Learning was always confusing from Pavlov to Vygotsky to Hattie. Theories have stated that learning happens in multiple ways, however, what if we are looking learning through the wrong lens?
An age old custom in the Telugu speaking states, of India, which tests the choice of the new born during their 'Annaprasanam' reminds me the choice that we never give our learners. The parents allow the child, during the event, to crawl and pick the items of their choice which ranges from money to gold to books to tools etc., Where are these choices as we move to the real school. I as a teacher mandate students to learn basic Math, Science or EVS and English as fundamentals. What if a student is not interested in all this? What options does the school provide? A teacher asks a lot of questions. Well! I am a teacher, that can be the reason for my asking these questions too. However, I felt like I really need to ponder on these questions.
Schooling and learning now looks like contradictory terms to me. Opposite ends of the same rod. We are indeed still in the process of making photocopies be it through Behaviourism or Constructivism or Visible learning. We are not providing scope for individual-independent growth since 'every learner is unique'. An open environment to suffice their needs, grow to pick their passion is rarely observed in today's buildings. The learning, we speak about for the future, requires much open environment rather than closed blocks of buildings. If, as a student, I love farming, I should be trained on the nitty gritty of farming. The scope for developing such proficiency in the selected area of study is difficult in the current learning system. Experts talk about education as a system rather than a self defining proficiency building process. Education should become a process rather than a system. Systems are susceptible to testing. Process is more evolving and dynamic which accepts and adapts changes.
To build such process oriented dynamics the outlook of education as standards needs to be changed. Competition should be avoided at all costs. Competition leads to all the negative traits which make us inhuman. Industrialisation, has improved economical condition along with less empathetic society. We look forward to build a more collaborating and self sustaining society as one of the important goals in UNDP 2030. However, possibility of attaining such a status is only when everyone is a winner. We cannot 'teach a fish to climb a tree' but we are still applying learning theories to reach standardisation. Ironic as it is, we are molding all the interesting theories to the current system without changing the process.
Learning should be foundational to move ahead with a life a peace. Mentoring should be the process to take the learner to the stride of learning and improving his interest. Imagine, when a learner loves design is trained under a designer while a learner who loves cooking is trained under a chef. Unnecessary competition avoided in the Grade 10-12. Less stress as there is no compulsion to perform in algebra, trigonometry or in Waves and Periodic table. Learning becomes more fun as they live their dream from the very early age. Proficiency based on the performance displayed among the 'fishes in the same water'. Life becomes more exploratory and experiential with lot of natural intrinsic motivation. Are we ready for such a change in the learning process? Can we find new vistas of learning from the learning institutions? Dreams become reality when one become many in this belief.
