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

Dr. Rob WaringNotre Dame Seishin University

Okayama, JapanKOTESOL, 2011

Why don’t students like school?They are expected to conform to a one-size-fits all systemThey aren’t engaged with the topicThey can be extrinsically motivated to study, but often have low passion for

learning school subjectsIt doesn’t feed their spirit, their diversity, their dynamismSchool doesn’t help them discover their talentsThey feel school isn’t helping to prepare them for life after schoolLife isn’t digital or fast enough for themSchool is not personalized They have no voice as they are expected to passively store knowledgeIt’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 scarcewe had to go and get it - schools and librariesknowledge came from teachers, booksthe only way to keep this knowledge was to store it in one’s headliteracy and numeracy were paramount (and still are)

30 years agohomes had encyclopediashomes had radios and TVs

Todaythe 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 futureLearners should be focused on learning processes and experiential learning rather than on knowledgeWe 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 disprivileges integrated, 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? IIIt 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 systemA (highly) metricated and hierarchical education system:

assumes we can distinguish between students on the basis of a numerical scoreassumes 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, personalitypotential talentssocial skills abilities in other areaspassions, needs aptitude for a subjectadaptability suitability for

employmentcreativity readiness to function

in societyetc. etc.

The ‘culture of the one correct answer’

Our education systems indoctrinate students into believing:there’s a right and wrong answer to (almost) everythingthere are no, or few, shades of greymetrics are more important than processthere is a single truth to be discovered – one that is valued above

more integrated, complex knowledgea score determines their self-worth and worth to societythere is a single conception of ability / intelligencea 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 learntunderrepresents the dynamic nature of language acquisitionfocuses on ‘learnt’ knowledge at the expense of ‘experienced’

knowledgefocuses on explicit versus implicit knowledgecreates 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’ IIIThe 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 wrongit denies them to chance to fail and learn from failureit undervalues taking risks and resourcefulnessit 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

ideasit educates them OUT of their creativity because it discourages risksit 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 environmentMistakes are a necessary outcome of experimenting with ideasAdvance in science is predicated on making mistakes (trial and error)Mistakes lead to new conceptualizations and new realizations which are the

cornerstone of creativityIf students are not prepared to be wrong, they won’t create anything newWe indoctrinate students to believe mistakes are badIt’s wrong to tell learners that mistakes are bad

they should never make mistakesthey should never be wrong

We all know what this means, right?

LazyIrresponsibleNot so smart

Hard workingDiligentSmart

We label them and often treat them according to these labelsThey 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’ attitude and 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 fail they notice their error

they learn from failure by revising their hypothesis

they advancethey process the gap

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 environmentsbe resourceful and creative in finding solutionsbe flexible by having a store of options available to thembe risk takers so they can learn from errorbe 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 learningunderstand and develop complex, connected and interactive skillsdevelop 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 decisionsgive them a broad range of skills and abilities to deal with a changeable and uncertain futurebe resourceful in applying these skills to multiple situations as

needed in their private and working livesdevelop their own talents, interests, aptitude and potential

Not evolution, but a revolution

We need to fundamentally re-think:what our English classes are forwhat we want the learners to do with their Englishhow we can give the learners choicehow we can give them their voicehow we can get them to sharehow 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 onesSelf-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 brainTo 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

SummaryTests are not intrinsically bad:

they can help learners understand if they have learnt somethingbut they should be focused on: making sure learners have understood processes rather than discrete

informationtheir understanding of principles underlying disciplines (and the

relationships between disciplines) not necessarily the subject matterassessing 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