Pete Reilly writing in The Pulse has discovered subliminal messages in our educational system which are delivering some unintended messages to our students every day.
Here are just a few.
They are learning that discovering and creating knowledge is beyond the ability of students and is really none of their business.
They are learning that life’s answers lie outside themselves, in others.
They are learning there is always a single unambiguous right answer to a question. If it can’t be measured, it’s not taught.
They are learning that a subject is something you take and when you have taken it you have had it, and when you have had it you need not take it again.
They are learning that recall is the highest form of intellectual achievement and the collection of unrelated facts is the goal of education.
He also offers this solution to removing the hidden messages.
Our challenge is not only to tinker with the curriculum or the tools; but to redesign the system so that it empowers students to think for themselves, to find answers (and questions) wherever they lie, and to nourish the flame of curiosity so it burns throughout their lives.
That’s the message that should be at the center of American education.