State and the need to rework individualized learning

I am writing this article as I listen to the early morning 5:30 prayers echoing through Lahore, Pakistan. This is a place where relationships are the lifeblood of the society. People spend their lives building, retaining and growing strong relationships, which in turn builds trust between people.

It is also the foundation to the complex problem solving at all social levels. Just watching how people interact and work together here is an art in and of itself. The skills required to build the intricate web of relationships are as complex as any human endeavour, yet so much of the global educational focus stressed in schools and demanded by parents is on individual achievement, with minimal to no assessment based on the ability to problem solve with others.

[bs-quote quote=”Students are inherently taught that they will be told what to expect, then to individually work towards that pre-described black and white assessment. Unfortunately, for many people, this is all that a person experiences in their educational life.” style=”style-17″ align=”center” color=”#dd0000″ author_name=”Kimberley Langen ” author_job=”CEO, Spirit Math School”][/bs-quote]

HEC announces 1000 scholarships for Sri Lankan students to study in Pakistan

The understanding of successfully educating a person starts with the most basic black and white idea of teaching students how to do a test. In other words, if you teach your students how to do the questions on a pre-described test, then you are successful. Students are inherently taught that they will be told what to expect, then to individually work towards that pre-described black and white assessment. Unfortunately, for many people, this is all that a person experiences in their educational life. There are two issues with this: the first is that a person can succeed in this paradigm by simply investing a lot of time into themselves to increase their personal knowledge and skills, creating a population of siloed people who do not have the experience of venturing into the unknown; the second is that they have not learned how to take the much more powerful leap into the exponential learning and understanding of humanity that comes only when a person learns with others.

Coronavirus outbreak slashes China carbon emissions: study

Let’s first look at individualized learning. Much of the impetus in the educational realm comes from fearful parents and teachers who want to be certain that their own child or students succeed. The second driver is the clarity and sense of comfort that pre-described tests give to people. Put these two together, and you have societies looking for the simplest way to teach to tests, and parents who seek the fastest and easiest way to get their child to succeed in a test. The result is a very skewed educational system based on rote learning: the most basic type of learning, requiring the least amount of skills. Knowledge for oneself and success on a test is achieved, but the learning and the thinking of a person has been stunted. Individualized learning is very much like watching a black and white television show: not only is the experience limited, but so is the information that comes your way.

[bs-quote quote=”Much of the impetus in the educational realm comes from fearful parents and teachers who want to be certain that their own child or students succeed.” style=”style-17″ align=”center” color=”#dd0000″ author_name=”Kimberley Langen ” author_job=”CEO, Spirit Math School”][/bs-quote]

Coronavirus: Nadia Jamil speaks up for students rights

For years and years, I have observed students in Spirit of Math classrooms and am in constant awe with the incredible mature thinking that many of the students demonstrate. Then, when I watch people from all over the world enter these classrooms, I see the same look of awe, followed by conversations filled with excitement. For a long time, I thought what we were seeing was a product of the curriculum itself, and the good teachers, but now I realize that it is the collaborative teamwork that is truly the magic. The teamwork entails that there is a curriculum that inherently requires collaboration for success, and teachers who are strong enough to bring in the complexities of collaborative teamwork into their classroom.

Chinatowns feel brunt of virus panic

Learning how to collaborate well requires that the collaborators have an intense curiosity: they want to learn from others as much as to share their own ideas. They are open to allowing new ideas to enter into their thinking and, at the same time, training their brains how to see what was blind to them before. This allows a child to enter a whole new realm of learning and understanding that they could not even start to achieve if their learning was just for themselves. When you learn how to work this way, you have learned how to not just work towards a pre-described outcome that you can see.

Punjab establishes 200 non-formal schools besides educating 7,583 child workers

You learn how to learn so that if something unforeseen, or not predicted comes your way, you have a set of tools that you can take out and use, combined with the ability to use the skills and understanding of others to collectively solve any problem. The ability to do this is exponentially more powerful than the alternative of learning for yourself.

[bs-quote quote=”Learning how to collaborate well requires that the collaborators have an intense curiosity: they want to learn from others as much as to share their own ideas. They are open to allowing new ideas to enter into their thinking and, at the same time, training their brains how to see what was blind to them before.” style=”style-17″ align=”center” color=”#dd0000″ author_name=”Kimberley Langen ” author_job=”CEO, Spirit Math School “][/bs-quote]

An appeal to help Pakistani Students in Wuhan

The most recent and current extreme global problem is the corona virus. The world knows that the realm of microorganisms is going to be one of the greatest problems for the human race. We can predict the future to a certain amount and be prepared to a limited extent, but for us to tackle the unknown we desperately need people who have the ability to properly define a problem that has not been defined to them before, and to have the ability to use the knowledge and skills of others to solve the problem. If we do not teach students how to be intensely curious as the core to their learning, rather than working to a pre-destined end point, and combine that with the ability to use the collective power of many, then we will not be able to solve the gargantuan unforeseen problems of the future. Learning the intricacies of building relationships is foundational. Perhaps we could all learn how to do this by watching the sophisticated web of relationship building in cultures like those found in Pakistan.

[bs-quote quote=”Learning the intricacies of building relationships is foundational. Perhaps we could all learn how to do this by watching the sophisticated web of relationship building in cultures like those found in Pakistan.” style=”style-17″ align=”center” color=”#dd0000″ author_name=”Kimberley Langen ” author_job=”CEO, Spirit Math School “][/bs-quote]

Japan facing criticism for handling of virus outbreak

It is often said that it takes a community to build a child: it takes a child to learn how to work within a community, to build that community. Which comes first?

Passengers leave Japan virus ship

Stay tuned to Baaghi TV for more interesting content.