I believe that “educating citizens” is the most important aspect of schools. On the surface, this seems obvious. Of course schools are intended to educate our citizens. However, I believe that there is a deeper meaning.
Educating citizens doesn’t mean filling students’ heads with facts and numbers and dates. It means providing them with the tools to function as effective citizens in today’s society. That’s not to say that the content-specific facts that we seek to convey aren’t important. They are also necessary in order to succeed in society. However, the greatest gift that we, as teachers, can give to our students is the ability to think and reason as functional adults. From this ability stem all of the skills needed to contribute to society. Simply memorizing a litany of facts may help students pass exams, but it will ill-equip them to succeed outside of the classroom.
At present, I believe that the most important skill to impart is the ability to critically evaluate information. We are constantly bombarded with information from sources varying from reputable to completely fabricated. The capability to filter that information and analyze its meaning is essential in today’s society. Without this skill, students will be doomed to fall for every hoax, ideological discourse, and misrepresentation of reality that they encounter.
On the other hand, and educated citizen is able to assess which information is worth knowing and disregard the “junk” that so often populates the internet. They will then be able to take advantage of the wealth of good information that technology allows us to access. The more accurate information that individuals can get their hands on, the better able to actively participate in and contribute to society.
This type of literacy must be addressed in the classroom. Teachers who fail to teach these skills to their students are doing them a huge disservice. We must encourage them to think critically about the information that is presented to them. This type of knowledge will stay with students long after the facts, formulas, and numbers that we teach have faded from their memories.
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I'm so glad that you picked up this topic, Kris. It's complete conjecture, of course, but it seems to me that if Dewey were around today, he would be raising the kinds of questions that you're raising. Helping our students to be more information-savvy would seem to be one of the most empowering tools with which we can equip them.
ReplyDeleteOne of the educators who I watch closely is a media specialist from Pennsylvania named Joyce Valenza. She was a central figure in putting together a site called "Access, Analyze, Act" that was oriented to the 2008 elections, trying to essay the issue you frame in the "analyze" section, both for students and teachers. See what you think.
One addition to Jeff's comment is that by the year 2012 there will be a national technology literacy exam that is required for all 9th graders!!! Who is going to teach the new literacy? It is the first national test that does not necessarily have a a teacher and/or department associated with the content. It will be interesting to see what happens.
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