time. Another meaning we have for motivation suggests a long term quality, a propensity to achieve – one who is “motivated to get to the top”. But motivation is not always directed at achievement – when a crime is committed we know that every good detective looks for opportunity and motive in suspects.
One drawback of everyday language is that we tend to think of motivation in the singular – we look for one reason for a particular action. In reality, motivation is a complex matter; there is usually a mix of influences and mindset; circumstance and chance all play their part.
What then of motivation and learning? I suggest that we need to consider two types of factors – those that predispose a person to take on a learning project and opportunity factors connected with the circumstances and conditions of learning.
Let’s take a look at predisposition. If you ask adult returners, in a college for example, you will often hear people describe that they had been thinking about doing a course for a long time. In my research (on adult’s learning computer skills) I hear phrases such as: “I’ve always wanted to go back to school” or “I’ve been thinking about doing something about this for many years”. So it’s clear that many people nurture a desire for learning. What’s interesting is that many people report that they were so inclined over a long period of time. I think of this as a kind of priming. It stands to reason that even when so ‘primed’ some people will act to learn and others will remain with an unfulfilled desire.
So, the other set of factors come into play – these are connected with the opportunity. “I was in the supermarket and I seen the sign for the course and the two girls at the stand were very helpful” this is how one of my informants describes a moment of opportunity. At this point a person may (not necessarily as a conscious process) weigh up all the factors and ask questions such as:
What will I get from this?
How hard will it be?
How will other people regard my actions?
Will I have the time, space, money, support etc.?
This is the complex of motivation. And here I am just describing one decision point. Even when people start a course the questioning continues throughout.
As I said Adult’s learn what they want to learn and what they find useful and applicable to their life experience. -
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Seminar on the Pedagogy of Messy Play
Each Friday during term we hold professional development seminars for faculty and staff at NCI.These events focus on learning, teaching and research and we always have interesting and engaging topics.
Today, our colleague Catriona Flood from the Early Learning Initiative at NCI presented a seminar on the pedagogy of messy play.
During the summer a number of messy play sessions were organised by the ELC and children and parents from our hinterland attended. The kids got stuck in so to speak and often when we looked out our windows into the enclosed garden at the college we were treated to the sight of a multitude of little ones splashing, banging, playing with sand, glup, paint and ‘coloured stuff’. Yes generally making a mess!
One might ask – is this really learning? Yes it is and it is in its purest form. The natural instincts for inquiry, socialising and ‘messing’ with the environment are fundamental for development and growth of thinking skills. Catriona’s presentation focused on the principles of early school education and the thinking behind each of the play activities. Participants at the seminar were also treated to some messy play objects which they duly played with.
Subsequently the discussion focused on the relationship between play and learning even in third level contexts. Play often provides a safe space where new roles and activities can be explored.
One further thought – the kids who participated in the messy play sessions had their first encounter with a college as 3 to 8 year-olds hopefully we’ll see them again as students in the future.
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Knowledge Surveys
I came across an interesting piece on Knowledge Surveys from Edward Knuhfer and Dolores Knipp (linked above).
They advocate the use of Knowledge Surveys as a tool in support of learning and instruction.
These surveys consist of a series of questions – similar to a set of exam questions – but the difference is that the learner is asked not to answer the question but to rate their own ability to respond.For example – consider the following questions:
Q1 Describe three characteristics of an constructivist theory of learning?
Q2 Compare constructivism with social constructivism?
Q3 Outline practical applications of a behaviorist approach to learning?
Now, in a traditional assessment the student would be asked to write short essays on the above.
With a knowledge survey the student is asked to rate their level of knowledge as:
A – I feel confident that I could answer this question
B – I know about 50% of what may be involved and perhaps if I went away for twenty minutes I could find the missing information
C – I am not confident that I would be able to answer this question at all
Do you get the gist? The knowledge survey gauges a student’s perception of their own ability.
Knowledge Surveys may be very useful particularly at the beginning of new courses or topics. A word of caution though – students may not always have or report a reliable estimate of their own ability.
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What are we teaching in schools?
Two very interesting comment pieces appeared in today’s Irish Times. The editorial commented on the draft report by the National Economic and Social Forum on the connection between school literacy levels and social exclusion and inside, a piece by Breda O’Brien (link above) on creativity and second level education. It is interesting to connect the two pieces.
As a society we have a responsibility to prepare young people for the future – this is what we expect of our education system – but we cannot possibly know what the future has in store. As the educational philosopher John Dewey put it – the best we can do is to teach children how to experience the present to its maximum extent.
Our children are poorly served by an archaic education system where state exams focus on selective recall and pure luck. Notice that we have the State Exams Commission not the ‘educational assessment’ commission indicating that they are only concerned with ‘exams’ one form of educational assessment. This is like an orchestra that can play any music as long as it is composed by Mozart!
Future oriented skills such as critical thinking, inquiry, creativity and collaboration are largely undervalued in the present school system. Until we reform the pedagogy of schooling and assessment we will continue to suffer the consequences of poor literacy levels. And large numbers of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds will continue to face a future on the margins of society. -
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Leaving Cert English Fiasco – There Was Another Way!
Big Problem!
In assessment terms, the majority of our state exams may be characterised by unseen (in advance) questions and time limited tests.
The shock news of today is the fact that through some unfortunate human error the questions for Leaving Cert English paper 2 were inadvertently distributed to a small group of students intending to sit paper 1.
“The integrity of the exam had been compromised by the regrettable incident” said the Minister for Education Batt O’Keefe.
The State Exams Commission considered they had no option but to cancel today’s paper 2 exam and ordered that a new paper 2 should be taken by students this Saturday.
This is no small inconvenience it is very distressing for the students concerned, it will cost a lot of money and it has discredited the operational effectiveness of those responsible for organising the exams.Was there any alternative?
The simple answer is yes and it is a great shame that some lateral thinking was not applied to the problem.
The issue had to do with the consequences of some students knowing the questions one day in advance.
Let’s suppose that we want the exam process to adhere to two principles that may have been undermined by the leaking of the questions in advance – the first is the ‘unseen’ nature of the test and the second is the principle of ‘fairness’ in that some students will have seen the questions and some may not.Seen and Unseen Exam Questions
Let us deal with the consequences of students seeing the questions in advance. What if the papers were corrected with this knowledge in mind? Open book and open or seen question (i.e. the questions known in advance) exams are not at all unusual in the third level sector.
Once the person correcting the scripts knows the conditions under which the exam was taken it is simply a matter of taking this into account.
It’s really no big deal that the students knew one day in advance which poets they will have to write about.
The other, much more important, issue is that of fairness. A situation where some students knew the questions and others did not would violate this principle and would be unacceptable.
The Department of Education claims that they found out about the breach of security at 4pm yesterday afternoon and had to make a decision on the resit within a very short time frame. I have some sympathy for them and someone has to answer for the fact that the error was not reported sooner.
But was that the right or only decision available?
No!
I suggest that the Department should have published English paper 2 there and then and used the news media to disseminate that fact.In this way all students could read the paper and prepare on equal terms.
There was no ideal solution once the security of the system broke down but publishing the exam paper would certainly have been the least worst option.
Perhaps the whole fiasco will provide a stimulus for some much needed rethinking on how we assess learning at a national level.
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Plagiarism Reframed
Mention plagiarism to any third level academic and you are likely to be greeted with groans and laments.
This is one topic that gets into people’s hearts – it leads to animated discussions and hard views. It is unwise to be regarded as soft on the issue.
It is annoying, very annoying to be reading something presented as a student’s original work when it dawns on you – this is familiar – or – this is not the same style of writing as expected.
Plagiarism is genuinely offensive to many academics – it offends one’s sense of academic integrity and is regarded as a dishonourable practice and a form of cheating.
Many also feel that the student is trying to make a fool out of them – the tables are reversed – instead of the assignment being a test of the student it is a test of the examiner.
Assuming the examiner will not spot the obvious is a form of insult.In most institutions plagiarism is treated as a disciplinary rather than learning or teaching matter – student’s face expulsion, suspension and fines if they are found guilty of the charge.
Remarkably, despite clearly stated policies and warnings to students – it seems that the incidence of plagiarism is increasing rather than decreasing. All in all it is of great concern and worry.
There is a need for a radical rethink of how we conceptualise and deal with plagiarism.Most treatments of plagiarism begin with a definition and they look to dictionaries as the source (always a worrying sign) – something like – plagiarism is the act of passing off other peoples written work as your own etc..
Much of the academic practice centres on how to spot plagiarism and how to punish it. There is a good business in the technology of plagiarism detection (most people know the Turnitin software).
Of course, as the technology on the detection side gets better – so too there are many more Internet sources to copy and even services that will write your assignments for a fee.
We have the plagiarism wars – each side trying to outwit the other. As with all wars there are casualties on both sides.“If I was you I wouldn’t start from here at all” said the wise Kerryman when asked for directions. So with plagiarism let’s leave it for a while and come at the problem from an entirely different starting point.
A constructivist pedagogy assumes that we build new knowledge through the interaction of present and past experiences. I like to refer to this process as the act of making meaning. For example, when I read good theory the ideas resonate with me – I connect these new insights with my past experiences. An essential characteristic of the constructivist model of learning is that making meaning is a unique and personal process. There is no universal knowledge just personalised knowledge.
Dewey contrasts the traditional and constructivist approaches to learning:
On the one hand, learning is the sum total of what is known, as that is handed down by books and learned men. It is something external, an accumulation of cognitions as one might store material commodities in a warehouse. Truth exists ready-made somewhere. Study is then the process by which an individual draws on what is in storage.
On the other hand, learning means something which the individual does when he studies. It is an active, personally conducted affair.(Dewey, 1944 p 335)Dewey’s own vision was in keeping with the latter active notion of learning expressed above. If you agree with a constructivist model of learning (and most theorists do) then there is no such thing as purely original work. Even these words as I write are made up of insights and ideas from many sources – true I have integrated these with my own.
So for most of this text – which I claim as my own writing – I am making meaning from multiple sources from people, experiences and feelings in my past. Note that where I cite from Dewey above I indicate in the format that these are Dewey’s exact words – I am inviting you the reader to make your own meaning.
When students are given written assignments they are being asked to make meaning not to reproduce knowledge.
Plagiarism is a refusal or failure to make meaning.
There are many reasons why people refuse or fail to make meaning. Sometimes students are confused about what is expected, some students are reluctant to express their own ideas as they feel this is not real learning. Other students worry about their ability to write and are in awe of other peoples words – how could I write it better than an expert. Some cultures are more reluctant to question great writings and individual meaning making is discouraged.
And yes – some students are genuinely dishonest and are attempting to cheat the system.
How can we deal with plagiarism?
The first point is that prevention is far better than cure. Cheating is really only significant where high stakes assessment is involved. In other words when students are being ‘tested’ and the result forms part of their grade. A strategy of providing early ‘low stakes’ or formative assessment events will provide feedback to students who miss-learn what is expected of them when they write.Secondly, academic writing requires additional skills and specialist knowledge such as how to format, cite and prepare bibliographies. As with all skills people learn best by a mix of rule learning and practice. When used properly, citations and quotations may provide a form of scaffold for the novice academic writer while he or she is finding their own voice and meaning. But many students at this stage fail to apply the citation rules and often regard them as incidental – a question of format rather than core content. Early and frequent opportunities to practice academic writing with rapid feedback on errors and progression will counter this.
Finally, what of the cheats – what’s really happening here? I believe cheating is also a consequence of miss-learning. It is a failure to learn values. The values of academic integrity and the collaborative quest of knowledge underpins the third level education system. This frequently gets mixed up with the economics of qualifications and the preparation and entry points for jobs. A student who cheats believes that there is a short cut to a qualification and that the assessment is too blunt an instrument to catch them.
This may say something about the standards and practice of assessment as well as the character of the student.
References
Dewey, J. (1944). Democracy and education (First Free Press Paperback ed.). New York: Macmillan.You May Also Like
Getting to Grips with Academic Writing
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My Learning Identity
The term “identity” is widely used in many different contexts – we often speak or our national, cultural, linguistic or sporting identities. This multifaceted aspect of identity signifies that we should really think about our identities rather than a singular identity.
There seems to be two ways in which we use identity in everyday life; firstly, we identify with a particular group or practice – in this we seek to belong or to be a part of something and secondly, we develop an internal notion of our own identity – this is self-identity – and it is often used to compare ourselves with others.
It is not difficult to see how the two are intertwined.
Imagine a situation where you meet someone for the first time and you wish to get to know more about them – you might start by asking where they are from etc.. There follows an exchange of descriptive information usually in the form of identity signifiers: “I am from Dublin”, “I am an educator”, “I have teenage children”.
In no time there is common ground and perhaps you find a mutual area of interest with your new friend.
Identity signals serve a useful function in social situations they help us to quickly categorise and appraise other people. They act as a kind of shorthand that avoids the need for detailed time-consuming descriptions.
What of our self-identity? We may also use this to categorise and appraise ourselves – we do this in reference to others.
Our self-identity is neither singular (we should say self-identities) nor stable over time. We have many self-identities and they are greatly influenced by context.
I am happy to say that I am a competent golfer when I am in the company of non-golfers but I feel totally inadequate on the tee-box when members of my club are watching on.
In fact, as far as golf is concerned, I have a very unstable self-identity concept.
In my opinion, I am usually much weaker at golf that others I see around me. However, my golfing identity is greatly influenced by my most recent experiences and so I might find myself feeling pretty smug if I just birdied the last hole.
I believe that we all have a learning-identity and that it forms an important part of our overall self-concept. This is true especially for adults and I believe that we need to give greater consideration to the influence of learning-identity when we talk about adult education, return-to-learning, skills in the workplace and older people using computers for the first time.
For many older people learning-identity is founded on school experiences and unfortunately these may not have been very positive for the individual concerned.
Recently as part of my my own research on adult learners I asked people (generally over 45 years of age) why they decided to undertake a basic computer course. In the first few sentences of their response many of them would refer to their experiences at school. Typically they would say something like“well you see I wasn’t very good at school – so I never really did any other courses but I found that I was missing out as far as computers were concerned – so I decided I’d try and give this a go but I’m really quite nervous.”
This would be their first response – notice that when I never asked about school people always seemed to want to bring in their school experiences when they talked about any kind of course they were considering.
I suspect that what’s going on is that these people have invoked their school derived learning-identity and are already nervous about a situation that involves any combination of the words like learning, course or college.
This is really a double whammy – if you did poorly at school you are less likely to have taken up a course in your adult life and therefore your learning-identity will be based largely on your school experiences. But because you did poorly at school your sense of yourself as a learner will not be very positive.
Just going back to my earlier example based on my self-identity as a golfer – it’s as if I have not played any golf for the last thirty years and all I remember was that I was awful and had a horrid experience when I last played thirty years ago. How do you think I would feel when standing up to take the first shot.
And that’s an example from a really trivial activity like golf – imagine how much worse I would feel when it comes to something that really matters like my learning-identity.
So what can be done?
Here are some ideas on how to manage your learning-identity- Think about progress – how much has changed in terms of schooling between when you were at school and what happens in schools today. These changes were as a result of improvements in the craft of teaching and better understanding of what it means to learn. In other words the problem in the past may well have been with the system rather than the individual.
- Know where you learn – many people do not regard themselves as learning unless they have participated on a course. We learn all the time and throughout our lives. Your learning-identity should extend beyond your school experiences.
- Know where you teach – think about all of the situations where you have guided others as a parent, an experienced co-worker or as a mentor. Ask yourself -if you are naturally good at facilitating learning in others – how does this make you feel about yourself as a learner.
- Finally it’s not like school! This is the most common description that adult learners use when they eventually participate in a course and describe their experiences.
Go on then and give your own learning-identity a good shake-up.
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Can we measure learning?
Somewhere in recent conversations someone came up with the line “if we can’t measure it we can’t manage it”. I have heard this many times before and I’m not sure of its origin – if I was asked in a pub quiz I would suggest Jack Welsh of GE but I could be wrong.
Anyhow, the axiom is part of everyday management speak and is often cited as a core principle used in change management and strategic planning.
We’ve had a good example of this recently where financial systems and governments appear unable to ‘measure’ the extent of the bad bank loans (aka toxic debt) and, so the argument goes, we need to get these bad loans out of the system not because they are ‘bad’ as such but because they are unmeasurable.
The Irish Government plan is to establish a new agency – the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) – this will take all the bad loans out of the banking system in order to free up the regular banks to continue to do business in the normal way.
I can see how all this will be used in case studies to further reinforce the axiom of ‘can’t measure can’t manage’. The problematisation may even be reduced to “an unmeasurable got into the system and we had to clear it out”.
Wouldn’t life be really simple if it wasn’t for all these unmeasurables getting in the way! They seem to crop up everywhere in finance, in politics, in sport and in nature.
Let’s look critically at the relationship between measurement and management and see if the axiom holds true.
What do we mean when we say to measure something? Our usual response is that we put a value, preferably a numerical value, on something.
What do we mean when we say we manage something? We usually mean that we can exercise some control over a system or process and we can use this control to direct the process toward a particular goal.
Here are some everyday examples of measurement and management:I can manage to keep my my driving below the speed limit because the speedometer provides me with a measure of my speed.
I manage my finances by keeping a regular check on my bank account balances.
The election agent manages a political campaign by measuring the public mood through opinion pools.
Notice how in the first example the system for measuring speed and the system for controlling speed are independent. In fact the interface between these two systems is me when I drive. I react to what I read on the speedometer and thereby adjust my speed. My car also has a cruise control function – so what’s happening when this is engaged? I input the desired speed and take myself out of the loop – the speedometer ‘talks’ to the accelerator and the desired speed is maintained. This is a very good example of measurement-based management.
Or is it? What exactly is being managed? Is the system driving the car? Could I commute everyday using such a speed management system? The answer is of course not I need to manage brakes, gears, indicators, road conditions, other traffic, pedestrians etc. and respond to many, many more complex inputs than the reading on the speedometer.
Remaining alert while driving is perhaps just as important as driving at the appropriate speed. And yes I would be breaking the law if I was driving under the influence of drink or drugs as these are known to affect alertness and for these we also have measures such as blood alcohol levels but note that these are not measures of ‘alertness’ just indications of factors likely to influence alertness.
So is alertness measurable? This is a more difficult and interesting question. Let’s see – we could start by looking at the extremes – I could say that when I am asleep I have a low measure of alertness (and should not be driving!) and when I am wide awake and concentrating on my driving I have a high measure of alertness. But is there any point in developing a scale, say from 1 to 10 on alertness – we could then introduce a new law – driving below the alert limit!
Ah! you might say this is nonsense – alertness is about potential to respond – we cannot really say anything about alertness except in retrospect. People doze off in the middle of the day even when driving a car and sleeping people will quickly escape from a burning building if they have prepared for this in advance. Alertness is not just a immediate state – it is a complex of influences involving past experience, planning and a sensitivity to immediate stimuli.
So to summarise so far – to manage the process of driving a car we have some measurable conditions such as speed that we can monitor and some, let’s say, far less measurable but very important conditions such as alertness that we also need to monitor.
So now you say – aha! – you’ve just used the word ‘monitor’ in both cases so in a way you are measuring alertness.
Yes I agree but there is a fundamental difference between the two forms of measurement – in the case of speed the system to measure and the system to respond are separate but in the case of alertness the system to measure is part of your level of alertness.
The simple act of asking yourself how alert you are will increase your level of alertness.
So alertness is important for management (of many things apart from driving a car) cannot really be measured.
What about the other examples I give above? Yes my bank account balance is an important measure to help me manage my finances but it is not sufficient. In business, quoted companies are required to report full audited accounts and to make these available to investors and yet despite these measures, many banks and businesses have had to reevaluate their balance sheets by many billions of Euro.So here’s the first take away –
In today’s society we place too much emphasis on what can be measured and not enough emphasis on what is important.And here is the second take away –
There difference between the use of the terms measurement and management in relation to discrete processes such as the speedometer and the accelerator and connected processes such as when we wish to monitor our own alertness while driving.I’ll leave it to you to make the connection between the second take away and the systems of financial regulation for banks!
And so to my question – can we measure learning?
Gregory Bateson (Steps to an ecology of mind University of Chicago press 2000 edition) deals with a similar question by means of a metalogue – a conversation about some problematic subject. He uses a father daughter conversation to explore the question of How Much Do You Know?.
Here is a brief extract:
Daughter: Daddy how much do you know?
Father: Me? Hmm – I have about a pound of knowledge.
D: Don’t be silly. Is it a pound sterling or a pound weight? I mean really how much do you know?
F: Well, my brain weighs about two pounds and I suppose I use a quarter of it – or use it at a quarter efficiency. So let’s say half a pound.
D: But do you know more than Johnny’s daddy? Do you know more than I do?
Father: Hmm – I once knew a little boy in England who asked his father, “Do father’s always know more than sons?” and the father said, “Yes”. The next question was, “Daddy who invented the steam engine?” and the father said, “James Watt”. And the son came back with ” – but why didn’t James Watt’s father invent it?”
And so the conversation continues as Bateson skillfully challenges our everyday assumptions about knowledge, quantity and measurement.There are certainly aspects of learning that we can measure – we can design tests and assessments to demonstrate knowledge and competence in certain circumstances. However, as with my example of ‘alertness’ in relation to driving a car it is not possible to measure everything that is important.
We often make the following mistakes when we try measurement of learning:We measure what we can measure easily (e.g. facts and information) and not necessarily what is important (e.g. problem-solving or coping skills).
We neglect to recognise that there are aspects of learning that are unmeasurable but important.
We measure out of context – an exam setting rather than a usage setting.
We neglect to recognise that assessment itself is a learning rather than a measurement process.
So to return to the management axiom of:“if managers can’t measure it they can’t manage it”.
I suggest that we will need to replace it with:
“if a manager can’t question the measurement then we should question the manager”
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The Meaning of Work – Aronowitz on Schooling in a Time of Crisis
On Tuesday I had the good fortune to attend a seminar (in NUIM) by Stanley Aronowitz – he is Professor of Sociology at City University in New York and has written extensively on many topics to do with knowledge, education and economy.
His ideas are radical and challenging and yet timely.
He presented his analysis of this “first truly global crisis” based on his experience (in the US steel industry) and many years as an author and teacher. Aronowitz posed critical questions that challenged our conception of labour in developed economies. He pointed to the structural changes in industry evident since the seventies when high numbers of workers were employed in big industries such as steel production. Faced with the challenge of a militant, frequently striking (US!) workforce and a troublesome trade union movement, the response by industry was to reduce labour through mechanisation and to move labour by a process of outsourcing and financialisation (build now pay later).
Aronowitz sees our current predicament as the inevitable outcome of US economic policy and the globalisation of the industrial model for developed economies. His outlook is gloomy – there will always be a struggle – they will always want more (government and employers).
Don’t worry – so the current rhetoric would have us believe – in Ireland we live in a Knowledge Economy. Our economic future is pinned to a belief that knowledge is a sure thing and our most recent strategy for growth is called Building Ireland’s Smart Economy.
We’ve never really had a large industrial base, little reliance on steel or automobile manufacturing. Our ‘new’ economy is built on software, internationally traded services and high-tech-brought-in manufacturing like HP and Intel.Well I am worried!
Not just by Aronowitz’ analysis but also by our collective acceptance of an illusion – the unsubstantiated but soothing notion that all we need to do is to be smarter than the Chinese and we will build our future by design; design of goods and services to be manufactured elsewhere in places like Mumbai and Beijing. What arrogant rubbish!
At best, we may experience a temporary opportunity for wealth generation by positioning our competences higher up the manufacturing chain. However, this fragile position of advantage will quickly be undermined as the fluidity of global manufacturing economics inevitably takes effect.
If there is real competition for smartness, I for one, would not like to take on the wisdom of the East or the passion and commitment to education in places like the Philippines and Jordan. I have visited both of these countries and as a result, I will always challenge that, equally unquestioned, myth proposing that education in Ireland is especially valued and our recent, short-lived, economic boom was a consequence of our highly educated workforce.
What then is the alternative? Aronowitz hints at new possibilities – shorter working days, time to participate in democratic structures, a renewal of learning. These are just ideas – developed outside the current orthodoxy – nothing clear-cut or strategic. That’s probably his point – the current system is not working we need alternatives and in seeking these alternatives we will need to extend our thinking. I agree but it’s hardly grounds for hope.
Aronowitz titled his talk Schooling in a Time of Economic Crisis and we had to wait until near the end before he addressed the issue of schooling. Schooling is not education. His use of the term schooling extends through kindergarten to further and higher education. Aronowitz regards schooling as an instrument of the state – a means of extension of the dominant ideology in our case capitalism.
What is the function of schooling? One might say – to prepare people for work. This is the great myth. The notion of middle-class investment – schooling now for quality employment in the future; all the more sensible when we consider ourselves as living in a Knowledge Economy.
Who should control schooling? Obviously, one might think, as we are concerned with our economic well being, we should look to employers, economists and policy makers for guidance on what skills we will need for the future. This is the real danger and it will lead possibly to future despair – not success.
Education is about learning for life, not necessarily paid employment. Yes we should be concerned with learning for the future but the question is – how best can we prepare for the future? John Dewey, a great American philosopher and educator suggested that in order to prepare people for the future we should teach them how to experience the present to its fullest extent. I take this to mean that we should be critical (questioning) of the world and that we challenge all our assumptions especially our interpretations of what we need to learn and how best to secure our future prosperity.
I suggest that we should direct our scrutiny at the current discourse on knowledge and economy and we open our minds, in the present, to ideas such as tabled by Stanley Aronowitz.
