The
way in which the education system has changed makes for interesting
study for those who are interested in social control through
psychology. For a long time since education became a social norm for
most people there was a clear and easily understandable structure to
learning. It was done by rote, multiplication tables learned by
heart, alphabet, spelling and grammar learned and remembered. History
was a series of dates, monarchs and wars in order, categorised and
regimented. Poetry learned by repetition and recital and so on. This
worked well, and this may well be because it mirrors the way in which
the young of most mammalian species have always learned. When we look
at mammalian familial structure we see that, more so than other
groups such as reptiles and amphibians, mammals invest considerable
time and effort into raising and educating their young, passing on
hunting and feeding techniques, information on safe foods, even
swimming and climbing techniques and how to safely move around in
their environment as well as how to avoid predators or track prey.
This can take place over months or years, and in general takes the
form of demonstration followed by practice, or in other words a form
of rote learning.
Since
the 1950's and particularly through the '60's and '70's there was a
rapid shift in education theory and practice. My parents and
grandparents were involved in education as teachers, so I had an
ideal opportunity to discuss these changes with educationalists who
were actively engaged in implementing and dealing with the effects of
new theories. The work of educational psychologists and sociologists
introduced ideas that rote learning was stifling to childrens
creativity and that a better way of teaching was to allow children to
express themselves freely and to learn by experimentation and by
exploring on their own without a constraining framework. This was in
large part based on the work of Steiner, and is sometimes known as
learning through play. A great many researchers developed any number
of competing and often conflicting theories to aid the development of
the young mind and enhance learning, but there is something of an
issue which is now beginning to be recognised in the main stream.
There
have been questions raised for a number of years now into the
standard and quality of examinations particularly in key subjects of
Mathematics and science. Based on government figures there has been a
year on year rise in the performance of pupils at both 16 and 18
years, yet there is a far higher drop out and failure rate at
university level, literacy and numeracy issues reported by employers
and a great deal of questioning of the reliability of these
examination results to the extent that the governments independent
schools inspectorate in the UK OFSTED has strongly suggested a
complete and total overhaul of school examinations at GCSE and A
Level. Concerns specifically expressed include the shift to multiple
choice question styles, the removal of essay type questions, and the
transition away from any question type that requires critical
analysis.
If
this were just a case of a few grumpy old people complaining about
the “youth of today” it might be a different story, but it isn't,
it is a consistent and almost unanimous agreement by groups with an
interest in the results of education but not necessarily directly
responsible for education, although even teachers are expressing
concerns over current teaching strategies. But this does leave the
question, “Why are we doing such a disservice yo our youth?”
Taken in the context of an over-arching plan to create a subservient,
non-questioning, non-analytic under class whose only purpose is to
support the elite, the answer is obvious. So obvious it makes one
wonder if there aren't other reasons as well. More to follow.
