Should Students Work or Learn?
The term “work” is used synonymously with “study” when it comes to describing what is expected of students, yet the appropriateness of the term in the context of learning has been challenged by Alfie Kohn, who has written extensively on education and human behaviour. In the article “Students Don’t Work – They Learn” he explains that in paid work the important outcome is the product, while in learning (especially at the school level), the process is much more important. Whereas a worker’s product is expected to be perfect, a student’s product should be valued for the improvement it shows rather than perfection.
While Kohn is known to be unconventional in his views and somewhat controversial, his idea of the need to de-emphasize grades may ring true with many teachers, and may be especially relevant in the teaching of English as a second language and composition where grammar and writing skills develop gradually over time and rigid formulas are to be rejected. On the other hand, his opposition to take-home assignments may be opposed by stakeholders who believe that “practice makes perfect”. Still, he sees such assignments, especially for children, as an unwelcome “second shift”. In a newer article, Kohn launches a more vehement attack on “homework”: “If slogging through worksheets dampens one’s desire to read or think, surely that wouldn’t be worth an incremental improvement in skills. And when an activity feels like drudgery, the quality of learning tends to suffer, too (“The Truth About Homework: Needless Assignments Persist Because of Widespread Misconceptions About Learning”).
Kohn concedes that some aspects of the workplace do apply to the classroom, but they are not enough to complete the metaphor. While in both collaboration should be valued over competition, people’s input over dictatorship, and intrinsic motivation over extrinsic rewards, the objectives are not of the same nature. Even though some managers may care about their workers in the same way that teachers are concerned about their pupils, there is more emphasis on results in the workplace: “the bottom line is that they are still focused on--well, on the bottom line.” This business-style approach, where every task is a means to an end (in this case a grade, the honour list, etc.) is unsuitable for the educational system in Kohn’s view; curiosity, exploration and discovery should be appreciated, rather than mere “factory-style” performance and achievement.
Rejecting the workplace metaphor for student learning, as many teachers would, has implications for teaching and assessment. If we expect students to experiment, be creative, and learn through trial and error, we cannot compare their outcomes with those of an employee, and our assessment tools need to reflect this, hence the need for greater emphasis on constructivist learning and formative assessment, and hence the superiority of terms such as “activities” and “projects” over “homework”.
Finally, Kohn has produced a DVD entitled NO GRADES + NO HOMEWORK = BETTER LEARNING. Quite a character – no wonder Time magazine has described him as "perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grades [and] test scores." Taken with a grain of salt, his ideas present a brave challenge to conventional thinking in education.
Posted by May Mikati on 13 September 2011, 12:30 AM
The term “work” is used synonymously with “study” when it comes to describing what is expected of students, yet the appropriateness of the term in the context of learning has been challenged by Alfie Kohn, who has written extensively on education and human behaviour. In the article “Students Don’t Work – They Learn” he explains that in paid work the important outcome is the product, while in learning (especially at the school level), the process is much more important. Whereas a worker’s product is expected to be perfect, a student’s product should be valued for the improvement it shows rather than perfection.
While Kohn is known to be unconventional in his views and somewhat controversial, his idea of the need to de-emphasize grades may ring true with many teachers, and may be especially relevant in the teaching of English as a second language and composition where grammar and writing skills develop gradually over time and rigid formulas are to be rejected. On the other hand, his opposition to take-home assignments may be opposed by stakeholders who believe that “practice makes perfect”. Still, he sees such assignments, especially for children, as an unwelcome “second shift”. In a newer article, Kohn launches a more vehement attack on “homework”: “If slogging through worksheets dampens one’s desire to read or think, surely that wouldn’t be worth an incremental improvement in skills. And when an activity feels like drudgery, the quality of learning tends to suffer, too (“The Truth About Homework: Needless Assignments Persist Because of Widespread Misconceptions About Learning”).
Kohn concedes that some aspects of the workplace do apply to the classroom, but they are not enough to complete the metaphor. While in both collaboration should be valued over competition, people’s input over dictatorship, and intrinsic motivation over extrinsic rewards, the objectives are not of the same nature. Even though some managers may care about their workers in the same way that teachers are concerned about their pupils, there is more emphasis on results in the workplace: “the bottom line is that they are still focused on--well, on the bottom line.” This business-style approach, where every task is a means to an end (in this case a grade, the honour list, etc.) is unsuitable for the educational system in Kohn’s view; curiosity, exploration and discovery should be appreciated, rather than mere “factory-style” performance and achievement.
Rejecting the workplace metaphor for student learning, as many teachers would, has implications for teaching and assessment. If we expect students to experiment, be creative, and learn through trial and error, we cannot compare their outcomes with those of an employee, and our assessment tools need to reflect this, hence the need for greater emphasis on constructivist learning and formative assessment, and hence the superiority of terms such as “activities” and “projects” over “homework”.
Finally, Kohn has produced a DVD entitled NO GRADES + NO HOMEWORK = BETTER LEARNING. Quite a character – no wonder Time magazine has described him as "perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grades [and] test scores." Taken with a grain of salt, his ideas present a brave challenge to conventional thinking in education.
Posted by May Mikati on 13 September 2011, 12:30 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment