YES and should be YES! But, is it? As students we need to take personal accountability for OUR education, and we should be demanding an education that works for us and with us. We should be encouraged to become independent critical thinkers and be in charge of our education. And being able to challenge our educators is the first step.
Traditional educational learning environments give the primary responsibility of learning to educators who chooses what we learn, how we learn it and how we will be assessed; sitting in nice neat rows and the only sound in the room is the teacher. Well fine as that may be to keep an orderly classroom, this does not encourage us to engage and be active participants in our education. We become learners who memorize information and regurgitate it for a grade.
But, what does that grade measure? That we were able to follow directions and give the teacher what they wanted? That we agreed with the opinion of our teacher and have none of our own?
What about being asked to write your own essay prompt only to be told it is incorrect? And then re-write it over three times and still being told it is incorrect. No feedback and no direction, what did we learn? We learned that our thinking is limited, yes you can create your essay prompt as long as you agree with your teacher. Learning should be absorbing, grasping, questioning and, yes, having your own thoughts and formulating your own opinions that you can defend.
The definition of student is “a person formally engaged in learning or any person who studies, investigates or examines thoughtfully1.” Isn’t engagement of the person who is studying and investigating necessary for examining thoughtfully, including questioning, the result of true learning?
Teachers decide the goals and students follow specific guidelines; teachers teach, no room for student’s questions. When teachers are the center of the learning experience how can we be in charge of our own education? How can we, as students be encouraged to thoughtfully examine. For example, when reading a novel about classism how does our own personal financial situations relate to the book? How does making students feel embarassed in front of their peers for the financial status and background of their families educate them? What we did learn? That is our educator who is the one who decides what makes us part of the upper, middle or lower class. And that if we don’t pay of our education we will appreciate it less. Does that mean we don’t appreciate the education we are receiving now since we aren’t paying for it? What about the educator who sends home the spelling list with mis-spelled words on it? Does it now become the student’s fault when they learned it incorrectly?
How much of our learning is our educator’s responsibility and how much is our own personal responsibility? When educators place the interests of students first and acknowledge their voice as being central to the learning experience, students can then challenge not just their educators but themselves as well.
What would happen if we chose what we learned, how we learned it and how we would be assessed? What would happen if we actually took some personal responsibility for our education? Maybe then we can have the opportunity to appreciate our own education, regardless if we paid for it or not.
Critical thinkers are those who actively and skillfully apply, analyze and/or evaluate information gathered from observation, experience, reflection, reasoning or communication. It is thinking that is self-guided and self-disciplined2. When educators allow and encourage students to take an active role in their education, the opportunity to become a critical thinker presents itself. We begin to raise questions and think open mindedly; only then will we begin to develop the ability to have our own thoughts.
When an educator states something as a fact that is not arguable, students need to and should be confident that they have the ability to challenge and prove a fact arguable if they believe it to be so. Shouldn’t educators encourage this? Isn’t being able to critically think one of the characteristics of any educator?
Some educators may not approve of this idea. But, where there is mutual respect and trust, students can and should be encourage to openly challenge their educators and themselves; learning should be a team effort. We are not questioning an educator’s capability to educate when we challenge our educators. It is through the critical thinking process as students that we can begin to realize our own possibilities with our educators as our guides and mentors.
We are curious and eager to learn. It is our education and we need to take personal responsibility for it. We want an educational system that works for us and with us. We want to become critical thinkers; the who, what, where, when, why and yes the how. Questions are how we get to our destination – an education; educators are our guides on our journey. YES we should be challenging our educators! But, being a critical thinker includes challenging ourselves as well!
1 dictonary.com, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/student
