The True Cost of Quantifying Learning Instead of Monitoring Growth

We should monitor learning progression instead of quantifying learning. When we made a decision about quantifying children’s learning in schools instead of monitoring their growth, we decided that the number was more important than the actual quality of learning experienced.

The School institution became a game where those who can succeed on tests will do extremely well and those who cannot fail. But how reflective is school success to real-life success and what is the cost of quantifying learning?

Prioritizing Numbers over Learning

When we made decisions about prioritizing numbers instead of learning in schools we forgot that the purpose of school is to learn. The school system is important to help children become productive members of society.

However, the school of the 21st century does not take into account all the new skills needed to strive in today’s world. It is fair to say that the outdated system is no longer providing the learning required for success in today’s world.

“In order for children to be adequately prepared for the real world they must master different skills than their ancestors”

There is no need to memorize information with the invention of smartphones. Nonetheless, standardized exams requiring memorization are the main focus of school success. Writing tests can be difficult for children with anxiety.

The School System Does not Encourage the Development of Life Skills

We can easily predict that the following skills are needed; problem-solving, resiliency, teamwork, communication, self-understanding and autonomy. How is the current school system ensuring that our children have these skills?

After 12 years of teaching, its become obvious that the school system does not support these attributes. It fosters quite the opposite. The basis for school focuses on quantifying learning so that we can compare as opposed to fostering skills that are qualitative and reflective in nature.

School is for learning no one will negate that but for learning what exactly?

The Problem with the way we do Evaluations

Evaluations are there to judge memorization skills instead of supporting growth in learning.

School has always been a vehicule for helping others grow. The subject taught never attered because it was simply a vehicle to use to teach kids skills, have fun and connect.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that teachers who prioritized their students’ mental health and learning process are swimming against the current. Most teachers became teachers because they love people not necessarily because they love to teach.

Every year there is more emphasis on standardized testing. There is a need for society to compare students and quantify the amount of learning happening. But there is a cost to this. That cost is that so much time is spent memorizing and test taking that there is less time for skill building and connection.

In addition, the tests provided to students are often biased and cannot fairly evaluate their learning.

The Blank Test

In the past few years, it has been a struggle to create meaningful evaluations. Evaluations that could showcase some of the skills learned instead of the content taught. Kids actually could demonstrate more learning when they were evaluated without a test.

One day students were given a blank piece of paper and asked to demonstrate the learning that had occurred over the past 6 weeks. They could draw diagrams, make lists, write essays, or do anything else they could think of to help show their understanding.

Although students wrote very different reflections, and their ability to retain and explain the information varied greatly, everyone was able to produce a pass-worthy answer. Why? Because they were not burdened by the teacher’s bias about the content on the test. Some students included detailed accounts of facts that normally would not appear on the test. Things that normally would not have been on the test.

It is impossible to put everything on a test. This means that evaluations don’t evaluate all retained facts. In addition, with the use of technology these days what is the point of having them memorize facts that are just a click away?

The Purpose of Evaluations is to Compare

On a basis, we created an institution for our children to go to and spend time. The learning happening in schools is nothing compared to what it could be. Student engagement would be much higher with more flexibility. Let me be a bit more specific. Evaluations helped expose what needed improvement. It was clear that the whole point of school was to GROW.

Quantifying learning is born

Eventually, we refined these qualitative observations into quantitative observations to help us better compare the “overall” progress of a child. Or to help us compare them to each other. We gave numbers; said they were better or worse than the average. We use these numbers to predict their future success and a direct reflection of how hard they work at school.

The Problem with the One Size Fits All Approach

Now we have a one size fits all way of thinking. Imagine how ridiculous it would be If I gave you a pair of pants and said, “we took the average size of all the 40-year-olds in the world and we made this pair of pants for you to wear. This pair of pants will fit everyone! Every 40-year-old must wear it.” How many people would these pants fit? For how many people would the pants truly be useful? Most would be outraged and with good reason.

Yet, here we are. Jamming all our children into these “age-based average boxes” for learning. The pair of pants is exactly like the education model. It is a great idea in theory but it doesn’t actually suit the needs of anyone properly.

Modern education is failing our kids and it is hurting our society. It is making schooling our kids an impossible task for our teachers and parents alike. Our kids spend all this time at school and get so little out of it. What is the point of it all. We need to do better by them.

Change the Environment, Not the Students

In an environment where more and more kids are not succeeding at school due to learning difficulties, autism, ADHD, and mental health issues we need to face the facts. Schools were not designed to foster a growth mindset. A flower requiring sunshine will never bloom in the shade. The environment is wrong.

Parents are raising their kids to think for themselves. Meanwhile, our schools are trying to assimilate them to be all the same obedient standard students.

Teachers need to teach each student as an individual with separate needs and abilities. Meanwhile, it is also necessary to prepare them for standardized exams. This same exam that is based on their age level and not their actual understanding or ability.

Motivation is at an all time low for teachers and students. We need to teach kids as individuals with their own developmental path. The hybrid model is hurting everyone. The rest of the class slows down the high achievers. The low achievers never have the time they actually require to master information. The middle kids can do ok but they never have the support they need to actually get better. The students can feel it and so do the teachers.

Proving How Much They Know

So what can we do? We need to stop quantifying our kids learning at the expense of their growth. Imagine the quality of learning that would happen if kids didn’t have to perform at school to “prove” how much they know.

What might happen if kids had more autonomy to make choices, make mistakes, and reflect in schools? It is also necessary to question the trade-off between evaluations and time spent learning. Imagine applying and practicing skills at school instead of on standardized exams

It may be shocking what the future generations can do if we focused on the quality of the learning process over the quantification of their knowledge.