Let's only teach what's worth knowing
Some random thoughts on teaching our children.
I find myself moving more towards an unschooling theory of education every day. I suppose it was bound to happen, once I started really learning more schools and learning. At first I questioned the way schools taught, then I started questioning what they taught, and then I was left wondering what I believed is worth teaching.
There are far too many contradictions to sum this up into a nicely packaged essay. So here is a list of beliefs about what is worth teaching in this time of change. I think they approach something of a worldview. At the least, they’re worth remembering and debating.
Let’s start:
Every time someone says “your kids will need these skills to be successful in the future” or “some [made up] % of jobs in the future haven’t been invented yet,” they’re trying to scare you into buying something. Fear is a terrible reason to teach anything.
Our kids’ education should be about more than getting a job. If that’s the only purpose we can think of for education, then our imagination has failed.
The overlap between “what schools think is required” and “what is required to raise an educated, even exceptional, child” is smaller than you might think. inspired directly by Shadow Rebbe
Teaching should be talent development.
Great teaching and great learning cost a lot. Time, money, energy. Don’t ever teach the easy/cheap path.
Everything in the curriculum is horribly outdated. We should teach timeless lessons, not outdated ones.
It is possible to teach a student how to live a happy, fulfilled life.
That doesn’t mean teaching a prescription; it means showing them the models others have figured out and teaching them the techniques to make sense of the whole mystery.
The most important model to know is that your aspirations aren’t large enough. The most important lesson to teach is that their aspirations can be higher.
Some things are worth teaching so our kids will see how much they can learn.
Always teach the human condition; it’s the one truth no one can escape.
Most subjects do a poor job of teaching about the human condition. Especially the ones that claim they’re valuable because they explore the human condition.
Most academic achievements are actually ego driven. And it’s the parents’ ego that drives those achievements. That’s a shitty reason for teaching a child something.
Exploring a question > learning a subject.
Being advanced in a subject — especially a technical subject — opens up a lot of doors. Those doors include interesting work opportunities, financial compensation, and personal motivation/happiness.
The best way to really advance is to put a lot of time into a subject. So by #14, it seems worth putting a lot of time into subjects which can create outsized opportunities.
Students will advance the most through individualized instruction in a subject, but most student’s motivation to learn that subject is a result of the group they’re a part of.
There is no such thing as learning to “think like a[n] X.” They have to learn the knowledge inherent in a subject. Trying to teach the meta-skills without the knowledge is a recipe for frustration. Just don’t try.
If a unit of knowledge can help a student understand how the world works, it’s probably worth teaching.
It’s impossible to tell ahead of time what unit of knowledge will influence the way we see the world.
There is more than one path through any field. No one unit of knowledge will determine if our children are successful in life.
Knowledge is hierarchical. It’s really difficult to learn advanced material if you haven’t mastered foundational knowledge.
A lot of knowledge is formed in extreme situations. Think war. Can we teach it separated from the context?
I’m continually inspired to try by the work Sam Alaimo and Patrick B. Whalen do.
Our own motivation is a mystery to us. Why do we think we can coerce our kids into being motivated?
It’s surprising how much motivation to learn can come from wanting to win an argument.
It’s surprising how much motivation is just wanting to be better than other kids.
Nothing motivates like success.
Games and play are powerful motivators.
If a child is interested in something, obviously teach that.
If a child isn’t interested in something, it still might be worth teaching. We don’t know what we like, especially as something becomes a habit or kids get good at it.
Any interest, when explored honestly, can show a depth of rigor absent from most schools. Maybe it matters less what you teach and more how you teach it.
Going deeper on one subject is always better than learning more subjects.
If I put in the effort to know an exceptional amount about something, it’s worth teaching. My son hopefully never needs to know how to fly zip lip around the carrier, but he gets to see what, aspirationaly, excellence looks like.
Teaching is a production. Learn to act, learn stand-up comedy, learn to play a part. Then teach what we learn.
The best hour of teaching is spent figuring out how to scaffold a unit of knowledge.
Scaffolding happens before, during, and after learning. Don’t forget to review regularly.
The second best hour of teaching is spent providing real-time actionable feedback.
The same teaching style (and the same subject) will work for one kid and fail miserably with the other. Knowing that ahead of time saves a lot of heartache and frustration.
A lot of teaching is just maintaining inertia.
Learning, and teaching, is all about the human relationship. Get that right and it doesn’t matter what you teach.
Don’t teach anything at the expense of their childhood. Or their curiosity.
Saying something isn’t developmentally appropriate is a cop-out. Kids can learn far more than we give them credit for. The ones who do are often the happiest.
There are amazing teachers out there. Most of them will show you how they do it, but they’re often too busy to reply to the first (few) emails.
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I appreciate this list and I think I agree with most everything. My parents, both career teachers of sorts l, wisely told me that a degree is basically a token of an individual's ability and willingness to persevere through the educational syatem to reach that societal standard, but most real learning happens on the job.
The statement I would question is the first part of number 6...really, would you scrap all current curriculum? Surely the elementary principles of reading, spelling/writing and mathematics are worthwhile teaching every child. Have you found better curricula that you could accept as useful?
I wouldn't argue that some intelligent and dedicated parents could create an individualised curriculum/tutoring plan/self-directed learning plan for their child or children...but realistically most people are going to be relieved to accept help in this area from other talented and trusted teachers, rather than reinventing the wheel/rewriting the books.
Excellent list, Latham. I appreciate the depth of thought you put into this.