Education, what for?

Studying Vs. Learning

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Couple of weeks back, we had a guest lecture on "Job Design." One particular example given by the guest lecturer, even though out of context, led me into deep thoughts. He was explaining about our education system where spoon-feeding is the key to successful teaching and learning. Then he cited an example of a Class VI girl, who had studied in Finland. Upon overlooking the little girl's school notebook, he found, quite amazingly, the entire pages filled with pictures of butterflies. When asked why she had done so, the girl responded that their teacher took them every day for 30 days to watch the lifecycle of a butterfly. From being an egg to transforming into a beautiful insect, she and her friends were supposed to observe and draw each day's progress the butterfly made.

So this was something: students not being taught the lifecycle of a butterfly by the teacher, nor being provided with the required notes, but they themselves observing, learning and studying all on their own. Now there were students who learnt how to learn.

Writer Dorothy L Sayers mentions something similar to this in his book 'Lost Tools of Learning': "Teachers are doing for their pupils the work which the pupils themselves ought to do. For the sole true end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain."

It is quite true, isn't it? Teachers are and never were meant to teach us, they were and are meant to facilitate us, help us learn (not make us learn); they are people who are supposed to guide us through the learning process. But even after all these years, they do nothing but spoon-feed us, just so that we score higher marks in board exams.

I talked to my classmate about this—about how competent and capable we all would become if each and every topic in our syllabus were discussed, presented and taught by the student themselves. What if our teachers would just sit on the last bench, listen to how we teach ourselves and provide guidelines in the end. To which she answered, "Not all students will be ready to teach others. Not all students are eager to make a presentation. Even if our college implements this students-based-learning system, there are going to be more than 60% students who are going to resist. Not all students want to learn to learn. Most of us want to learn to pass exams. Even if the Ministry of Education itself implements this system, I tell you, there will be a huge resistance."

I didn't really like the sound of what she said but I knew she was more than just right. The flaw lies not in our education system or our teachers, more often than not, most of us students demand to be spoon-fed. Self-studying feels like a burden to most of us. We love being taught but fail to explore, research, express, discuss, teach, and thereby fail to innovate. Somewhere down the lane we enjoy being spoon-fed so much that we stop nurturing our creativity and completely ignore the power of our imagination.

JK Rowling stated in her Harvard Commencement Speech, "Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation." The power to imagine, to imagine better is a quality unique to human beings and we are neglecting this amazing ability to innovate for the illusionary joys of being spoon-fed. And I personally think this is the main reason why no Nepali has ever invented stuffs like Google, Facebook, or Instagram.

I don't think writing this article will do much to change the education system of our country and I'm sure this will do nothing to inspire our Education Minister to generate the real value of education in schools and colleges by enforcing the policy of "No Spoon-feeding" and "Learn on your own." But I am hopeful that students reading this article will give a second thought to their theory of being educated. I have nothing more to emphasize than repeat that we, as students, learn to value the wonderful components of our education. Education doesn't just help us get a job and build prestige in society; it enlightens our soul and gives us wings to reach for our dreams.

So we got to ask ourselves this question: what is education for? Instead of studying, why not start learning?

Shraddha is an undergraduate student of Business Administration at Prime College in Nayabazaar, Kathmandu.