Charles Ungerleider, Professor Emeritus of Education, The University of British Columbia[permission granted to reproduce if authorship acknowledged]
I was troubled by a statement made by a student named Josh in
an article describing B.C.'s
new high school curriculum: Genocide and Indigenous studies, drones and
mechatronics, more projects, fewer exams. Josh, who hopes to study finance
at an Ontario university next year, said, “I feel there is a bigger focus on preparing students for the future, rather than just
knowledge.”
I presume that, in contrast to subject-specific knowledge,
Josh was referring to the emphasis on skills such as being self-motivated, having
a positive attitude, communicating clearly and respectfully, teamwork, problem
solving, critical thinking, etc. These are all useful skills to have now and
for the future, but they are no substitute for knowledge. Subject-specific
knowledge plays a part in many, if not all, of them.
Problem-solving and critical thinking are not independent of
subject-knowledge. The standards for thinking critically and solving problems
in health are different from the standards for making judgments in chemistry that,
in turn, are different from the standards in engineering. People need knowledge
in order to make judgments that often depend on critical distinctions between
concepts.
In all fields, knowing the difference between key concepts
is central to thinking clearly and solving problems, and communicating and
working with one’s colleagues. The key concepts are the common language that
practitioners in a field share and, without which, they cannot understand one
another.
If Josh pursues his studies in finance, he will learn soon
enough that there is a difference between depreciation and amortization. If he
pursues studies in the sciences, he’ll learn the difference between
vaporization and evaporation. If he switches to history, the disposition he
acquired to inquire will prove helpful, but he will also need to learn the
difference between a revolution and a coup d’état. The teamwork Josh learns
will be very useful if he pursues studies in music, but he will need to
distinguish between rhythm and tempo. His inter-personal communication and
sensitivity skills will prove indispensable in theatre studies, where he will
learn the difference between drama and melodrama.
BC’s new curriculum includes topics such as genocide and
fields such as Indigenous studies. If he pursues either or both, Josh will
learn the differences between genocide and fratricide, and between indigenous
and aboriginal.
Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission from 1985
to 1995 and the author of the UNESCO Report Learning:
The Treasure Within called attention to four categories of learning that
Delors felt were necessary in a society that strives toward democracy and
citizenship:
- Learning to know: by combining a sufficiently broad general knowledge with the opportunity to work in depth on a small number of subjects. This also means learning to learn, so as to benefit from the opportunities education provides throughout life.
- Learning to do: in order to acquire not only an occupational skill but also, more broadly, the competence to deal with many situations and work in teams. It also means learning to do in the context of young peoples’ various social and work experiences which may be informal, as a result of the local or national context, or formal, involving courses, alternating study and work.
- Learning to live together: by developing an understanding of other people and an appreciation of interdependence – carrying out joint projects and learning to manage conflicts – in a spirit of respect for the values of pluralism, mutual understanding and peace.
- Learning to be: so as better to develop one’s personality and be able to act with ever greater autonomy, judgement and personal responsibility. In that connection, education must not disregard any aspect of a person’s potential: memory, reasoning, aesthetic sense, physical capacities and communication skills (p.37).
Learning to do without learning to know, learning to live together and learning to be would make us one-dimensional and not very useful to ourselves or our society.
Reference
Delors J. et al. (1996). Learning: The treasure within. Report to UNESCO of the international commission on education for the twenty-first century. Paris: UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000109590
Delors J. et al. (1996). Learning: The treasure within. Report to UNESCO of the international commission on education for the twenty-first century. Paris: UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000109590