The Why

When George Orwell wrote 1984 in 1949, he was penning a warning of what may come to pass if we continued on the path he saw paved before us. Although some of the horror-filled predictions have not transpired, the impact of technology on formal language, and therefore education, has been startling and heartbreakingly accurate for this high school English teacher.

Truthfully, I am currently writing this on my iPhone. The access to technology has so many beautiful benefits. We are able to reach out past the bounds of our own small worlds to those in other realms. We devote time to finding and sharing new age tools for educators, but we also have to be cognizant of the negative effects so we can work on combating them.

I recently asked a group of high schoolers, ranging from sophomores to seniors, if they thought people today were significantly different than individuals 50 years ago. Although responses varied, the common thread was that they believed we are dumber today. Upon discussion and delving a bit deeper, we discovered they didn’t necessarily think people were dumber, but rather we are lazier. Knowledge is so easily accessed at our fingertips that we no longer see the value in working for it.

Of course, this is a generalization, but it is also unnervingly accurate in many situations. In 1984, the main character, Winston, once referred to his wife as a “human soundtrack,” alluding to her habit of only parroting back information she had already been given. Time and again my students ask what they’re supposed to write on a given assignment or question, as if I am supposed to tell them how to think. Nowadays, they can skip me altogether and ask Siri or Google. How do we place value on seeking out knowledge when the gadget in our hands offers so many answers?

In my opinion, it’s all about context. When concepts are in a vacuum, they are meaningless. Who cares if you can define a simile? I need you to identify it, cite it, and tell its purpose and impact on the piece as a whole. Our kids also need the why – it’s often not enough to say “because” anymore (if it ever was) when asked why we are focusing on a certain concept or learning about a specific topic. They desire, and deserve, to understand the purpose of that skill in their future life. Maybe it’s not that important if you can solve the age old “two trains leave from a destination and when will they arrive” word problem or memorize the dates of death for foreign dignitaries. Sure, as teachers, we love that stuff – but it’s all leading to the goal: producing critical thinking, problem solving, and empathetic adults. When we stop focusing on the damned tests and start focusing on how we can create those future people, the context clicks into place. At this point, when they understand the why, the purpose of it all, they desire to seek knowledge and connect it to their lives.

Education isn’t a perfect science. It’s about trying new stuff, failing horribly, and trying something else. It’s about saying you don’t have the answer, but you’re willing to work it out together. It’s about showing them you care about what they have to say and how they came to think a certain way. Cheers to the others slogging through those days when nothing works for those somewhat rare days when it all fits together like a marvelous puzzle. Keep your eye on the future you’re helping to create and that sweet iced coffee on a warm morning.