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| "The Imaginative Faculty" (1948) by Rene Magritte |
If "curiosity, imagination, and worldliness" are qualities that only humans can possess, should they be the primary focus of our schools?
Have you had educational experiences that have encouraged the development of these qualities?
What might be the dangers or challenges to an educational system that focuses solely on these qualities?
Curiosity, imagination, and worldliness should be a very crucial part in school. Curiosity is stemmed from the unknown and the mystery of others around us. Humans should crave to pick the minds of others and grasp the ideas others bring to the table. Imagination helps generate some of the most influential and essential aspects of our lives. Imagination and creativity are the essence of the individual traits of each human being which set us apart. It helps us focus on who we are and how we want the world to perceive us. Worldliness helps us perceive others and connect emotionally to each other. Emotional bonds are something no computer or automated system can ever recreate, thus it is crucial that we should teach this in schools so we as humans can reflect and connect to one another.
ReplyDeleteThis brings to mind a teaching style called “unschooling.” I was homeschooled most of my life and unschooled for a very short part of it. Unschooling generally means a child is given any learning tool they desire and are free to explore solely what interest them without a set curriculum. One hope is that the child will develop the above qualities. While it did not work well for me and my siblings, we had been conditioned to dislike school and just goofed off most of the day, it can work for others. These qualities are extremely important for people and should be a big part of the education system. It breaks my heart when I hear people say they hate school, or even a specific subject. Learning is an essential part of life. I believe everyone, at some point in their life, wants to learn. The problem with unschooling or an education system that focuses on these qualities is kids who don’t, or just don’t want to, learn necessary skills like math and reading. I think this problem could be fixed if kids were allowed to learn at their own pace and given encouragement and help to learn the necessary skills.
ReplyDeleteLife is all about balance. Alfred North Whitehead wisely stated that, “Fools act on imagination without knowledge, pedants act on knowledge without imagination.” An educational system that focuses solely on either teaching practical knowledge or on sparking curiosity and imagination fails its students because life and progress require a mixture of the two. Currently, our school systems do not focus enough on curiosity, imagination, and worldliness. In my experience, they actually focus too much on the opposite: hard facts, skills, and, most importantly, test results. Many public schools (those in Oklahoma, for example) are evaluated based on how well their students do on standardized tests, which gives teachers an incentive not to encourage curiosity, imagination, and worldliness but instead to teach the students to pass exams. One of the dangers of switching to a system of entirely curiosity based learning (besides the aforementioned need of balance) is the loss of accountability for instruction. Going forward, our society needs to look for ways to teach knowledge while encouraging imagination without the loss of responsibility from our teachers and schools.
ReplyDeleteI agree that schools should aim for a balance of both knowledge and things like imagination. Schools should'nt focus too much on one category of knowledge but try to have a well-rounded program that prepares students for life outside of school. School systems are too worried about test scores instead of creating students that can be successful in the real world.
DeleteI was incredibly fortunate to have an educational experience that was equal parts knowledge and curiosity, due primarily to a teacher who was adept at testing the boundaries of classroom policy. She made certain we were equipped to pass mandated tests, but beyond that she encouraged us to think beyond what we were presented with. What astonished me was that some students actually vilified this teacher. I believe this was because of the negative connotation that thinking outside the box comes with in this age of standardization.
DeleteI agree that a balance needs to be found in our school systems to teach curiosity, creativity, and knowledge at the same time. It is something we have lost because of, like Carly said, the way we have to focus so much on hard facts and skills to pass exams. It is difficult to balance what needs to be done, but somehow I believe there is a way. Maybe some schools are already practicing it, but if that is the case then we all need to take a lesson from them and follow the example because curiosity, imagination, and wordliness are qualities we can't afford to lose.
DeleteKamryn Akers
In America we have gotten very far away from encouraging “curiosity, imagination, and worldliness.” Luckily though there are a few classes that still focus on those human qualities, for example: drama, art, band, comparative religion, etc. I was granted the ability to take many of these classes throughout high school. Each class encouraged “curiosity, imagination, and worldliness.”
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love the arts, I do not believe they should be our primary focus in school. It’s wonderful to dream and imagine new things, but if we do not take the math and science classes we will not have the ability to create our dreams. Take an architect for example, if they did not take classes on math and mechanics they would never be able to create their designs.
A perfect example of what the world would be like if we focused on only the arts or only on working is The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. In the world that the Time Traveler goes to humanity has been split into two different classes, the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi have only focused on “curiosity, imagination, and worldliness,” they do no work and lack all discipline. The Morlocks live underground and are what keep the world above going. They focus on education and working, they do not have time for leisure or fun. Our Society cannot just focus on one of these characteristics, we need both education and curiosity, or our world will fall apart.
Even though curiosity, imagination, and worldliness are all important qualities for students to have, they should not be the only ones focused on. From my experience, though, students tend to respond to learning the same way their teacher approaches teaching. If a teacher has a passion for teaching, their students will catch on and feel the same about the material being taught. Without discipline, responsibility, and individuality, we would be setting students up to fail. In lieu of one extreme to another, schools should focus on installing a fair balance of both sides of the spectrum in kids.
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