Learning & Ignoring Societal Norms on Exams

Image source

I have just come to know of the term unschooling lately and have went on to do some reading. I came across this research article. A summary of it is that despite some of the benefits of unschooling, there are challenges as well. One of these challenges is societal norms.

Reading about it reminded me of a project that I was involved in some time ago. Marks in exams were going to be abolished, exams reduced and focus was going to be shifted to learning and not merely evaluating. The difference is that a teacher would focus on helping a child making sense of what is being taught instead of the many exams conducted a year.

The program was going to be a revolutionary change to the education system, a paradigm-shift from exams to learning. However, one thing stood in the way. Societal norms. Within a few months of the programs' inception, loud calls came for it to be abolished because students were no longer judged based on exam results. To them, this was... weird and thus, not good.

Reading up on unschooling reminded me of the same issues that plagued the project. Any new innovation introduced will be scrutinized and seen negatively just because it is not in line with society's norms. The problem is, learning may not be in line with what society considers as 'normal'.

The 'Normal' Life Path

Image source

There are many life paths that are considered as normal depending on where you're from. However, in my culture, the life path that is considered 'normal' consist of studying hard, going to a good university and getting a good job. A fairly standard life path. Such a path focuses on doing well in exams or some assessment that is used to gauge someone's learning ability.

However, there are some who will try to 'hack' this process either by cheating or focusing on the exams. This takes away the need to really learn as you can still do well just by memorizing. Sadly, this will produce a generation of students who are akin to drones. Skills such as problem solving and creativity may be completely killed off in a system like this. Instead, the focus is on a certificate that will help a child get to the next level, be it a good school or a good job.

This path however is detrimental to the child's development and in an economy where problem solving and creativity is priced above all, a certificate of excellence may become increasingly worthless in the future. Instead, students may be required to prove that they have the necessary skills instead of relying on a certificate to do that.

So Going Against The Norm is Good?

Image source

Before we start burning all the school books and stop going for exams, this depends on many factors. It could be that a school may provide your child with an environment to socialize. Some may even send a child to a school to learn a particular language. For others, it could make sense financially as schools may open up opportunities for scholarships.

Whichever the reason may be, I think like every single education and schooling systems, there are challenges. While I am new to the concept of unschooling, I have taught in government schools, tutored international students and worked in a homeschool centre before. My opinion on this is as such...

The two most important people in a child's development consist of the teacher and the parents. Both have different roles, but they both have to ignore what society deems as right in exams. A child's results is never representative of a child's learning. In fact, it is a very unreliable tool. However, a child's exam results has the biggest psychological effect. It affects the parents, the teacher and the child.

Image source

To paint a scenario, a child's bad exam results could spur a parent to strongly encourage the child to study harder. It may also cause a teacher to give more work to ensure the child masters the subject. IT could also cause the child to feel like a failure. All this creates an extremely stressful environment and switches the focus from learning to doing well. Thus, ignore the exam results. Instead, focus on the learning experience. Ignore the labelling and reassure the child that it is all a learning experience, not the end of the world.

I do the same with my students. Yes, my department will not be happy if my students don't do well. The focus is always on the results and never on their learning. However, I choose to work with the students instead. Tackling all their weaknesses and telling them that it is a journey. The content matters, but not as much as learning about solving problems and learning from failure.

Conclusion

The time where my child would enter school will come soon. It may be stressful, it may be difficult and I want to be the one that will reassure, encourage and help the child see learning as fun. Her results may not indicate so. However, I know that it is the journey, the process that matters.