Is the only true purpose of education to help children stay learners for life? To learn how to learn?
I was going to use the word “become” instead of “stay” but we all know that children arrive at school as avid, eager questioners and learners eager for the information and autonomy that comes with knowledge and skills.
And the true test of any class, (or course, unit of study, school) is that learners leave wanting to know (and do and create) more and continue learning.
How do we hold ourselves accountable to that?
What else?
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
Alvin Toffler.
I recently took a group of senior boys to a Barbershop singing convention in Virginia. A few days before, they had completed their second trimester poetry class – their last English class of high school. But, in the car, they were each reading poetry and sharing a pen so they could underline and look up words they didn’t know.
This made me smile. When I told the story to another teacher back at school, she said “That’s something our school does well. In some schools, the kids might be great in class, but they don’t take it with them.” I agreed, but also thought: it’s not just “something” we do well, a particular feature of what we do; it’s really the only thing that matters.