Over the years, I have been writing about misconceptions regarding the schooling process. The purpose of these posts is to explain why I disagree with various comments that I have heard people make about schooling. These are meant as personal thoughts rather than conclusive proof, and I will admit that I'm not always the best at explaining my thoughts. Regardless, I have decided that I should be willing to share these posts when I encounter someone online who makes an argument that I have already discussed.
Our so-called education system is very teacher centric. What should we teach? Ask the teachers. How should we teach? Ask the teachers? What's best for a learner? Ask the teachers. Who is left out of these discussions? The learners.
Who should have a better grasp of an individual's unique needs? Is it a teacher who has likely known the unique individual for less than a year, or should it be the unique individual who has had his whole life to learn about himself? To me, this is obvious. The individual should be the biggest expert on his own unique needs.
But teachers are the ones who acquired the piece of paper. Doesn't that make them the experts? Only in an insanely shallow interpretation of education. Teachers do not take classes on each and every student who ever has and ever will exist. All they can do is establish what seems to work best within a model that fails to properly consider the substantial variability of student needs.
It's also best to consider that the role of the learner is far more substantial than the teacher in a learner's learning process. Undermining the role of the learner is not only detrimental to the natural desire to learn, but it's far less efficient. After all, a teacher can't learn on a learner's behalf.
A lot of arguments that exaggerate the role of the teacher are built on a complete lack of understanding of how teaching and learning are related. If you view learning and teaching as equal sides to the educational process, you have to accept that some teaching is internal. In other words, the learner is responsible for all learning and some teaching while the teacher is only responsible for some of the teaching. If you view teaching strictly as an external influence on the educational process, then it should be obvious that the role of the learner is more substantial. Either way you look at it, the learner will always be more important to education than a member of the teaching profession.
If you can read this, there's no need to thank your teachers. You did this. I will not take that from you. The role you played in learning to read is far more substantial than the role your teachers played. Personally, I am disgusted every time teachers demand credit for your accomplishments.
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