12 Apr Education is Not About Filling in the Blanks
A couple of weeks ago I shared about my family’s recent field trip to Oak Ridge, TN. The biggest highlight of our day was our time at the K-25 History Center, which you can read more about here.
As we entered the museum, an older woman named Carol enthusiastically welcomed us and shared that she “just loves homeschoolers! They’re so interested in everything and nice to talk to!” She helped us purchase our tickets and explained how to use our “security badges” to access the interactive exhibits. Ms. Carol also drew our attention to a basket on the entrance desk that held a tidy collection of small clipboards. “This is a scavenger hunt for the children,” she told us. “Each clue corresponds to a number on the displays, and there they can find the answers to write on the worksheets.” Then she leaned in toward us and lowered her voice. Scrunching her nose, she confided, “I don’t recommend them. I find that if the children use those, they’re so focused on filling in the blanks they miss most of the museum.”
Kind Ms. Carol wasn’t trying to state an inspired truth about education, but that’s what she did. Too often, we look at education as a series of facts for our children to memorize. We listen to whatever the current “experts” say a child should know at this age or that grade, and we stress over pushing our children to meet these arbitrary benchmarks. Once they’ve reached that goal, though, what have we accomplished? Do we have educated persons who engage intelligently with the world and ideas they encounter? Or do we have hoop-jumpers who have learned to regurgitate the information that has been shoved into them?
Created to Learn
Our children are not empty buckets waiting to be filled. They are tiny image-bearers of Almighty God, who created them with a hunger for knowledge and discovery. From the very beginning, they are watching and listening and making connections with the world and people around them. Learning is natural and lifegiving! Unfortunately, I’ve encountered many parents who admit that their children loved to learn until they were in school for a year, or two years, or five years. It is not aging that kills a child’s desire for knowledge and growth; it is the way we present them with information.
Consider this: Nearly all textbooks include emboldened words to remember and pre-highlighted facts to draw children’s attention. The usual quiz/test is formatted to see just how many specific bits of pre-selected details your children have memorized (at least temporarily). Where is the joy of discovery here? Where is the opportunity for the child himself to make connections with the material?
Homeschoolers Can Choose a Better Way
As homeschoolers, we are not bound to repeat the mistakes that have been made in public and private schools. We are free to offer our children a better education, one that allows them to build their own relationships with knowledge worth knowing.
None of our families reached for the museum scavenger hunt. Such an activity seemed like unnecessary work, and the field trip was a day for adventure! Every person walked away from the field trip with greater understanding of science, history, and human nature. We grappled with moral questions and discussed the wide array of information that interested each of us that day. We brought up new questions to which our discoveries had led us and we reminded each other of movies and books we know that draw connections to all we had learned that day. Not one of us worried about filling in any blanks, but every person left the museum full.