Marvin Matthew – If You Want Solutions, Invest in Youth
“Do students have a responsibility to use what they’ve learned in school to address societal plights?”
A professor recently posed this question. I struggled to answer. My logic is that if you aren’t teaching us to
address, analyze, and solve problems — you can’t expect us to do any of the above.
If colleges and universities, or society, are asking students to use what we’ve learned in the classroom to
help solve the problems which we all face, then why are they drill, kill, bubble filling us?
Our systems shouldn’t be slanted towards memorizing and testing. Instead they should be centered on
critical thinking, analyzing, and problem solving. Testing has become such an important component to
education from K-12 and through undergraduate (depending on your school/program) that the space
for problem solving, logic, and critical redesign have been squeezed, or worse, pushed out. Whether you
believe in charter schools or public education as the solution — neither should be structured on learning
as a binary system. If you want problem solvers, thinking mustn’t be void of the classroom.
If someone goes to plumbing school, but is taught how to be an electrician would you ask that person to
A professor recently posed this question. I struggled to answer. My logic is that if you aren’t teaching us to
address, analyze, and solve problems — you can’t expect us to do any of the above.
If colleges and universities, or society, are asking students to use what we’ve learned in the classroom to
help solve the problems which we all face, then why are they drill, kill, bubble filling us?
Our systems shouldn’t be slanted towards memorizing and testing. Instead they should be centered on
critical thinking, analyzing, and problem solving. Testing has become such an important component to
education from K-12 and through undergraduate (depending on your school/program) that the space
for problem solving, logic, and critical redesign have been squeezed, or worse, pushed out. Whether you
believe in charter schools or public education as the solution — neither should be structured on learning
as a binary system. If you want problem solvers, thinking mustn’t be void of the classroom.
If someone goes to plumbing school, but is taught how to be an electrician would you ask that person to
April 22 Chat – Green Schools
To celebrate Earth Day, our #StuVoice Twitter chat tonight will discuss “Green Schools,” a cool new take on education. If you’re curious, here are some stories about specific schools.Take a look at the Center for Green Schools “State of Our Schools” report below to learn about the health impacts of our schools and the benefits teaching and learning in a green school can have. And remember, infographics speak louder than words. Tweet at you soon!
Featured image courtesy of Travis Morgan.
