The Culture of the ‘One Correct Answer’ - its implications

The Culture of the ‘One Correct Answer’- its implications Dr. Rob Waring Notre Dame Seishin University Okayama, Japan KOTESOL, 2011

Why don’t students like school? They are expected to conform to a one-size-fits all system They aren’t engaged with the topic They can be extrinsically motivated to study, but often have low passion for learning school subjects It doesn’t feed their spirit, their diversity, their dynamism School doesn’t help them discover their talents They feel school isn’t helping to prepare them for life after school Life isn’t digital or fast enough for them School is not personalized They have no voice as they are expected to passively store knowledge It’s a competitive, stressful lifestyle Does this mean they don’t like learning? No, they don’t like being ‘schooled’.

An education history lesson 70 years ago information was scarce we had to go and get it - schools and libraries knowledge came from teachers, books the only way to keep this knowledge was to store it in one’s head literacy and numeracy were paramount (and still are) 30 years ago homes had encyclopedias homes had radios and TVs Today the total sum of human knowledge since time began is now available everywhere, at any time, to billions, in seconds

This change implies We no longer need to send children to schools to get ‘knowledge’ There’s no need to cram obscure facts into learners and test them to check if they understood it – they can get this information any time they need it, now or at any time in the future Learners should be focused on learning processes and experiential learning rather than on knowledge We need to stop asking what knowledge learners need to learn and ask what can we do to help them deal with all this knowledge? what can they do with this knowledge? how can they use this knowledge to better themselves and the community? how can we help them to develop their talents and abilities? how can we develop in them an understanding of the process of learning?

What does education look like today? Knowledge and information is presented linearly: – courses dissect and fragment language into teachable units of knowledge to be learnt and assessed one by one – much of education and assessment disprivilegesintegrated, connected knowledge and processes The education system itself is linear – a railroad system that privileges college education above one’s own desires, needs and passions – implying that not going to a ‘good’ school or college = failure – focusing on a conforming one-size-fits all education over a personalized, interconnected, complex one

What does education look like today? II It is short-sighted: – by privileging ‘knowledge’ above process and experiential learning; correctness over experimentation An education system based on memorization is fundamentally at odds with what they need – once they have forgotten the ‘facts’ (a predictable outcome of them not being repeated), nothing is left

A metricated education system A(highly) metricated and hierarchical education system: assumes we can distinguish between students on the basis of a numerical score assumes tests can distinguish between the brightest, the worthy, the hard workers, and the lazy, irresponsible, less worthy ones assumes a score is sufficient in determining a learner’s current aptitude, ability and their future potential makes the learners prisoners to their score – often for life

A metricated education system II Tests do not tell us the important stuff about our learners: true score how hard they worked intelligences knowledge of things we didn’t test learning style character, personality potential talents social skills abilities in other areas passions, needs aptitude for a subject adaptability suitability for employment creativity readiness to function in society etc. etc.

The ‘culture of the one correct answer’ Our education systems indoctrinate students into believing: there’s a right and wrong answer to (almost) everything there are no, or few, shades of grey metrics are more important than process there is a single truth to be discovered – one that is valued above more integrated, complex knowledge a score determines their self-worth and worth to society there is a single conception of ability / intelligence a student’s role is to follow the railroad to college and to a better wealthier, high status, professional life

The ‘culture of the one correct answer’ II The dominant 'culture of the one correct answer’: doesn’t reflect the dynamic way languages are learnt underrepresents the dynamic nature of language acquisition focuses on ‘learnt’ knowledge at the expense of ‘experienced’ knowledge focuses on explicit versus implicit knowledge creates in the minds of learners a dissociation from the language as it is studied as an object rather than as a creative, dynamic system.

The ‘culture of the one correct answer’ III The culture of the ‘one correct answer’ helps build knowledge but doesn’t help the process of learning because: it tells learners to never be wrong and doesn’t allow them to be wrong it denies them to chance to fail and learn from failure it undervalues taking risks and resourcefulness it creates cautious, passive learners focused on memorizing details and who cannot ‘think on their feet’ it denies opportunities for learners to learn by experimenting with ideas it educates them OUT of their creativity because it discourages risks it doesn’t foster co-operative learning and social integration

Mistakes are good Mistakes are not intrinsically bad (or good) Realizing you made a mistake may make you feel stupid or embarrassed but only if mistakes are considered bad in the learning environment Mistakes are a necessary outcome of experimenting with ideas Advance in science is predicated on making mistakes (trial and error) Mistakes lead to new conceptualizations and new realizations which are the cornerstone of creativity If students are not prepared to be wrong, they won’t create anything new We indoctrinate students to believe mistakes are bad It’s wrong to tell learners that mistakes are bad they should never make mistakes they should never be wrong

We all know what this means, right? Lazy Irresponsible Not so smart Hard working Diligent Smart We label them and often treat them according to these labels They label themselves – often for life

A poor attitude to mistakes … Can make them think that the function of education is to look for a certain ‘right’ answer to questions and problems Can create a ‘perfectionist’ attitudeand the feeling that getting something wrong means something is wrong with themselves The diligent, overachieving ‘A’ student feels pressure to retain the expectations of the ‘A’ status Those who make many mistakes may feel failures, feel they lack intelligence, self-worth and may carry this with them forever

A re-conceptualization of mistakes They (and we) need to accept that learners need to fail as part of the learning process. they advance they learn from failure by revising their hypothesis they process the gap they fail they notice their error

Educate them for what future? If “teachers build the future”, what will the future look like? The future will requires learners to: adapt to changing, unpredictable, insecure environments be resourceful and creative in finding solutions be flexible by having a store of options available to them be risk takers so they can learn from error be adaptable to learn new skills and new ways of thinking

So what should schooling be for? Schools should help learners to: learn the basics – literacy (analog and digital), numeracy, etc. meet various disciplines so they can decide for themselves what excites them (and not just the left-brain disciplines) develop an understanding of the process of learning understand and develop complex, connected and interactive skills develop the social self – learning to co-operate, collaborate, etc. find and sort though an avalanche of competing information by critically assessing it, and making appropriate decisions give them a broad range of skills and abilities to deal with a changeable and uncertain future be resourceful in applying these skills to multiple situations as needed in their private and working lives develop their own talents, interests, aptitude and potential

Not evolution, but a revolution We need to fundamentally re-think: what our English classes are for what we want the learners to do with their English how we can give the learners choice how we can give them their voice how we can get them to share how we can personalize their education

Why learn English? - the bad reasons Internationalization: – you can be ‘international’ without knowing a second language For business: – does a farmer’s daughter or a hairdresser need English? To help travellers: – is giving directions to the station a good enough reason to require them to study English for 6 years? To explain our country: – citizens are not ambassadors or advertisements To travel yourself: – one week in London is insufficient justification To pass exams, join companies or get a promotion: – if so, why do 95% of learners drop English after the test?

Why learn English? - the good reasons To open doors – as a way to helping us with what we are passionate about – not just for business or academics – surfers, mechanics, firemen – to increase possibilities for a changing future Sharing – as a way to share our knowledge and passions with a wider community – as a way to share knowledge from remote places to benefit local ones Self-fulfillment – to develop ourselves professionally, culturally or spiritually

Our focus should be To see education as a process not as an object personalone-size-fits-all dynamicstatic meaningfulabstract relevantdisengaging self-fulfillmentstamping on dreams To develop the whole person, not just the left side of the brain To develop an organic, flexible, personalized education system To develop a system for the information age not one suitable for an industrial age

What can we do? Our learners are diverse and so should our classes be. They have to: • find ways to connect the English they learn to their future lives • focus on the thinking principles behind disciplines rather than the subject matter itself (learning to learn) • be resourceful by requiring them to develop multi-faceted complex interdisciplinary projects • deal with multiple sources of information, digest and critically evaluate it • relate the classroom to the outside world – make news videos of problems / solutions in their areas; make websites and blogs about their interests • work in the present - use their mobile phones in class to access the internet to answer questions they have

Summary Tests are not intrinsically bad: they can help learners understand if they have learnt something but they should be focused on: making sure learners have understood processes rather than discrete information their understanding of principles underlying disciplines (and the relationships between disciplines) not necessarily the subject matter assessing their flexibility, creativity, adaptability and ability to deal with a rapidly changing and evolving society by valuing these with the same status as literacy and numeracy The future of education will NOT be about cramming knowledge but about developing skills and abilities to deal with the knowledge in meaningful and useful ways in a changing world We can do better. It’s time to do better.

Thank you for listening www.robwaring.org/presentations/ waring_robert@yahoo.com

The Culture of the ‘One Correct Answer’ - its implications