Simple ideas: Education’s only purpose and one true test

Is the only true purpose of education to help children stay learners for life? To learn how to learn?

I was going to use the word “become” instead of “stay” but we all know that children arrive at school as avid, eager questioners and learners eager for the information and autonomy that comes with knowledge and skills.

And  the true test of any class, (or course, unit of study, school) is that learners leave wanting to know (and do and create) more and continue learning.

How do we hold ourselves accountable to that?

What else?

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.

Alvin Toffler.

Josie Holford

Recent Posts

The Affair of the Chocolate Teapot

Midge Hazelbrow, the indomitable co-head of Wayward St. Etheldreda's Academy, took herself for a brisk…

1 month ago

Best Practices, Reading Wars, and Eruption at Wayward

Before the eruption, it was a typical senior leadership meeting at Wayward. Head of School,…

2 months ago

Words Matter

When I taught fourth and fifth grade at a school that didn't assign grades, the…

2 months ago

The Culinary Capers and Comic Catastrophes of Gerald Samper

It was the Gert Loveday review of Rancid Pansies (it’s an anagram) that set me…

2 months ago

Working and Not Working

A post on LinkedIn caught my attention this week.  It's had over 11,000 views so…

2 months ago

Gall, Nerve, Courage, and The Party of Women

 Women's rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen of Let Women Speak had a big announcement last week.…

3 months ago