Why do Children Need to be Taught Anyway?

Preparing the next generation for a lifetime of learning

Why do Children Need to be Taught Anyway?

Question: How in this time of the narrowing of the curriculum, the stifling of innovation, the homogenization of talent, and the tyranny of low expectations can we reverse the trend in education practices and create team-oriented learning, critical and innovative thinking, problem solving, and the leveraging of diversity?

Answer: The multiplier effect of best practices!

Copyright 2006 Alex Terego www.AlexTerego.com

Chief Editor: Leslie Rowe of www.GreatWords.net

Table of Contents
Building the next generation ..........................................................1 Our minds need to learn .......................................................1 Finding answers to the big questions ...............................2 Parents priority and responsibility ......................................2 Teaching: an art, not a science ...........................................3 Summary ...............................................................................4

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Why Do Children Need To Be Taught Anyway?

To begin at the beginning; we all seem to take it for granted that children need to be educated. So, before you proceed on to reading the ePrimers on this site, which mostly have to do with the how of education, here are some ideas about why we as a society feel that education is vital.
Building the next generation

The simplest answer of course is that our children need to be educated so that weby that I mean society at largecan build the next cohesive and informed generation of participants in the great experiment that is western democracy. But a more parochial and selfish answer is that children need to be educated so that when they leave home they can at a minimum survive on their own; and at a maximum grow, contribute to society, and prosper emotionally, spiritually, physically and financially; and then be in a position to do the same or better for their children. Perhaps the best argument as to why we should teach our children is the negative example; and we do not have to look far to find one. If you want to see what happens when a society and its schools do not do a good job of building a cohesive, independent, and informed generation through education, look around you. Research shows that the next generation of American adults is likely to be less educated than its parents, and to have a shorter and less healthy life. Clearly there is work to be done; and if you are reading this it means you are probably a parent or educator and you agree. You probably have already taken steps to improve your childrens lot, and by extension, the lot of all of us.
Our minds need to learn

We humans are a unique lot. We are complex, too. But we still need to learn. Despite what the Greeks and Romans thought, we are not born with all the knowledge we will ever need. Our brains are the most organized and complex organisms in the universe, with billions of neural connections known as synapses and a million miles of cable connecting all those synapses. Our brains are quite able to learn. In fact, it seems redundant to say it, but if we have been given such a device, it would be negligent not to use it by the process of teaching and learning we call pedagogy. After birth, our brains shed some connections and create others in response to stimuli from the outside world; psychologists call this learning. We learn naturally and we

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continue throughout our lives; it is it seems the natural condition of being human. It seems that we are genetically wired to learn. So, there you have two good reasons to teach and learn. Unless adults intervene and shape this learning, then the major miracle we call the mind (which somehow emerges from the brain and the central nervous system to become the place we all live) will develop into the uninformed mind, where an unproductive person dwells. Society, the family, and most importantly the individual will be poorer for this. Theres another reason.
Finding answers to the big questions

We know that we learn, so the next question becomes this: what is the role that education plays in our learning? After reading, researching, and writing about this topic for many years, my best answer is that for a child education is primarily about finding answers to what educators call the big questions: who am, I and what am ,I and what is my place, and what is your place? Math, English, science or any subject is valuable only in that it helps the student answer questions about themselves and the world they live in. Most educational theorists and writers from the ancient Greeks on down to Mortimer Adler in the recent past all agree that without a proper education, children will not search for answers to these questions. They will have difficulty discovering and understanding the roles they are best suited to play in life, let alone understanding the roles others play in society, and what role society plays. Education informs children as to what is possible by helping them make sense of themselves and their world, and getting a sense for what they are capable of. Without education dreams are not possible. Without education hope is not possible. Without education, planning for the future and anticipating the future is not possible. Without education children cannot become fully-functioning, problem-solving, literate and independent adult members of the western democratic ideal.
Parents priority and responsibility

Given the above claimsand they are just claims; I cannot prove them, however obvious they seemthere is no other possible conclusion than education is the highest priority that society must have, since all other priorities flow from having an educated populace. National defense, national security, national health, national prosperity, and competitiveness all depend on an educated population. The responsibility for education rests with the family. The schools help but are not ultimately responsible for the outcome. They cannot be; the educational bureaucracy aims its priorities at the masses; not at individual children who have differentiated needs and abilities. Mass customization is a buzz word in education circles. This is a worthy goal; tailoring each students curriculum experience to their own abilities would be wonderful. Given the woeful state of our schools, however, it seems that mass

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customization maybe out of reach, and more reasonable goals should be set, such as keeping students in school year round, and paying teachers more as a way to attract the best and keep them. I believe it is clear from all observable evidence that a child is a single, self-sufficient entity; a system almost. They are not just math engines or reading and writing machines; and as such they need far more from an education than just drilling in the rubrics of math, reading, and writing. They need a future, and that means teaching them to capitalize on their individual skillsall of themas well as feeding them facts and then scaring them with tests. Planned guidance is the key to a holistic education. Guidance involves dialog. Education is a lifetime conversation between a child, its parents, teachers and society. How that lifelong dialog between your child and the world around her proceeds is largely up to the level and intensity of parent and educators involvement. The more you know about how knowledge is transmitted and acquired the better able you will be to tutor your students or children in the art of growing up. That is the purpose of the free ePrimers on this site and the ones that will follow.
Teaching: an art, not a science

Despite all the research and writing over the millennia, teaching remains an art, not a science. If society knew all there is to know about how a child works, how he learns, how she thinks, how and why they behave the way they do, we could call teaching a science. The reality is that we know very little about humans and their capacities and structures. There are a lot of educated guesses about learning, and researchers are always careful to call it theory. More actual facts are coming to light about the inner workings and the chemical structure of the brain, and can more properly be called science. (See the ePrimer Educational Psychology.) How this science plays a role in learning is very debatable. The mindthe place where identity forms, and thinking as well as thinking about thought takes placeremains a mystery, and until that mystery is solved we must regard education as an art. We do not really know why children learn; we just know that they do. We do not know why they are curious or why they try to solve problems intuitively, we simply trust the evidence of our own eyes. To complicate matters further, children learn at rates that can vary during a single day. They also learn differently from one another, and they all learn using their multiple intelligences (explained in the ePrimerSensory Literacy) If children need to be taught, and I hope you did not need convincing of that, then planning is obviously of paramount importance. In the ePrimer- Lesson Planning I emphasize the importance of setting goals for each year, each semester, each day, and each lesson. We should never lose sight of the overall strategic goal we are reaching for

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by educating the next generation. If parents and educators keep that in mind, then the goals for the rest of the year, the semester, the month, the day and the lesson plans will be focused where they need to be: on the brain, mind and body of their students. The curriculum will be covered if the basics are taken care of.
Summary

Set goals for the year, the semester, the day, and the lesson. Ask the big questions of your students; who are you and what are you? Teach them what is possible using math, English, or any subject. Teach them to make sense of the world. Teaching is guidance and guidance involves dialog. Teaching is an art not a science. Children learn at different rates and in different ways.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Alex

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