“Our task is to educate their (our students) whole being so they can face the future. We may not see the future, but they will and our job is to help them make something of it.”
― Ken Robinson
“Why does the government require a student who wants to become a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer, study subjects that are not related to their career aspirations?”
A member of a Board of Management (BoM) in a school in Kakamega County posed to a teacher in a school recently.
The question goes to the heart of the fundamental purpose of schooling and education. Children spend 20 years in basic education institutions, inclusive of the two years they spend in the pre-primary school system.
I liked the question, naïve as it seemingly sounded, for three reasons. Generally, some BoM members don’t take the technical leadership of the schools to task. Other members are keen on the performance of the school in terms of the national examinations and don’t bother much about how the sterling performance is attained.
National education systems aim to prepare children for the future. That future is unknown. It is also not static. It is ever-changing and fraught with complexities and difficulties.
To cope and manage that future requires knowledge, skill, fortitude, resilience and judgment. In other words, it requires intelligence and character; thinkers and men of spirit or courage.
It is therefore not enough for children to have technical abilities in this or that vocation or profession. It also requires that one needs to know how to think about situations. It doesn’t matter whether the situation is fraught with problems, challenges or crises with serious implications on human and animal life, and property.
What matters is the overall readiness of everyone involved in the situation, simple or complex, having the mental and moral capabilities to deal with the situation. This is the foundation that ultimately determines the prospect to solve the particular problem, challenge or crisis society and its institutions may be faced with.
An education that merely prepares its children to become this or that doesn’t effectively prepare them for the future.
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Policymakers design a broader curriculum as opposed to a narrow curriculum. A curriculum focuses on the specific academic subjects taught in schools, while a broader curriculum embraces a wider range of educational experiences, including extracurricular activities, character development, and social-emotional learning.
Children in primary and Junior School levels are far too young to be able to know exactly what their strengths or abilities and preferences will be as adults. Exposure to the broader curriculum at these levels helps them to discover their strengths and interests.
A narrow curriculum which makes learners choose subjects in the light of future career paths is dangerous for two reasons. In the first place they don’t know their innate strengths. They might choose subjects core to a vocation or a career in which they have no ability.
On the other hand, the children might be strong in subjects which are core to a preferred career but may change their minds when they discover that they have no interest in the careers connected with the core subjects.
Ability in a subject core to a career doesn’t necessarily mean that a child will have preference for the career five or so years hence.
There is an important concept developed by Steven Paul Rudolph, an American educator, author and public speaker called Multiple Natures (MNs) in a book, The 10 Laws of Learning.
Paul Rudolph, who is based in India, says MNs helps in understanding people’s natures and personality traits that result in particular behaviour dispositions. The traits and behaviour are related to learning and work.
The model seeks to explain why certain people are drawn more towards certain activities and careers.
A narrow curriculum in terms of limiting oneself to subjects’ core to a preferred career doesn’t mean that one has the psychological disposition for the career. It helps if a learner is exposed to a broader number of subjects and participates in outside classroom activities to enable him or her to better understand him or herself.
There are some students who possess abilities in a wider range of subjects. A broader curriculum helps the students to be exposed to and master a wide range of knowledge, skills and competencies. Having mastered the range of subjects, he or she can then choose a career path later knowing his preferences.
A broader curriculum properly taught at the lower levels of education acquaints children with the web of knowledge across disciplines or subjects. The possession of this web of knowledge across disciplines helps them to have the capacity to either approach problems from multiple perspectives or appreciate the different perspectives team members from other disciplinary backgrounds may bring to the table.
The top echelons of public and private institutions draw people from various disciplines, professions and careers. This level is less about technical ability and more about leadership and management ability.
Executives who were exposed to a broader curriculum are more broadminded and accommodating of innovative ideas than those who had a narrower curriculum.
Finally the aim of education is not merely to prepare children for employment, important as it might be. Rather, it should also enable children to live life to the fullest and to add to the quality and meaning of the experiences they might face—individually and in group—in their adult lives. It is this that helps them to make contributions in building the nation and the good society and institutions.
Life is not just about things that you can measure: earning a living and contributing to the turn over, important as it might be. It is also about creating value and meaning beyond the bottom-line.
The members of the BoM of the school in Kakamega might be more useful to the school, well guided than others who don’t see beyond marks and the grades of students in national examinations.
By Kennedy Buhere
The writer is a regular commentator on education matters.
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