A few days ago, I was bemoaning the existence of exams, (Glad to see I am not alone in my dislike of exams by the way.) when Adrienne, bless her heart, said something like:
Reality is not all fun and games.
The conversation continued with a bit more detail–about the need for balance of assessments, the value in creating timed conditions for students to illustrate learning as a way to deal with future anxiety and stress, so on and so on. It was a great chat as usual, but I won’t say much more about it here, in case I misquote what was said. The gist of it, at least for me, the part that stuck in my head, was the quote from above: Reality is not all #funandgames.
My first reaction, the one that sprung from my gut was, “Sure it is.” Or “It should be!” or “You wouldn’t say that to a six year old.” At which point, I remembered that I have a six year old at home, and I often catch myself saying things like Reality is not all #funandgames to her all the time! Reality check. Damn!
It is okay to make a huge mess, but we have to cleanup afterward.
Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do, so we can do the things we want later.
There is time for play, but there is also time to pay attention and work hard.
You get the point. I get the point of balance and hard work. I have swallowed the bitter pill of reality my fair share of times. I have sat through meetings. I have wallowed in bureaucracy. I have given exams; I have taken exams. I get it–life can suck, but we learn from it. We just have to do it.
We all know that as mature, competent, “successful” adults we need to balance our fun and work. We know, usually, when to suck it up and just do it, so we can kick back and enjoy other things. We have learned, through years of schooling and work and university and exams and tax papers and bank accounts and DMV lines that reality is not all fun and games. We have learned to navigate this reality, and for better or worse we function in it. We thrive in it even. But why do we compare learning with reality? With work? With chores? Why does learning become another chore we must slog through to get to the good stuff? Why can’t it be the good stuff? What if we created schools that exuded the idea that Learning is all fun and games and kept reality out of it all together? I know, I know balance, quantifiable results, assessments of learning, test scores, GPAs, university, back to reality!
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by rolfekolbe
I guess what I am grappling with is–How successful are we as schools, teachers, and parents at instilling this balance in the people with which we interact? We can all litter our walls with Learner Profile posters and scream till our voices are hoarse about balance, but do we practice what we preach? For me, school has always been a place where Reality is not all #funandgames, and I have always wanted it to be Learning is all #funandgames. I hope I have been clear that I understand the value of both, but I think schools spend more time preparing students for a reality of exams and bureaucracy and work and taxes and things we dread, than inspiring in them a love of life and learning and creativity and art and fun. Not all schools, obviously. And yes, of course schools are doing amazing things like service learning, outdoor ed, drama, art and music programs, sports and many other things, but for some reason in the end, it all comes down to grades, achievement, scores, exams- preparation for Reality. We use words like rigor and excellence and college entrance to convince ourselves and our students that they need this, but do they really?
Can’t we teach students the value of hard work and learning and education free from the grip of academic reality? Can’t we focus on learning and fun and games and leave reality on hold for awhile, because let’s admit it, they will be dealing with it soon enough and for long enough. I think children who are confident, passionate and creative do not need exams to show understanding; they usually succeed anyway. But too often, we use academic rigor as the most important criteria for learning and success, and this leaves many children behind. I know, because I was one of them. I never took the game of school seriously. Yes, I took the exams, I played my part. Some I passed, some I failed. In the end I got a 3. something from some Ivy League school, but that was reality and it was not fun for sure. I played the game to get the degree, and now have over $30,000 of debt to show for it. The learning, the who I am, has always been from from doing. It was all fun and it still is.
How long before we can look back on this system of preparatory education and create institutions where students are not preparing for a reality they find boring and riddled with anxiety? A place where they are not taking exams, but traveling, building, creating, living. Where in short they are having fun and playing games, but at the same time working hard and learning? I want a new concept of school. I think this new school needs more fun and games and less exams.
How do you find this balance in your classroom, in your school? Am I wrong in devaluing academic rigor and examinations? Why do you find it valuable? Curious to hear your thoughts on any of my ramblings. Sorry it took me a while to find my point. Good thing this wasn’t some English exam, I would most likely have scored low for not having a clear thesis and topic sentences.
People say I’m lazy
Dreaming my life away
Well, they give me all kinds of advice
Designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I’m doing fine
Watching shadows on the wall
Don’t you miss the big time, boy?
You’re no longer on the ball
I’m just sitting here
Watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll…
John Lennon
Jabiz, liked this post a lot. I understand what you’re saying and what you wish was the reality in schools. Luckily for me, I don’t have such a hard time with the reality of learning all through fun and games. Teaching in Kindergarten means that is genuinely how those young learners learn best and what we strive to achieve in our teaching and learning. However, I think there is a balance to be learnt. Throughout childhood, through teenage years and into adult life. We never stop learning, yes you’re right … but we need things to learn from and I don’t agree with the sentiment ‘Can’t we focus on learning and fun and games and leave reality on hold for awhile, because let’s admit it, they will be dealing with it soon enough and for long enough’ – How will they learn about dealing with stressful or difficult situations? They have to learn to manage anxiety, stress and a workload. They need to experience these emotions to learn how to deal with them and ultimately manage them and attain self control. Even in Kindergarten we have boundaries and lots of work on emotional skills as the attitude of there are ‘consequences to your actions’ – We help them explore their feelings and how to manage situations such as ‘feeling angry when X took my toy’ instead of just hitting the other child. We simply couldn’t arrive at 18 without having exams or stress to me. Yes, exams aren’t for everybody but even so, they teach you about goals, self study, tenacity and time management. All skills you later continue to develop in the workplace, which is ultimately what most adults do at some point after graduating from high school … living in a stressful society and managing relationships with a myriad of new people. I just don’t think it works not to expose them to this, they see it every day in their lives, and as they grow through their teens, the real world is very much alive for them. It’s a reality they’re already dealing with. I think it’s one of the most important things we, as teachers, have to help our students learn – to manage or resolve situations, deal with their changing emotions and bodies, – and I think most often, these difficult situations (such as exams and stress) teach us the most about life. School is about learning skills for life.
Then you have the question of traditionalism within Education. There is a limit I think to the potential futures of schools. You can’t take away exams easily in a society which values achievement and papers to prove it… You can’t just get rid of them. If your school did, and other schools didn’t, how would you manage to support your students in their application for universities? Without grades, university staff would have to judge them alone on a statement or interview … with a huge amount of other candidates with grades and statistical information to support their application… Even if you’re thinking on a larger scale, I just don’t think you could get everybody on board. Teachers are all different and have different ideas about education, developed since their first experiences in education themselves. Exams do play an important part of life but as you say, learning should be fun and engaging. We should always strive to make learning fun, relevant and active to our students. But I don’t think we can take away exams. It’s pointless. All of the learning that goes on throughout a teenager’s life prepares them for adult life. And unfortunately that means stress, workloads and ‘reality’. We must prepare them for that. You can’t change a system, all we can strive for is our own improvement and hope for others. We need to help our students be successful in life, not just school. That’s our goal right?!
Thanks for this well thought out and articulate comment. I am not sure I was able write anything resembling a point in my post, but I will try and do it here. You said, “How will they learn about dealing with stressful or difficult situations? They have to learn to manage anxiety, stress and a workload. They need to experience these emotions to learn how to deal with them and ultimately manage them and attain self control.”
They will learn to deal with stressful situations by living through them. Through life experience. I cannot think of any time in my life when I had to manage anxiety and stress, when I thought man! I am glad I took exams in High School to prepare me for this. It was my time in Africa, my roaring twenties, hitch-hiking, making rent, break ups, and all those things that we actually experience and learn from.
We can pretend that academic achievement and rigor prepare us for “life”, but I would argue that they really prepare us for more academic achievement and rigor. Exams and school prepare us for more school. Life prepares us for life.
I am looking for a school that enables kids to make real life choices and allows them to make mistakes and grow and learn with the support of mentors and teachers. Forget an English exam, spend the year writing a novel, a play, a collection of poems. I know this is a radical idea, but so often I find people moaning about traditional school, and then shrug their shoulders and continue to do things the same way. I hope to find a school that puts it’s money where it’s mouth is.
As for Universities, I agree they need to change as well, but that is for another post.
I’m loving this Jabiz, you’ve made me think tonight 😀 I hope other people share their thoughts too with us.
I think rather than ‘never thinking man, I’m glad I did my high school exams’ to prepare you for something, you just may have never recognised how those experiences helped you formulate your future plans and maturity in adulthood.
I totally agree with the idea that a school should ‘enable kids to make real life choices and allows them to make mistakes and grow and learn with the support of mentors and teachers’. I still agree with the argument that exams help us in this respect because because in order to do any of the ‘time in Africa, my roaring twenties, hitch-hiking, making rent, break ups’ you had to finish school and learn to manage your thoughts, emotions and decisions in order to finance yourself by working to do any of this. Work is often stressful and with a difficult workload. How could we send children into the real world without giving them some concrete examples and experiences like exams in their school life? How did we prepare ourselves as adults for such things such as deadlines at work?
You say yourself they are dealing with the real world all the time. So why hide the difficult path from them- the transition from school to work?
I’m not arguing that we should ‘compare learning with reality? With work? With chores?’ or that students may feel that ‘learning become another chore we must slog through to get to the good stuff? ‘ Learning is about growing. As a person. You grew from your experiences. They prepared you for your future life. We will have new experiences in our futures that may change our perspectives or life. Part of that experience is taking exams. When you think about it, as an adult you often takes exams or tests. How could we be tested on our driving skills without an exam? Without any documentation or proof of ability and skills. Interviews for a job are exams, just verbally. … whether you write a novel or not, you need to provide for yourself by working.
I don’t think I’ve ever compared, in my thoughts, learning to chores. I totally agree with the idea that schools need to let students make mistakes and learn through inquiry – I believe assessments like the PYP exhibitions I’ve seen are amazing. Totally 100% better than an exam. I don’t agree with necessarily how exams are valued or held in society by people – but at the end of the day – they are reality and you take tests, exams and interviews throughout your life in different circumstances and perhaps without realising in hindsight the preparation every experience you had gave you in dealing with it. I don’t agree with assessing a child only based on an exam but I think, at the end of your schooling, you should have some concrete proof of your success. Whether it’s good or not. Life is full of paperwork.
Would your experiences in life have been the same without taking your high school exams? Would you have strived to travel to Africa if you hadn’t disliked them and school and wanted to see the bigger world when you got out of there? Did you not yourself use your exam results to get into the university you did your degree from and from which you’ve been able to enter your profession, your own work? Have you taken any exams as an adult? If you have, question your own reasons as to why.
You say you didn’t like exams at school so it’s possible and probably your viewpoint has been coloured by your past experiences. As has mine. I loved exams and I liked the challenge of achieving. And I think there’s a lot of kids who like that measurable feeling of success too. I know it’s hard to believe, but I think many kids would miss not succeeding in such ways as exam results or tests. From our first days in school, we strived to achieve, a sticker, points for a house team, a good grade, a good result on our spelling test, a good report assessing us. Take it away and I sense a loss of knowing and understanding of the tasks set before them in any learning.
Explain further Jabiz as to how you would measure success with exams and how you see students getting jobs or into university without tangible and graded result from a likely 12 or 14 years of schooling? Explain more about how you see it so I can try to see your perspective more clearly? I agree with your sentiments for sure.
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