I think that my biggest criticism of most of ‘education’ is that it seems to have no relevance to most people’s lives. Or rather that the application to one’s life is not taught. My contention would be that though there is ‘education for education sake’ there is also a huge need for putting what is learned to use. And I’m not talking about ‘technical school’ training, though they do know how to put what they do to practical use. But isn’t it possible to put the learning in other areas to practical use too?
To be totally honest, I have the same criticism of most sermons. I remember that when I was a child I made up a game for myself which was to find at least one comment the minister made in his sermon that I could actually use in my life. It was always a challenge to find something because simply because you have a title as preacher or teacher doesn’t necessarily translate into preaching or teaching. Not everyone has the ability to make what they say as a point to discover what you believe and how you ‘put it into practice’.
I find it ‘interesting’ that the two most important influences on our lives, the two that should help us develop our personal standards have little to no relationship to the ‘how’ we live our lives. And I’m not suggesting that they dictate how we react and interrelate, but they really do little to focus us on developing these standards. I would never suggest that they tell us what to do, who we are but I would suggest that they take a bit more time in helping people apply what they learn.
What we need to do is to develop critical thinking that has as its end – how we apply what we have just learned. Education’s maxim has always been: tell them (the students) what you are going to tell them, then tell them, and finally to summarize what you just said. This is a good tool but it is missing the critical component – asking them how, what they just learned, is relevant to who they are and what they do. What ‘lessons’ they learned.
…but what do you think?
