Should schools prepare students for college and careers or to be good citizens?
Do we want students to get good grades or love learning?
When it comes to teaching Math, should we focus on procedures or problem solving?
Should learning be fun or hard?
Do we want students to consume content or create content?
Should we be using ebooks or printed books?
All of these questions and dozens more are discussed pretty regularly and by many different folks. Our default answer to these is “both”. Often we add “it’s about balance”.
It’s hard to argue that and generally, I agree. But for me, it’s not so much about balance as it is about emphasis and what we lead with.
When Arnold Palmer was learning to play golf, his father told him “Learn to hit the ball as hard as you can and worry about accuracy later” If you know anything about golf you know you want to hit it long AND straight. But in this case, it was about what to focus on and in what order.
Should learning be fun or hard? While I personally question whether learning should be hard, this question is about what we emphasise. I think starting and leading with fun puts you in a much better position to handle the hard. Emphasizing that learning is hard, certainly sets a tone and maybe it’s the tone you want. But what you emphasize and lead with matters.
Should schools prepare students for college and careers or to be good citizens? This is essentially a question I addressed during a talk I gave with my daughter last weekend. With regards to vocation and citizenship, I said,
I think it’s worth noting that passion and vocation are different things. I don’t know if Martha will find employment through this passion but that doesn’t matter. I worry that students are being told to find jobs they are passionate about. Having a job that is your passion is nice not necessary. Being a good citizen is every bit as important as finding employment. As schools we should help them do both. But I’d say I’d much rather have them leave schools prepared to be good citizens than ready to find a job. Certainly these are related but I think it’s important what we emphasize and what we lead with. Instead of asking our kids “What do you want to be?” We should ask them, “How do you want to live?” I think that’s a question that can better help the make the key decisions in their lives.
Saying it’s “both” or “we need to have balance” is the kind of thing we say to please everyone. It may be partially true but it can also be an unsatisfying answer and one that lacks direction. So the next time you want to answer “both” to one of these kind of questions, think about providing a bit more nuance and clarity and what you think should be the focus. This doesn’t mean you’re choosing one idea over the other. But “both” sometimes sends a watered down or even convoluted message. You can always remind people that you want both and choosing a path or focus doesn’t exclude the other but gives you a much better chance of creating a culture and momentum to do good work.