Which strategy feels riskier . . .

I had a conversation today about PSCS in which the person described our approach to academics as a “risk.”

From the perspective of a parent, who sends her kid off to school each day knowing that we do not have a prescribed academic program, it can feel risky. They’re not going to force my son take a science class! What if he never learns anything about science!

I have a different perspective on risk. To me, sending my child off to a traditional high school knowing that the curriculum was created without my child in mind . . . that feels like a risk.

To send him off to school knowing that the school is trying to meet the needs of 1,600 students and it’s near impossible for my son to get personalized attention . . . that feels like a risk.

To know that, in a traditional high school, my child could go four full years and never have to make a decision that mattered. . . that’s risky.

To have my child attend a high school where the learning process is distorted by the presence of extrinsic motivators like grades . . .

That feels risky.

How do they know my kid is going to be interested in the material if they don’t give him a choice in what he’s learning? How do I know my kid is going to be taken care of when the school operates like a factory assembly line? How is my kid ever going to take control of his education when he never has the chance to make a decision about it?

How will my kid ever learn for the sake of learning when he’s constantly being bribed/threatened with grades?

It’s a different way of looking at what’s risky.

* * *

It’s a strange paradox in American education: we all acknowledge that the traditional model is broken and needs reform, but to move away from the model that we know doesn’t work feels like a risk. It’s this paradox that keeps us locked into the current paradigm.

* * *

I often use agriculture or gardening as a metaphor for a new way of looking at education. The job of the teacher is to make sure the soil is rich, to add water, and to ensure the flower gets plenty of sunlight. In that kind of environment, the gardener doesn’t need to pull the flower out of the ground to make it grow. It grows because that’s what seeds do.

Similarly, when kids are immersed in a safe, nurturing environment and surrounded by talented people of high character who are role models for passion, curiosity, and producing high quality work, teachers don’t need to force kids to learn. They learn because that’s what human beings do.

* * *

If a gardener does try pulling the flower out of the ground to make it grow, some flowers may grow in spite of that. But it’s a risky strategy for making a garden bloom.

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