Chapter Sixty-Four: Good grades for as little learning as possible (~jinghan)

I meet a girl in my class. “Hi, what other subjects are you studying?”

“Oh, just this one. I’ve already done the subject, I passed, but I didn’t understand it well enough to get in the grad area of my choice.”

But wait? I thought that once you pass a subject, that’s it, you’re free.

—

In response to my post on uncollege, a friend sent me this link:

http://www.de.ufpe.br/~toom/my-articles/engeduc/ARUSSIAN.PDF

 

“A Russian Teacher in America” the title reads, and the author, Andrei Toom writes:

It is the basic principle of the market that everybody tries to get as much as possible and to pay as little as possible. There is nothing wrong with this: when I buy something, I try to save money, and everybody does the same. What is wrong is that some students apply the same rule to learning: They seem to think that they BUY grades and PAY for them by learning. And they try to PAY as little as possible! In other words, some students seem to think that it is a loss whenever they learn something. This looks crazy when put in such straightforward terms, but there are students who behave as if they think this way. (I do not know what they really think.) And there are officials who take this behaviour as normal and arrange the learning environment according to it.

Its a lengthy article and I could be writing my psychology paper but I’m absorbed by what the author has to say, so I read the whole thing. (Here I have only provided a mere sample of what the article is about, I definitely encourage you to read the full thing.*)

Is it true that we have become consumer-students? Caring more about grades than actual learning?

A quick examination of my own attitudes suggests, I’m afraid to say, yes. Maybe once upon a time I had a natural curiosity about learning, but in the last few years of my education I certainly have spent more time concerned about the next exam and how well I might do rather than any real interest in a subject – even my beloved mathematics. I’m ashamed to say that I do occasionally sit down to calculate my grade average in Algebra, rather than work out whether I misunderstood the concept of group orbits.

I don’t think people like me lack intellect, I mean H1s and As are not entirely unpredictive of intellect,  but sadly I feel that I have learned to channeled my intellect into  learning t0 read a teacher’s teaching  style and working out what answer they want me to write down as the answer to an exam question.

What is going on in America is an experiment: to give higher education to those strata of society which remain deprived of it in most other countries. My concern is that this should be really an education, not an imitation

Don’t zone out just because he’s talking about America. One thing I have learned is that Australia is more of a wannabe America than we would like to admit. Australia is certainly moving towards promoting higher education for a larger percentage of our generation – and certainly this is not bad at all. But what made me stop in my tracks was the author’s saying “an education, not an imitation”. I was talking to a friend about how ideally we would measure each student’s learning capacity individually and make sure they have a real understanding, and then making sure we have a new challenge lined up for them so that they do not cease to stretch their potential. Even if this ideal is unachievable in a classroom setting, surely we can provide some level of education that is wholesome? Is it true that instead of seeing education for the purpose of learning, we have merely started doshing out slap shod knowledge in a mass produces manner and like batch after batch of greasy burgers at a fast food outlet?

The author talks about his habit of providing questions to his students that are not immediately solvable by direct methods learned, but require a real understanding of the concepts and a foundation in what he likes to call “elementary mathematics”. This strikes a fear in my heart – certainly no one would want a teacher who gives questions that are hard and seemingly beyond the scope of the subject – right?

But then he goes on to talk about how students protest whenever he proposes such questions that are intended to make students really think about a topic, to reach understanding through first struggling – and he is eventually forced to give stale textbook questions that students can solve by using formulas and methods that they have memorised. And I am ashamed – he is right, what right do we as students have to complain when a teacher seeks to push us further towards true understanding. In fact, I have seen this at work in my own learning, it is the homework questions that I have spent hours agonising over that have really made me understand the concepts taught in my Algebra class.

And as I read more I start to understand – my straight As through high school were not a sign of glory but a sign that my education system had not pushed me to my potential. Because of my good grades and inflated ego, I had not realised until now how little I have been seeking to really understand things in my learning process. If only I had gotten more bad grades I would have known how far away from true understanding I often was.

Students who really understand what their best interests are, learn what they like and care about their spiritual growth much more than about such bureaucratic trifles as grades.

This is a timely topic, because I have started going to bible studies run by a local youth-focused church group. I have learned a lot of things. And the first and foremost thing I learnt was how little I truly understand the world compared to how much I thought I understood the world. Like my good maths grades I thought that because I was able to rub two words together in a intellectual discussion and fuel it with enough emotive anecdotes that this constituted good knowledge of science, God and life. In reality, there are people who have spent a lot of time researching, questioning, testing and debating out intellectual flaws to create a body of knowledge that I am completely ignorant of.

Up until now I looked upon formal knowledge with distain – what can the scientists and theologians know that I cannot work out intuitively? But slowly I am coming to understand that there is much more to having authority over knowledge than a gut feeling, that you cannot just ignore the existing body of knowledge before seeking to pledge your own ideas into the world. Slowly I am coming to understand that there is much more to learning than social approval and good grades.

 

*you won’t be marked on it, no. But you will learn something 😉