Every so often I take 19 minutes and 10 seconds to listen to the talk Sir Ken Robinson gave at TED2006. Each time I do, I laugh, and each time I feel inspired to keep working. I listen to it at those times when I feel I’m working all alone against a system that seems to be obsolete or, at best, broken. I listen when I feel all my efforts are futile and that I’m simply not making a difference. It’s like a rallying speech I imagine a football coach might give at half time. It always spurs me onward. He makes plenty of thoughtful comments in his 19 minutes on stage but among them is the idea that the purpose of public education is to produce university professors. Where I teach, it seems like the purpose of public education is to produce doctors and engineers.
To be honest, most teenagers don’t dream of being scientists, mathematicians, or English professors, so I have to wonder why we continue to tell them that those subjects are so important. When I talk to students about what they plan to do after high school, more often than not they say they don’t really know. Some say nursing, or medicine or engineering, and a few say science – although I don’t believe they know what they would do with a science degree. Mostly they simply don’t know. At most schools they get the message loud and clear that university is the goal. I mean we don’t post signs in the corridors but it’s there in subtle, suggestive ways.
We don’t spend much time encouraging students to become artists, musicians, or activists. Instead we talk lots about good grades and getting a good job. Well, what is a good job? That can’t have the same meaning to all students. Is it really all about math and science? That seems a bit disingenuous. What about acting? Or dancing? Or painting? What about farming? Or carpentry? Or child care? A typical student attending most schools would see little evidence that those jobs are valued. I’m really lucky to teach at a school where students can get a wide experience if they want to. They can study art, music, dance, theatre, yoga, or child care. They can take classes in entrepreneurship, cooking and food service, fashion design, interior design, internal combustion engines, house framing – the list goes on. Still, is simply offering these courses enough to change the message? I’m not sure. We don’t always have enough students for fashion design but each year there are a few grade 12 math classes. As teachers, are we speaking loudly enough about the value of these career choices that students will be brave enough to follow them? If we don’t put value on ALL subjects it means that lots of students who have remarkable talents and great skills to offer might never think they do because the system never tells them those talents or skills are useful.
Students are good at lots of different things. I’ve learned more about some students in a few minutes spent looking at their sketch book or talking about their role in the school musical than I have from months in biology class. If we don’t offer them opportunities to explore and nurture their passions what kind of world will we be building? If we don’t assure them that their interests and talents are important how can they ever realize their potential? I can admit that there are far more important things in life than mitosis and photosynthesis so it’s time to make sure that all students recognize that also.
What do you think?