This is becoming a mini-series on curiosity.
Let’s see…a student for 17 years, teacher for one, school board member for eight, wife taught in elementary school for 35.
Some people dislike public schools (meant to provide a common education for everyone in a democracy) because they want to see teachers’ salaries reduced. Some because they don’t teach political or religious philosophy they espouse.
I side with Seth Godin. He calls it the industrial-education complex. Schools, public and most private ones (and most universities) exist to churn humans through the system such that they can provide bodies in industrial-type jobs. Not thinking or creative jobs. Assembling things, entering data/writing rote reports, attend meeting after meeting (sort of just like school).
In this post called Why and How from a couple months ago, Godin tackles science non-education. (Interesting that my copy of Burn Math Class arrived today. I’ve had the same feelings about math class as science class—and I like both things.)
Let’s get rid of science class in school.
Instead, beginning in kindergarten, we could devote a class to curiosity and explanation.
A class that persistently and consistently teaches kids to ask why and to answer how.
The unacceptable single-word answers are “because” and “magic.”
Curiosity is a skill, and it can be taught.
I learned biology when my parents bought a microscope, and I began exploring. I read about planets, and relativity, and dinosaurs. I learned electronics math while learning how to assemble and analyze circuits. I bought a 22-scale log-log slide rule (still have it) and an electronics math slide rule in the early 60s while in high school.
I was frustrated by chemistry. I kept wanting to ask Why. He kept saying to memorize the balance equations or whatever. The only math class than kept me interested was geometry. The teacher said what I’m really going to do is teach you to think. And he did. Solving proofs for theorems was pretty cool.
Everything in school could be taught as an outgrowth of curiosity instead of ramming down a curriculum devised by people far away who haven’t seen a classroom for decades.
Turn the teachers and kids loose and let education happen.
(By the way—works for spiritual topics, too. Curiosity led me to mediation, which led to studying the “mystics” and Desert Fathers, which led to studying the Christian thinkers and leaders of the first 300 years of the movement, which led to deeper understanding of the New Testament, which led to deeper meditation awareness…)
Gary Mintchell
Faith Venture 