Great post! I read and chuckle: For a month I've been sitting on a post called "50 Metaphorical Prompts About High School." I'm still going to post it soon, but you gave me pause.
Also, Metaphors to Live By is such a fantastic book!
Your breakdown of these metaphors really highlights how the language we use unconsciously shapes policy decisions. The school-as-business metaphor you mentioned has been particularly damaging because it's led to treating education like any other market commodity that can be optimized through competition. What's missing from most of these metaphors is any sense of school as a community space where relationships and belonging matter as much as academic outcomes.
Thanks! You are absolutely correct. When education is treated like a commodity, it devalues its inherent dynamism and community spirit. Belonging is more important than optimization.
I think the garden metaphor comes closest to being in community. I’ve read about the interdependence of forests. Maybe there is a metaphor there.
I love that DFW speech, and am always quoting it. It helps me conceptualize so much. Thank you for this musing-- I particularly appreciated the part about the importance of the metaphors we use, how they shape our perspectives more than we realize.
Thanks for an interesting read! I've come to wonder if part of the challenge is that school no longer represents the only way to access knowledge. While most students certainly don't manage to use the internet to become autodidacts, they know they could in theory and thus any statement that implies school is required for learning rings false. At its best, school offers supports for learning that make it more connected and human and joyful. But I don't think we talk enough about how it can fail at that not through the fault of the teachers or students but because while humans naturally learn in community, we don't naturally learn in synchrony. School is cheaper if one adult can teach 25 kids long division at the same time. But with this comes a distracting mixed message: we're all unique individuals learning at our own pace who should all simultaneously meet educational standards for kids who turned 5 by the same September we did. That's a tough environment in which to facilitate or experience the joys of learning!
These are excellent points. One of the unintended consequences of technology in the classroom (first Chromebooks, now AI), is that we misled students to believe that they would be smarter while using the technology. Instead of becoming autodidacts, they offloaded all of their thinking to the technology, and this eroded their trust in public education as a system. I remember really believing that technology would help me address more of my students' individual needs. All it did was strain our teacher-student connection and dehumanize many aspects of my classroom. I've been trying to make amends ever since.
Wishing you the courage of your convictions! To teach tomorrow or this week or this month like the students depend on you to change the awareness with which they experience the world
Written by someone in love with learning. Yes, learning is life itself, as natural as breathing. But too many of us, lacking exercise, have become shallow breathers.
What a thoughtful piece. It would be interesting to hear the kids thoughts on what school is for and what it means to them. I imagine most students think it's something 'they have to do' but I don't know if that is necessarily a bad thing?
Yes! Also, absolutely agree. I think most just put up with it and you’re right, a chunk feel and actually, know they don’t have to engage with any of it.
Great post! I read and chuckle: For a month I've been sitting on a post called "50 Metaphorical Prompts About High School." I'm still going to post it soon, but you gave me pause.
Also, Metaphors to Live By is such a fantastic book!
Thanks! I’d love to read your metaphorical prompts about high school.
Your breakdown of these metaphors really highlights how the language we use unconsciously shapes policy decisions. The school-as-business metaphor you mentioned has been particularly damaging because it's led to treating education like any other market commodity that can be optimized through competition. What's missing from most of these metaphors is any sense of school as a community space where relationships and belonging matter as much as academic outcomes.
Thanks! You are absolutely correct. When education is treated like a commodity, it devalues its inherent dynamism and community spirit. Belonging is more important than optimization.
I think the garden metaphor comes closest to being in community. I’ve read about the interdependence of forests. Maybe there is a metaphor there.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28256439
I love that DFW speech, and am always quoting it. It helps me conceptualize so much. Thank you for this musing-- I particularly appreciated the part about the importance of the metaphors we use, how they shape our perspectives more than we realize.
Thanks for commenting! I find that I keep returning to DFW this school year. I don’t know what that means, but he is comforting.
Thanks for an interesting read! I've come to wonder if part of the challenge is that school no longer represents the only way to access knowledge. While most students certainly don't manage to use the internet to become autodidacts, they know they could in theory and thus any statement that implies school is required for learning rings false. At its best, school offers supports for learning that make it more connected and human and joyful. But I don't think we talk enough about how it can fail at that not through the fault of the teachers or students but because while humans naturally learn in community, we don't naturally learn in synchrony. School is cheaper if one adult can teach 25 kids long division at the same time. But with this comes a distracting mixed message: we're all unique individuals learning at our own pace who should all simultaneously meet educational standards for kids who turned 5 by the same September we did. That's a tough environment in which to facilitate or experience the joys of learning!
These are excellent points. One of the unintended consequences of technology in the classroom (first Chromebooks, now AI), is that we misled students to believe that they would be smarter while using the technology. Instead of becoming autodidacts, they offloaded all of their thinking to the technology, and this eroded their trust in public education as a system. I remember really believing that technology would help me address more of my students' individual needs. All it did was strain our teacher-student connection and dehumanize many aspects of my classroom. I've been trying to make amends ever since.
Thanks, Adrian. Lots to chew on here. The pandemic changed everything, I think, by exposing all the problems that were already there.
Wishing you the courage of your convictions! To teach tomorrow or this week or this month like the students depend on you to change the awareness with which they experience the world
Written by someone in love with learning. Yes, learning is life itself, as natural as breathing. But too many of us, lacking exercise, have become shallow breathers.
Thank you! I guess the good news is that it’s never too late to get back in shape.
What a thoughtful piece. It would be interesting to hear the kids thoughts on what school is for and what it means to them. I imagine most students think it's something 'they have to do' but I don't know if that is necessarily a bad thing?
I actually worry that many students think school is something they don’t have to do.
Yes! Also, absolutely agree. I think most just put up with it and you’re right, a chunk feel and actually, know they don’t have to engage with any of it.