In 1979 Pink Floyd released one their most iconic songs ‘Another Brick in the Wall’, which had the lines ‘We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control…’.
Was it actually education they were railing against?
Continue listening and you will hear, ‘No dark sarcasm in the classroom, Teachers leave them kids alone, Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!’
Look at the pedagogy of the 1970’s, listen to the lyrics of this song, and you will realise that it is not education they were against, but rather the school system. Pop culture was calling for a revolution of the school system so that children attending these institutions would stop coming out as indoctrinated worker bees.
Pedagogy refers to the method of how teachers teach, both in theory and in practice. Chris Husbands and Jo Pearce released a paper in Autumn 2012, entitled Great Pedagogy: nine claims from research, and which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7e413c40f0b6230268a2a3/what-makes-great-pedagogy-nine-claims-from-research.pdf
It makes for interesting reading and shows the following claims:
1. Effective pedagogies give serious consideration to pupil voice.
2. Effective pedagogies depend on behaviour (what teachers do), knowledge and understanding (what teachers know) and beliefs (why teachers act as they do).
3. Effective pedagogies involve clear thinking about longer term learning outcomes as well as short-term goals.
4. Effective pedagogies build on pupils’ prior learning and experience.
5. Effective pedagogies involve scaffolding pupil learning.
6. Effective pedagogies involve a range of techniques, including whole-class and structured group work, guided learning and individual activity.
7. Effective pedagogies focus on developing higher order thinking and metacognition, and make good use of dialogue and questioning in order to do so.
8. Effective pedagogies embed assessment for learning.
9. Effective pedagogies are inclusive and take the diverse needs of a range of learners, as well as matters of student equity, into account.
The conclusions reached in this study are that ‘outstanding pedagogy is far from straightforward’ and that classrooms are complex, multi-faceted and demanding places in which to work and successful pedagogies are correspondingly sophisticated.’
There is no doubt that there is a direct correlation between the quality of education received and the quality of a teacher, and the teacher’s ability to engage and relate to their students. The question is, how is a single teacher able to consistently and continuously engage with 30 students every school day? What happens if you, or your child, is one those students who simply doesn’t get that connection?
What happens if you disagree with the lessons being taught in school, that the agenda being pushed does not align with your own?
In fairness to all teachers, how is one person supposed to always be all nine of those claims to thirty children? Seems nigh on impossible in my opinion.
One of the basic cornerstones of a free and democratic society is a parent’s right to decide on the education that their child receives and how they receive it, and yet every government decides on the pedagogy, ideology, and curriculums, in order to educate a generation that suits their agenda.
Whilst is cannot be denied that a school system that has been in place for over 150 years is very efficient in disseminating information, dispensing an ideology, and producing a generation of ‘in-the-box’ thinking en masse, and for the masses, it does conversely prohibit free thinking and creativity.
At the age of fifteen, Albert Einstein declared that the rote learning policy of the school he attended was prohibitive, and harmful to creativity, and had a doctor intervene in releasing him, thus giving him the freedom to learn his way. Rote learning is a memorisation technique based on repetition; a method based on the premise that the recall of repeated materials becomes faster the more one repeats it.
Considered one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, even Albert Einstein failed to reach the required standard when sitting the general part of the entrance examination for the federal polytechnic school in Zurich, Switzerland. Due to his performing with distinction in physics and mathematics, he was able to follow different suggested routes in order to complete his secondary education.
If someone with an IQ like Albert Einstein needed to find alternative routes for his education, how can we all blindly accept the school system is a one size fits all and that our children will excel in it, every one of them, every time?
Personally, I find my thoughts going back to ‘Just another brick in the wall’ repeatedly when I see the joy over the day when exam results are announced, and I wonder what the future holds for these young minds that have had a standard education and passed a standard test.
Has much changed from the 1970’s to now? How many creative minds are we producing in the school system, and could we be doing more? Have we, as a society, become blind to the possibilities that lie beyond the four walls of a classroom, and if so, what can be done about it?
There is a growing trend of home education, and homeschooling, around the world, which if done right, is going to produce a plethora of creative minds; a generation capable of changing the world and finding the solutions to the problems created by the past and present.
There is need for structure in this free form of education, but not a need for desks, chairs, and classrooms. If the information of the curriculum, and more, is available in one place, easily accessible, and available no matter where you are and what you are doing, then there is no reason for any child to be left behind. If, like Einstein, there is a strength in one or two subjects and a weakness in others, then let go of the subjects that are not going to serve your child in their adult life, and work on the ones that will.
If you have days when
structured learning is just not on the table, learn a craft, do something
creative or fun, for there is education found everywhere and learning to be
done in any activity.
Don’t settle for your child being just another brick in the wall.
