Friday, August 15, 2008
11:37 PM
One of those charming stories that circulate in the public education community concerns an essay exam assigned by an American fifth-grade teacher.
The question asked the students to name as many parts of the human body as they could think of, and write of their functions.
One child wrote:
The human body consists of the Brainium, the Borax, and the Abominable Cavity. The Branium contains the brain. The Borax containns the lungs, the liver, and other living things. The Abominable Cavity contains the bowels, of which there are five - a, e, i, o, u.
This is the kind of experience that causes some teachers to retire early, and others to wonder whether the whole process of education makes sense.
Learning designs based on a "container model" of the child figuratively unscrews the top of the kid's head, pours some history, math or literature on, puts the top back on, and we've educated the child.
The consequence is that cognitive skills of various kinds tend to get lost, and not consciously identified to the learner as explicity valuable and worthy of study in their own right.
A group-study project, for example, might present an opportunity to learn brainstorming, suspending judgment, accurate listening, paraphrasing, comparing and constrating, formulating hypotheses and othes.
But presented as an exercise in "content", then skills, independant of content and context, gets scrambled in the process of finding the correct answers.
"Teach Less, Learn More" was adopted as a mission statement for the Ministry of Education, Singapore in 1997. It's effectiveness, however, is yet to be seen.
After the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, China, I commented on the issue and asked a few friends for their opinions.
Questioned about the implications of the natural disaster, the boosting of political image and socio-political ties between nations, economic repercussions and the human spirit, I was answered with blank stares and a resistance to further thought with the suggestion of a simple course of action, "Donate!"
During his tenure as CEO of job-matching service monster.com, Jeff Taylor realised the comparison of "skills offered" against "skills sought" showed a very significant mismatch. Across the board, businesses sought a higher calibre of mental skills than they were finding.
Taylor predicted that the ever-growing "smart-people gap" would increasingly confound executives' effort to grow and develop their enterprises, innovative, implement breakaway competitive strategies.
In fact, Taylor warned, "Increasingly, the knowledge worker will be at the centre of company desperation."
In this sense, the officers at CPF board with their routine administrative tasks, the young worker at a fast-food restaurant pushing a coded button or tapping on a screen contributes almost nothing in the way of knowledge work. It's data work, but low-skilled and no more knowledge-intensive than a welder in a factory.
Able-bodied workers are easy to find, able-minded people - able to think, to plan, organize, analyze, research, decide, design, lead, manage, communicate and above all, solve problems - are not.
Science fiction author Robert Heinlein pieces together a proper person, "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
Information technology has not necessarily made people smarter, only many jobs easier to perform by people with limited mental skills.
In 2 weeks my 2 month temporary job with the Central Provident Fund board will end. As I prepare my resume this evening, with a scholarship with the Ministry of Communication, Information and Arts (MICA) in mind, I pray God directs my path.
Bid me crew avast! Keep yer banner high
Classed, forever a class :)
Class of our own
Wind be at yer backs, sails never slackin'
