Should we and can we challenge our educators?

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

2 www.criticalthinking.org, http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766 

A mission, vision and values statement! Do we really need one? What about OUR strategic plan?!?

Companies have a mission, vision and values statement that guide their strategic planning process.  A mission statement describes what the company does and supports the vision statement.  The vision statement is where the company wants to be in the future.  Their values statement describes what they believe in and how they will behave.  These three components are then used to create a strategic plan that includes strategies, goals and action plans to achieve their mission and vision while adhering to their values.

What does any of this have to do with a teenager or education?  The answer should be - EVERYTHING!  As students and teachers we should have an educational plan; including a vision, mission and values statement.  And more importantly, the strategic plan.  With that being said, many are already doing this while others are not.

At the beginning of each school year we are given information from our teachers.  It describes class expectations (values statement), what we will accomplish by the end of the year (vision) and some of the goals for the year.  For the most part, as students we receive the watered down version of a teacher's educational plan.  Teachers spend a vast amount of time planning how they will reach their vision, including strategies, goals and action plans yet, it is rarely shared with students.  Today's student spend 7 out of 24 hours in school.  If a student sleeps for 7 hours, spends 1 hour in the morning preparing for their day, 2 hours after school attending extracurricular activities and 1 hour for eating dinner that leaves approximately 4 hours left for home work and free time.  If provided with a clear and detailed strategic plan a student could plan their time appropriately.  For example, if a student knew on the first day of school there was going to be a math test and science test on the same day they could then begin to formulate their own plan for studying - pressure off, no last minute panic because football practice lasted until 7:00 the night before.

On the flip side, as students what about our own mission, vision, values.  Do we or should we have a strategic plan of our own?  Should we be sharing this with our teachers?  Yes and yes!  Where are we now?  Where do we want to be?  What are our values?  What is our action plan, goals and strategies?  I am sure most of us know the answers to these questions but, have you ever shared them with your teachers?  For example, what if one of your goals was to become better at doing quadratic equations.  If your math teacher is provided with this information they could make a note of it in their student profile and then be able to provide you with the tools to achieve your goal.  

Prior to writing this I completed my own mission, vision, values statement.  As well as, my personal strategic plan.  In the fall I plan to share it with my teachers and look forward to their feedback as how they can help me achieve my goals.  

Education should be a collaborative effort; working together more can be accomplished!  

I hope you have enjoyed reading my first blog post.  I look forward to your comments. Thanks for reading!