You send them to great schools. You make sure they do their homework. You drill them on their flashcards. You are saving for college. You are not going to let them set their sights low like you did, or maybe you won’t accept them getting into anywhere less prestigious than you did. Obviously this commitment to education is important—and, in moderation, healthy and admirable. As long as you’re not veering into the territory of being a “dream hoarder” it’s good to be ambitious about education, it’s good that you are making it such a priority. It’s just also important that we remember, always, the difference between schooling and education. That we remember, as Einstein said, that the true value of education “is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.” So what if your kid has a fancy piece of paper on their wall or a great GPA? If they can’t think, what’s the point? If they have smarts but lack wisdom… life is going to be very hard, no matter how skilled or well paid they are at their profession. It does not automatically follow that good schools translate into the ability to make good decisions, or that because someone has graduated that they are familiar with and comfortable in the world of ideas. Just because they’ve spent hours in a classroom, doesn’t mean they understand civics or their duties as a citizen. You have to teach them that. You have to make sure they learn what matters.
You have to make sure they know how to think. You have to give them the true fruits of a good education. This was originally sent on July 10, 2020. Sign up today for the Daily Dad’s email and get our popular 11 page e Book, “20 Things Great Dads Do Every day.”
Educational Philosophy: The True Value of Learning
My first approached this question eight months ago, I came to the conclusion that education is not limited to the classroom, but is up to the individual to push themselves beyond what is expected. The individual must have the desire to learn and must be proactive in doing so. What should really be valued is the knowledge acquired from developing skills and expanding one’s understanding of a subject. After nearly completing the AP English Language & Composition course, I can confidently confirm that one’s own learning is up to themselves, and their education is determined by how willing they are to expand their knowledge and skill set. The way the course is set up directly correlates to this idea. Students don’t receive grades on each assignment, but are assessed holistically, quarterly by their display of growth. This way, students are given the chance to develop their skills continually, and their grades will reflect their growth. Students won’t have to worry about their initial performance, but can take advantage of the opportunities to revise as learning opportunities and can display their newfound knowledge and skill sets in future assignments. I have found that despite the class being my lowest average amongst all my classes, I believe that it has been the most impactful in understanding how my effort directly correlates with the growth of my skills, as I can directly see change happening with each assignment I continue to work on. Everyone has the capability of educating themselves. It’s a matter of the individual can take it upon themselves to work towards their education. Education should be valued for its ability to teach students new skills and knowledge, not by letter grades. I have always had the habit of learning subject material right before tests and forgetting it the day after, but my father always stressed how important it is to value what I actually learned over the grades I was getting. He stressed how none of my grades matter if I know none of the material in reality. Then one day, after receiving a low grade on my math final, he told me how I have actually learned so little math the entire school year despite getting all A’s.
“It doesn’t matter what your grades are if you can’t retain anything. Look, if someone were to take away my job and all my money, it won’t matter because I have the skill set and knowledge to find another job.”
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