Wisdom in education

Most of the music available on an electric medium undergoes some degree of dynamic range compression, sometimes rendering the piece of music to sound loud but lifeless. To most, the use of this compression isn’t obvious, when done tastefully, but if one had to compare the ear’s experience of listening to live uncompressed music with listening to music off a computer’s speakers’ one could note that the uncompressed music has a natural progression from loud-to-soft and soft-to-loud. This gives a piece of music the capacity to stir emotion in the listener.

Similar to compression that makes an organic variance in amplitude less effective, the national education system has failed to recognise and nurture the variance in the skills and talents of students. This has diluted the effect of education and the benefits that society should reap from it.

The aim of schools is to push their students to pass the standardised O and A level examinations (or their equivalents) and the students’ goals are to be successful and move to the next level of education. This has developed into a society that values a student’s ability to take and pass examinations more than education itself. Moreover, many have come to believe that there is no distinction between the two.

The act of passing an examination and obtaining a qualification does not necessarily mean the person is bright. Indeed, some of the dullest people around can boast of handfuls of qualifications. Education goes deeper than the ability to regurgitate facts on a piece of paper.

The manner in which one treats others, the way one is able to present an argument and, overall, a person’s ability to think are some of the traits that merit a person being called educated.

Indeed, examinations are important to tertiary education establishments to gauge a student’s potential in academics. Of course, there should be a mark in the sand, so to speak, when it comes down to admissions criteria.

Certainly, secondary qualifications are also necessary in the job market if the individual does not pursue further studies. Yet, beyond these applications, does a piece of paper with grades printed on it really quantify intelligence?

It is often said that the real learning happens outside the classroom and for most students this is definitely the case. However, considering the sheer size of government investment in education and the sacrifices made by parents who pay for private education, one would be led to believe that the education system is generating students who have the potential of contributing to the economic prosperity of the nation. Yet, on taking a closer look, are the costs incurred in educating students really paying off?

Therefore, this poses a question. What can be done to change this predicament?

Firstly, the attitude towards education needs to be adjusted. Students and teachers need to start appreciating that learning is indefinite and the attainment of any given number of qualifications does not signify an end to the learning process.

Subsequently, a massive reconstruction in the way students are taught needs to be undertaken. Children, from their formative years, should be encouraged to share their ideas on the material they are studying. This is critical because, very often, facts and concepts are drilled into students’ heads but they are left clueless about the way they use the knowledge that they acquire.

The encouragement of reasoned-opinion development and sharing can take on so many shapes and forms. From languages to sciences there are countless activities that can be carried out that simulate students to manifest an educated opinion and share it effectively.

As long as students are speaking and sharing their opinions they are learning simultaneously how to be eloquent and articulate and how to defend their ideas when they are challenged. Most of all, students would be reinforcing their knowledge of the subject being studied.

Communication of ideas is an important life skill that should be learnt from a young age and developed once in secondary education.

Without a doubt, many will argue that there simply isn’t enough time to prepare students for their ever-important examinations and have these mind-broadening activities underpinning the foundations of the students’ education.

A good way to stem this way of thinking would be to stop wasting time and make more time. Clear examples of inefficient, stress-inducing and time-wasting exercises are the mid-yearly and annual examinations, which, ideally, would not be taken by students before Form 2 in order to conserve time. Before this age, students’ progress should be primarily monitored through constant assessment, which takes the form of homework, projects and tests. All students have different areas in which they excel and most do not demonstrate their full potential in a written examination.

This way of assessment would allow all students to exhibit a range of their skills while slowly but surely building others.

Naturally, this mode of assessment should not manifest itself in a bombardment of never-ending homework but to seek the right balance between work and play.

In this manner, children will have the luxury of being children and not be transformed into exam-passing machines.

This would also facilitate growth in sport, which is clearly lacking in Malta, and in culture, another department that desperately needs to be expanded.

To make these changes effective, longer school days should be introduced and both summer and Easter holidays should be shortened. This would ease the rush that teachers and students face to finish the various syllabi.

We must face the fact: Maltese children spend far too little time in school, regardless of the age-old excuse of the weather being ‘too warm’. In reality, schooldays are not only being trimmed in the warm summer months but also in winter, resulting in an inevitable rushing around.

In so many ways, our education system has sacrificed wisdom for knowledge and, still, it has learnt nothing. Like a piece of poorly-compressed music that is simply rude to the listening ear, the education system focuses its energy on the students’ ability to pass standardised examinations, thus making tomorrow’s generations poorer for it.