I recently watched Steve Hargadon on Connect Learning TV discussing how to get to the root of education reform. This is the comment I made after watching this very interesting discussion. The real question is how do we conquer fear?
The root of the problem really is fear. I homeschooled my kids and then in their teens converted completely to unschooling but everyday I was afraid that I might be making a mistake. I knew that they were learning so much better on their own but I still worried that I might be failing them and would even have days where I would be overcome with fear and start pushing them to learn the things I thought were important. I’m embarrassed to say I even made them question themselves and their abilities. Luckily, I would usually come to my senses in a short amount of time, apologize and encourage them to continue on their own paths.
But how do we stop the fear? How do we release parents and teachers from worrying about failing so that they can release their children from the fear of failing? Perhaps we stop measuring each other so much. Perhaps we stop testing and credentialing the way we do. Giving students power means letting them decide when they have learned well – the person constructing/giving/grading the test has all of the power no matter what token things you do to offer students a sense of agency. The person deciding what you learn has all the power. In the end, shouldn’t LIFE be the ruler we aspire to. Shouldn’t we be teaching our kids how to be learners and problem solvers and self-reliant, kind human beings. In order to learn those things you must have experiences of being treated with respect and kindness, experiences of practicing self-reliance and joyful, self-directed learning. To be good at life, you need to live and participate in your community not be shut up in an institution all day. You need the adults in your life to have confidence in your ability to learn what matters to you and to believe that you have something to offer.
So how do we conquer fear to make these things happen? It may be time for me to reread “Daring Greatly” by Brene Brown or maybe it’s time to just start doing scary things that matter. If we don’t face our fear, eventually our worst fears will come true anyway – our kids won’t be prepared and there will be no one to solve our problems.
Deb kauffman 