The Rut of Learning Too Much, Too Soon, Too Long

So many comments on this space are worth featuring as full posts, I feel guilty for not having the time to do that as often as I'd like. But here's one I find so worth sharing from Tory Walker. It's in response to the recent Research: Covering Less Means Learning More post. Also see Teach Broad or Teach Deep? Coverage versus Depth.]

I'm glad to see renewed attention to the depth vs. breadth debate within education research.

With the focus everyone puts on improving standardized test scores in math and science, it seems the only solution most people are offering is to do more and more and more of the same thing we've being doing all along, which most will readily admit hasn't worked. If we're going to get so wrapped up in test scores, I find it a far more interesting view to look at what the countries with the highest scores do to educate their youth. Singapore consistently scores among the highest in the world on math and science. Yet, when you look at their textbooks, they are pitifully thin, perhaps even earning the description of sparse, compared to the dense, overloaded math and science books used across America.
It is my understanding that their teachers typically have far less formal education than American teachers have, yet when the teachers were surveyed regarding their understanding of basic mathematical concepts (even teachers at the elementary level) they had a much better grasp than American teachers. (See Liping Ma's Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics - the link is to a Google Books preview, which lets you read a good bit of the book.) Additionally, students don't begin formal school instruction until age seven in Singapore.

So a country whose students consistently score extremely well on standardized tests is found to spend fewer years teaching a narrower scope of topics in much greater depth by teachers who themselves are better educated despite being less schooled.  We tout education as a virtuous endeavor, yet our actions as a society fail to reflect any true sort of dedication or respect for the notion of what true learning really is. If what we are already doing isn't working, can more of the same possibly help?

We're stuck in a rut of too much, too soon, and for too long.  Learning should continue for a lifetime, but force feeding a student with tons of facts isn't even remotely the same thing as educating a student.  True education, true learning, can occur in as little as a few minutes of stimulating conversation.  The "subject" is not what is most important to the student's future, it's the process of learning that will benefit him the greatest.

Image by Jef Harris