The Aims of Education
I have to admit, I am a bit embarrassed that I have gone this far in my career without ever hearing of this author. I suspect it has a lot to do with American nationalism within education curriculum. Whitehead was British and advocating for many of the same things as John Dewey but from the other side of the Atlantic. In my teacher education I heard a great deal about Dewey but never Whitehead. I wonder if that would have been different if I receive my formal schooling elsewhere abroad.
This book is a collection of essays and speeches Whitehead gave over the course of twelve years. I am unsure what the dates are for each of the essays. This first essay on The Aims of Education is a fascinating read. Being a math teacher, Whitehead doesn't exactly demonstrate the poetic skill of some of the other authors I have read for Twitter Book Club but his ideas are definitely engaging. I find it awe inspiring to read someone who was advocating for things like interdisciplinary learning, discovery learning, specialized study, and caution against standardization from a time and place where the British School dominated the education landscape. Today we look at these ideas as new and revolutionary.
Whitehead does have his poetic moments. I love this quote. Makes me think of Robert Frost. It also makes me think of all the times we have heard this product or that solution as making teaching or learning "easy." Is easy always better? Is the easy path ever all that educative?
Whitehead makes a strong case against standardized testing here. Yesterday I sat in on a staff development session on assessing NWEA data. Came to realize that in our MYP programme we are giving each student a test in both reading and math each quarter plus they take the state tests in reading, math, and science twice in their time with us. Thats 2 NWEA tests times 4 quarters times 5 years plus 3 MAP tests times 2 times = 46 externally created tests our kids get in their time with us. Now, each time one of these tests is administered (except for two of the MAP tests) it takes up one week of building-wide computer lab access. Thats 42 tests times 5 days = 210 days students and teachers do not have access to our school's computers for use in learning. Since we have fewer than 200 student contact days in a school year that is one full year of a student's MYP program where our schools computers are unavailable. Since we are nowhere near close to having a 1:1 ratio (more like 1:4) our kids only realistically have available access to computers in school for 1 year of their 5 year MYP programme. During that time that they are available I have observe that those machines sit idle and unused about 1/2 to 2/3 of the time. That means that the average student only has in-school access to a computer for learning for 1/3 to 1/2 of a year over the course of their 5 years in our school. If computers do help facilitate and accelerate learning then I think I have a data-driven argument against the use of computers for this kind of testing.
Additionally, the following were sent to me via DM:
Following your Whitehead quotes. My favorite from his Metaphysics book, "Appearance sheds it's note of derivation." So few read anymore...
Once a thing is what it becomes, the process of how it got to be that way is lost. When we appreciate an oak tree, we don't think, "acorn".
I am not sure why Chris sent these to me as a DM and not an @reply and I am not in the habit of sharing what I get via DM but I don't think either of these message constitute any need for privacy or confidentiality.
anderscj
