In an earlier post we looked at Daisy Christodoulou’s book Seven Myths About Education. The first myth we looked at was Facts Prevent Understanding. Here we learned that facts are foundational to the acquisition of skill and critical thinking processes.
Myth 2: Teacher Led Instruction Is Passive
Essentially, this myth argues that direct teaching is ineffective because the student becomes a passive vessel. Instead, we need to allow children to direct their own learning. They need to learn independently to become independent learners.
Once again some big names in the past have been associated with this myth. Rousseau felt that formal teaching of reading (of the alphabet and sounds) was inappropriate and that a stimulating environment would enable children to discover reading for themselves. John Dewey felt that a child’s inclinations should determine the education process, and he is echoed in those who speak of student agency and child-centred pedagogy. Freire, a Brazilian educationalist, was opposed to drill and memorisation and spoke of co-construction of knowledge through discussion and dialogue, where the teacher was not a figure of authority but a student as well.
So what do we know about learning? Evidence does not support the idea that teacher-directed education is passive and unhelpful. Firstly we know that there are some things that are not learned naturally. Nobody learns their alphabet naturally. Nobody learns our number system naturally. Nobody learns about gravity from their own contemplation and study. The breakthroughs in civilization were breakthroughs because they were concepts that for thousands of years were not learned naturally or independently. Why would we expect each child to have to relearn these unnatural developments when it took thousands of years to get to them in the first place? We need teachers to pass on this knowledge, and we do this effectively through teacher instruction.
The second piece of evidence that Christodoulou refers to is the human working memory. Apparently the limitations of our working memory explain why humans took so long to discover some of the laws of nature. In learning, our working memories can only hold so much information and are prone to overload when there is minimal guidance.
The final piece of evidence against this myth is the evidence we have in favour of the effectiveness of direct teacher instruction. Christodoulou cites John Hattie in his Visible Learning which highlights direct teaching as the third most powerful teacher factor. She cites a major American study which showed the direct instruction method outperformed other methods in terms of academic performance and the self esteem of the students.
Once again, it’s funny how educational experts need convincing of what most laypeople instinctively understand: an expert teacher who can keep students spellbound and motivated is what our children need.
The most important job of the Christian parent is to disciple your child. Catechising your children is a great way of doing this in a systematic manner. The children’s catechism is an excellent option that is based on the Westminster Shorter Catechism. From a very young age, children are capable of great feats of memorisation, so why not get them learning good theology.
One fabulous aid in catechising your children is music. Our family enjoys is listening to Songs for Saplings. There are six volumes of Questions and Answers. The volumes are entitled God and Creation, Fall and Salvation, Christ and His Word, The Word of God, Prayer and the Sacraments and Christ and his return. The music is free to listen to and very catchy. Our kids know lots of Bible verses and theology as a result of Songs for Saplings. Simply say, “Can you go to heaven with a sinful nature?” they will start singing back, “No, my heart must be changed.” There is nothing like music for aiding memorisation of truth.
I recently became aware of a call by Harvard University law professor Elizabeth Bartholet for a presumptive ban on homeschooling.
Her concerns are outlined in a recent article in Harvard Magazine:
Elizabeth Batholet
Firstly, there are no academic checks or requirements for parents who homeschool. The implication is that children who homeschool will be shortchanged academically. Secondly, Bartholet worries about the isolation homeschooling causes, and in consequence of this, the potential for parental abuse. A third concern for Bartholet is that many homeschool families are conservative Christians who are seeking to remove their children from mainstream culture. Apparently these evil conservative Christians are ideologues who question science and promote female subservience and white supremacy! So in this third objection to homeschooling she implicitly outlines what she sees is the purpose of compulsory government education. For her, one part of state education is that it helps children to become productive members of society, but the other aspect of education is exposing children “to community values, social values, democratic values, ideas about nondiscrimination and tolerance of other people’s viewpoints”.
The article concludes with Bartholet reassuring us that she thinks parents should still have“very significant rights to raise their children with the beliefs and religious convictions that the parents hold”, and adds that children attending a school for 6-7 hours a day does not unduly limit parents’ influence on a child’s views and ideas.
Does Homeschooling Hinder Children Academically?
Let’s critique the argument and begin with her point about the shortchanging of children academically. Unfortunately for Bartholet, if we are arguing a case against homeschooling on purely academic terms, the evidence supports the homeschooling side of the argument. Studies show that children who have been homeschooled tend to perform better than students in public schools. In one review of the literature on the subject, Brian Ray concluded that homeschooling children on average are “at the 65th to 80th percentile on standardized academic achievement tests in the United States and Canada, compared to the public school average of the 50th percentile.” As a teacher, who has a wife who homeschools our children, my own anecdotal experience has been that there is a certain academic benefit to the practice. My ten-year-old daughter recently picked up and enjoyed Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and read Animal Farm by George Orwell. I say this not to boast, but just to point out that she is in no way being hindered by her homeschooling education. In fact, she is most likely being given the time and opportunity to do things she certainly wouldn’t be doing if she were in a regular classroom, even at a decent school!
I by no means mean to denigrate teachers or independent schools. They certainly hold a valuable place in society. Homeschooling is not for everyone, all I am seeking to do is suggest that children are definitely not academically disadvantaged by homeschooling.
I certainly would agree with Bartholet that in some rare cases there are parents homeschooling their children who are not equipped to do so. However, given that we also have teachers who are not particularly well-equipped to educate our children, I don’t see this as a knock-down argument.
Does Homeschooling Children Leave them More Open To Abuse?
Illustration by Robert Neubecker
Let me begin by addressing the isolation that Bartholet suggests is dangerous. The article in Harvard Magazine includes a telling illustration. A girl is imprisoned in a house of books, one of which is the Bible. Meanwhile, the poor wee thing is looking out at all the public school children who are having a fabulous time. Unfortunately for Bartholet, the picture she, and this illustration paint is highly inaccurate. In actual fact, while children attending schools are in classrooms learning from 9 to 3, homeschooling children are meeting up with friends, going on outdoor field trips and having a whale of a time! Ironically, the illustration could be equally used to show the benefits of homeschooling. Because the teacher to student ratio is so good, and behavioural issues are not so much of a problem, most homeschooling families tend to get their academic work done by lunchtime, leaving plenty of time to catch-up with friends for extracurricular activities.
But let’s return to the substance of her second criticism. She is concerned with parental abuse of children. Once again, Bartholet’s argument here is based on little evidence. She cites one example of a homeschooler who was abused. There is hardly a week that goes by where I don’t read of a teacher sexually abusing a child under his or her care. This is pretty common stuff. In New Zealand, between 2015 to 2017, the Education Council served 196 disciplinary outcomes to 81 teachers for sexual misconduct. In a synthesis of the literature on educator sexual misconduct prepared for the U.S. Department of Education, Charol Shakeshaft highlights a report that nearly 9.6% of students are targets of educator sexual misconduct sometime during their school career. I highly doubt that anywhere near that percentage of homeschool children would suffer sexual abuse from their parents.
But in addition to sexual abuse perpetrated by teachers, public schools are also places where students can be sexually abused by each other. In the same synthesis of the literature, Charol Shakeshaft notes that the same report that highlights educator abuse of 9.6% of students suggests that of students who suffer sexual abuse at school, 21% were targets of educators, while the remaining 79% were targets of other students.
Finally, who hasn’t heard of the bullying epidemic in schools? Large schools can be havens for bullies. My own personal experience of moving from a small family-like independent school to a large impersonal public school is indicative. In my first term at the school, I was pushed down a flight of stairs by a thug and his friends, and then repeatedly punched in the head while girls and boys from the thug’s class looked on. Few days went by when I was not verbally harassed. Statistics for bullying, both physical and cyber are given on a website dedicated to the prevention of bullying in the States. This again is something children in homeschooling families are fortunately unfamiliar with.
So once again, with this second argument, Bartholet seems to lack any real firepower against homeschooling.
Does Homeschooling Children Prevent Them Learning Community Values and Tolerance of Other’s Viewpoints?
Her final critique, and seemingly her main concern with homeschooling is that parents might not expose children “to community values, social values, democratic values, ideas about nondiscrimination and tolerance of other people’s viewpoints”. Let’s be clear about this. What she wants, is for her pet ideas, the ideas of mainstream secular culture to be forced upon all children. Education is brainwashing, and she would rather it be the state that does it than conservative Christian parents whose views she disagrees with.
But surely, it is better for the sake of diversity and our democratic ideals that parents are allowed to instil in their children their values and beliefs rather than a one-size fits all approach which will stifle minority viewpoints.
In fact, there is evidence that one of the reasons the West progressed so extraordinarily in comparison to other civilizations was the comparative lack of absolute power of its governments and freedom of its citizens to innovate. An all-powerful and controlling government that seeks to promote a particular set of values is not good for society. All too often it ends in intolerance. Better to allow diversity of thought and process.
What I find highly amusing, is the contradiction in her argument. On the one hand, she thinks homeschooling prevents the transmission of community and social values, yet at the same time, she argues that schooling won’t “unduly limit parents’ influence on a child’s views and ideas.” So which is it? Does sending a child to a government school impact a child’s worldview and shape their values, or will it have so little impact it does not limit parents’ ability to influence their child’s views? I suspect she is being disingenuous here. It will impact children, but she wants parents to still think they are the ones in control.
It’s ironic too, that she raises the importance of children being taught “democratic values, ideas about nondiscrimination and tolerance of other people’s viewpoints” when she herself seems to favour authoritarian control, restriction of parental choice in education and a one-size-fits-all model of values transmission.
So does her argument represent a compelling case for banning homeschooling? Hardly. But it might well wake some parents up to the danger of public schools. When academics like Elizabeth Bartholet want to stop conservative Christians from educating their children at home because it tends to…well turn out conservative Christians, it might wake parents up to realise the danger of secular schooling.
An interesting piece on the impact of the Coronavirus on modern learning environment schools appeared on Stuff yesterday. For those of you who have not been in school for some time, MLEs are basically a rehash of the 1970s trend of open plan classrooms. They feature bright and colourful furniture and wide-open spaces. The idea is that rather than having a single classroom of say 20-30 students with one teacher, you have much larger spaces, with more students and teachers.
An example of a MLE. Beliefs about children drive how we approach teaching.
Given that we are to keep our bubbles as small as possible, these schools may have more difficulty than traditional schools in getting back up and running.
So what is the point of these MLEs? MLEs are a product of philosophy. Remember, our worldview, our underlying philosophy drives our behaviour. So our understanding of human nature, of children, of the purpose of education – these are going to impact our approach to teaching.
As I’ve mentioned before, a modern approach to the nature of the child is that children know best, and adults can get in the way of that. Thus we need to give children plenty of chance to interact without too much adult interference. We need to give them more ‘agency’ and allow them to choose what they learn and how they learn. Teachers become facilitators of learning. As the Stuff article puts it, the idea is “to foster self-management and collaboration.” These are admirable goals indeed. What teacher would not want their students to learn to self-manage and work well with others? But do MLEs provide an environment where these goals can be achieved?
The picture is not always as rosy as the promo videos and breathless praise from educational ‘experts’ make out. The changeover (and the resulting millions of dollars of tax payer dollars spent on new fit-outs) is “difficult to justify” according to a ministry funded study – which you’d have to think would be fairly keen to excuse the money it has poured into MLEs.
Teachers burn out with the demands put upon them in these environments. And while some students thrive in MLE’s, enjoying the interaction, others find it very difficult. Children with hearing difficulties find these environments difficult to work in, as do more introverted children and those who need quiet to think and process.
Once again, incorrect anthropology leads us astray. Children are not basically good, requiring little to no direction. They are sinful from conception and need training. It’s no wonder that research reveals concerns around whether the autonomy given to students in large MLEs is effective for learning. Anecdotal evidence from teachers I know reveals that the quality of learning in some MLEs is questionable at best. I’ve heard tales of children wearing headphones while a teacher is explaining a concept, students walking out in the middle of a teacher explanation, other groups of students making such a racket that a teacher working with a small group cannot be heard, students wasting time on Facebook rather than productive learning, and the list does go on, I assure you.
Consider the example of Rototuna Junior High School. Fraser Hill the principal is quoted as saying that their learning spaces each have two teachers, and can have between 90 and 130 students. A ratio of between 1:45 and 1:65? Surely this is a misquote on the part of the reporter? Let’s charitably assume the reporter got this wrong. Let’s assume that the ratios are around 1:30. Even so, under which model do you think a child would be able to feel lost and slip under the radar more easily? What’s more likely to provide an environment for effective learning: a class where a teacher directs student activity and energy to what he deems is most important, or a wide-open environment where student-led learning is taking place? Where is more wasted time likely to occur? If you’re struggling to answer these questions, perhaps you have forgotten what it was like to be a child, or perhaps you were an extraordinary child.
So what really makes a difference? Is creating these bright wide-opened spaces a game-changer for education? New Zealand’s own John Hattie, in his Visible Learning: A Synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement shows that quality teaching has a much greater effect on student learning and achievement than other factors a school controls, including school structures and class size. What we need to focus on then, is making sure we have excellent teachers in front of our classes.
Given the research and the fact that a similar experiment was foisted on the children of a previous generation, one has to ask the obvious question: What on earth are we doing this for? Answer? Image. It looks good, it sounds good, it makes for good promotional videos, and it fits the prevailing understanding of children and human nature. Governments can point to the truckloads of cash they pour into education to show people how much they care about education. As always in politics, image is more important than substance. It is easy to waste other people’s money for grand utopian schemes.
An interesting angle on the Coronavirus and education is the impact that missing so much school has on our children and their future educational outcomes. In New Zealand, there have been mixed responses from teachers, parents and schools regarding how important learning is during the lockdown, but at least we have been able to mitigate the potential damage so far with a providentially placed term 1 holiday.
In the States, the timing of this outbreak could hardly be worse, coming as it does before their long summer break. Every teacher who has taught children for consecutive years knows how much children can lose over the holidays, and some claim it is two to three months of learning. But in the US, this summer break has effectively doubled due to lockdown. Some reports suggest that students could lose an entire academic year of progress.
Joy Pullmann, a correspondent for The Federalist points out the injustice of this.
Our nation’s leaders are demanding that American children pay for this crisis through debt-financed spending, while depriving them of the education they need to make that even remotely possible. Our response to coronavirus is upping our society’s selfish demands that mostly the young pay — mentally, financially, socially, psychologically — for tabs the adults run up. This is not just impractical but immoral. Effectively enslaving voiceless citizens is not a just society’s response to a crisis.
Pullmann makes a good point that is worth considering. Here in New Zealand, we are taking on huge debt as a result of locking down our economy. Will our children bear the brunt of this in both future taxes as well as lower future incomes as a result of lower educational outcomes? Let’s hope not. It’s important that parents, teachers and schools work to ensure that these weeks are not an educational wasteland, but a time of fruitful, albeit unusual learning.
If you’re a parent, and you are worried about what your school is providing during the lockdown, there are plenty of useful sites and Youtube channels you can look into. Take a look at this NZ homeschooling blog, which has a great resource page. If your child is doing high school Mathematics, I highly recommend looking at Eddie Woo’s Youtube channel. He is the best Maths teacher I’ve seen. If you have a child studying Cambridge IGCSE or AS and A level Mathematics, I have set up my own Youtube channel to help support my Cambridge students during the lockdown. And while just doing worksheets isn’t always ideal, Worksheet Works is a fabulous resource which contains a tonne of Mathematics and English language resources which can be fine-tuned to your child’s needs. It also has some really fun puzzles and brain-teasers.
With all the schools in NZ entering lockdown, it has been interesting to see the reaction of teachers and parents to what is going on. It’s made many consider whether education in New Zealand gives value for money.
Of particular interest to me have been the number of teachers and educational leaders trying to allay the fears of parents. According to some, parents shouldn’t worry too much about trying to ensure their kids are working as normal. I’ve even heard some say things like, “Six weeks of missing school isn’t going to hurt kids.” When interviewed on Seven Sharp, Nigel Latta, a well-known New Zealand psychologist and author, was asked how much school work children needed to do while in lockdown. His answer was none unless the children wanted to. Latta said, “Don’t do it, and it will do them no harm at all.” And when asked about parents who might worry about their children falling behind, he said, “They totally will not fall behind. You absolutely shouldn’t worry about this.”
Well in a sense, I understand the point. In the big scheme of things, four, five or even six weeks of missing school may not make a huge difference, particularly for a child in the primary years, and especially if they come from a loving home with fairly well-educated parents. Latta is right, it’s extremely important for parents to provide a calm and safe environment in these times.
But there’s another perspective. I’m a teacher in an independent school which works on a shoestring budget and must attract and retain paying customers. I’ve taught both primary and secondary students, and I would argue that four weeks do matter. In a well-run classroom, with an enthusiastic and organised expert teacher, four weeks can result in tonnes of learning! Parents who are paying taxes and paying a school to educate their children would not be impressed if a school made little or no progress with their child in half a term.
What if Latta and some New Zealand teachers are correct in saying that four to six weeks missed from school isn’t going to matter? That raises an important question. How important is what teachers are doing in school, if missing six weeks has few implications educationally? If this is true, what kind of value for money are we getting from our public education system? Are teachers just glorified babysitters who enable Mum and Dad to pursue a more comfortable living standard? What sort of educational bang for buck are we getting here?
In New Zealand, education makes up around 18% of New Zealand Government expenditure. That’s a whole lot of our tax dollars being put into the education of children. Given the amount of money spent, are we not entitled to expect some sort of return? What kind of value for money are we getting if 4-6 weeks or between 14 to 22% of a school year can be missed with little to no impact on a child?
If our children can be at home with Mum or Dad, ignore most if not all of their school work, and not be disadvantaged, that really doesn’t paint a flattering picture of what is happening in our schools.
But let’s be honest, not every New Zealand school or teacher would claim to have little to no effect on children in this sort of time frame. Schools vary in impact. Yet it would not be wrong to say that in a number of New Zealand schools children would be better off at home pottering around with Mum or Dad. They would learn more!
If there’s one good thing to come out of this lockdown educationally, it’s been that parents have been able to get a bit more of a handle on what their children are learning at school. A number of parents in my acquaintance have been shocked to learn just how poorly their children are being educated by their local schools.
Perhaps some parents will exit lockdown with a new perspective on education. It’s possible some will see the wasted time and opportunities in their local schools and look at change. Perhaps some will embrace independent education. Maybe others will look at lifestyle and consider whether two incomes are absolutely necessary and whether dialling down living standard expectations might enable them to homeschool. Whatever the case, let’s hope we all come out of this lockdown taking our children’s education more seriously.
As a teacher, I see all types of parents and parenting philosophies. I also see the end products.
One type of parent that I see is what could be described as ‘well-meaning, but powerless’. This sort of parent complains to the teacher about their child’s behaviour and how they are unhappy about what he is doing, but they are unable to prevent it. A classic case is the child who continues to use technology when the parent tries to limit it.
How does one get to a stage where a primary aged child refuses to do what his Mum or Dad asks and Mum and Dad are helpless to do anything about it? It all comes down to parenting philosophy. Many new parents-to-be, naively view parenting as something that comes naturally and easily. The idea of a philosophy of parenting seems to over-complicate things.
The reality is that every parent has one, whether they can state it explicitly or not. And given that the nature of both parents and their offspring is fallen and impacted by rebellion against the Creator, we cannot assume our natural approach is the best approach.
So how do parents end up tearing their hair out over a rebellious primary aged child who does not do what they ask? It happens because from the outset of parenting, they have operated out of a faulty understanding of the nature of the child, and the purpose of the parent.
A modern view of the child and parent
What is the nature of the child? Modern parenting and educational philosophies view the child as containing pent up and endless potential for good, just waiting for the opportunity to express their innate truth, goodness and creativity. Children are the answer to the problems the world faces. They will solve the problems of climate change, racism, sexism and any of the other current -ism’s and ‘phobias’, if parents and teachers would just listen to their wisdom.
Where do we see this worldview today? Everywhere. One place where it is particularly obvious is our modern education system. We speak of child-centred education, and student agency. We see modern learning environments where students determine what they want to learn, how they want to learn, and who they want to learn with. When Johnny isn’t learning, we immediately point the finger at a teacher who is perhaps no engaging, or not catering to Johnny’s preferred learning style.
This worldview is also behind the absurd modern trend of seeking the voice of younger and younger people on serious and complex issues they can’t possibly understand. Thus we have teenagers, whipped into a state of emotional frenzy and fear by teachers and a media focussed on doomsday predictions, protesting over climate change despite having very basic to no knowledge of the scientific discussion. Enter Greta Thunberg with her irritatingly emotional and scientifically devoid blackmail foisted upon us by mainstream media.
A biblical view of the child and parent
Biblical wisdom views the child differently. In the book of Proverbs, Solomon reminds the reader that “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of the child.” Children are conceived in sin. From their very conception, they are tainted by the sin of our father Adam. Thus a chid’s natural inclinations and impulses have to be curbed, and altered so they can live as useful members of society. What comes unnaturally to them must be instilled into them.
That means that our approach to parenting and educating children should not be child-centred if by that we mean driven by doing what the child wants, is interested in, or thinks they need. No, it will be determined by what they actually need, which is the direction, intervention and training of a wise adult.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out which of these views meshes with reality. All it takes is a parent with open eyes. Very early on in the life of a child, as soon as they are able to physically express it, rebellion and self-centeredness become obvious. My youngest has just turned one, and it has been obvious in her for at least 6 months. When told ‘no’ or ‘don’t touch’ she will regularly look at us and reach out to touch what she has been forbidden to touch. When she doesn’t want to eat the food I am offering her on a spoon, she will reach out and hit my hand away, even when what I am offering is good for her, and what she wants to eat is not! No, it is clear to all who would open their eyes that children do not enter this world automatically good and knowing what they need to develop. That is a foolish view.
Recently I have been reviewing my notes on Seven Myths About Education by Daisy Christodoulou, a book I read a few years ago. Christodoulou is an educational thinker in the UK, who attempts to explode some of the common myths in the educational landscape of today. Myth one is “Facts Prevent Understanding”.
Myth 1: Facts Prevent Understanding
For those of you who aren’t involved in education, you probably read something like this and think, “Who on earth would believe that?” For those of us involved in education, we are perhaps more familiar with some of the thinking of educational ‘experts’. Rousseau, for instance, argued that experience alone should be the way scholars should learn. One cynically wonders what lessons his five children whom he deposited at a foundling hospital after their births learnt by their experiences. John Dewey, a hero of education to many, suggested that friction and waste would be the result of a child who is forced into a receptive and absorbing attitude, while the more modern educator and philosopher Paulo Freire argued that the banking deposit concept of education (depositing knowledge in the minds of children) is a misguided system.
So too, many in education today argue that teaching kids facts is a problem. Rather they argue that we need to be teaching understanding and a deeper level of thinking to children. As is often the case, an element of this sounds plausible. We all know that knowledge is not enough. We don’t want our children to be robots who can spit out random facts. Rather, we want them to be able to use their knowledge; to develop higher-order thinking. We would rank highly the ability to analyse and evaluate for instance.
Christodolou points to research that highlights the fundamental importance of knowledge acquisition in education. It seems that research into human thinking demonstrates the importance of long-term memory for cognition. The more information that a child has stored in their long term memory, the more they can overcome the difficulties of cognitive overload in their working memory. Simply put, the more facts a child has possession of, the easier it is for them to work with more complex problems.
A classic case of this is learning the multiplication tables. A child who has not got these ‘down pat’ will struggle to perform division of mixed numbers. Too much of their working memory is being devoted to figuring out the particular times table they need so that there is not enough ‘thinking space’ left to convert the mixed numbers to improper fractions and then change the division sign to a multiplication sign and change the last fraction to its reciprocal. A child with the multiplication tables committed to long term memory is ready to deal with this new complexity.
Creativity, problem-solving and ability to analyse and evaluate are skills that are reliant on large bodies of knowledge securely committed to memory. Dan Willingham, Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia argues that the data from the last 30 years of research leads to the conclusion that thinking well requires knowing facts. He writes,
“The very processes that teachers care about most – critical thinking processes such as reasoning and problem solving – are intimately intertwined with factual knowledge that is stored in long-term memory.”
This research is a timely reminder to educators to keep the main thing the main thing. We need to pass on a solid body of knowledge to our children. This is foundational in the development of critical thinking. Knowledge is the tool our children need to think.
