My hate (for lack of better word) for passive learning.
It’s no secret that most students my age despise school. Like I’ve mentioned before, school seems to be nothing but sitting in an irritatingly uncomfortable chair and attempting to listen to the teachers’ lessons while daydreaming and staring off into space. In short, ask any student and they’ll probably assign the word “hell” as a synonym to school.
Contrarily, I don’t really hate school. As much as I despise the way we are forced to learn and the torture of waking up early, I find school bearable (albeit just barely).
However I do not (and most likely will never) like the school learning set-ups.
In the past, I have talked about the problems with online learning and my qualms with the education system but I haven’t quite touched on what I hate so much about the way teachers are asked to teach. (Spoiler alert, it’s the fault of the system once again.)
As many teachers, parents and students may already know, we learn “passively” in school.
Briefly put, that means we memorize. We memorize answers to questions that our teachers seem to repeat way too many times for it to be a coincidence, we memorize passages and we memorize the meanings of those passages.
Fortunately, there is an upside. We are experts at memorizing math formulas and grammar rules for English. It’s just that we do not know how to put them to use.
Rather ironic isn’t it? Our brains are packed with everything we need to succeed yet we know not how to utilize our sharpened tools.
Why? Well, because in the past it worked and it was the only known method. Now that we are used to it, we overlook the faults of an apparatus created decades ago when we live in a time where we must evolve.
It’s like using a spear from the stone age during a gun fight. You cannot possibly succeed.
Similarly, in a time where everyone else seems to be learning “actively,” we insist on doing so passively.
Studies have shown that active learning, which brings diagrams and mind maps into play, is much more beneficial for retaining and being able to apply what was learned.
If there is sufficient evidence to show that active learning more useful, then why aren’t we learning actively?
Well, I think we can owe the thanks to the fact that our current practice seems to work “just fine” accompanied by our “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mindset. But, “fine’ is not going to cut it.
Schools have the responsibility to enable students to make the world a better place in each of their large or small ways by giving them the instruments they will require to forge their paths.
However, as of now, they do not do so as effectively as they may have been able to if we were to change the way our systems work. Although I have mentioned it rather often, I will be saying it once again. Changing our system is the key.
The key to providing better learning experiences, the key to happier students and teachers, the key to a more productive youth, and maybe even the key to a better future.