Fun Schooling

Humans are social beings. We are made to interact with each other in order to survive. For humans to survive they have to learn things to help them through the journey of life. We are complex beings and therefore cannot be placed in boxes. Why should the standard education limit these natural abilities?

 

Schools have a set of subjects that is being taught to children. In South Africa this includes Math, Languages, Business Economics, Life Orientation, Sciences. We have a curriculum set out that indicates exactly what learners ought to learn and how they should learn it. It is true that these subjects are important to learn, but what really troubles me is the content of the subject, that is not really relevant to apply it to real life circumstances.

 

Most children would agree that they do not enjoy school. What possible explanation can be given to children being unhappy in a place where they need to go everyday of their lives for 12years. School is supposed to make you independent right? Then why is education limiting the ability of learners to be independent, to think on their own and be creative? Learners are being boxed, taught to think alike.   As Hamilton states; teachers and students are confined in their roles which are only to deposit knowledge (teachers) and receiving knowledge (students). This notion needs to be addressed and drastically changed. Learners should become active in their own learning. In order for education to become enjoyable, learners should be able to choose what they want to learn. Instead of teachers simply giving information, their prime role would be to facilitate this way of learning. When learners are involved in their own learning they feel a sense of agency. They feel like they actually learn and remember and not just learning useless information that they’ll anyway forget right after the test.

 

One way in which learners can be active participants in their own learning is through self-directed distance learning.  Learners agree on concepts they want to learn. They go and do research on this particular topic and then reconvene and discuss what they’ve found. They ask critical questions to their peers and through this they’re gaining knowledge. They do not necessarily have to be from the same school. They can make an online chat room. There are no limitations to their exploration. As Hamilton argues, knowledge is happening and cannot be defined in categories.  While children are playfully experiencing with stuff, discovery takes place and this evokes curiosity to deepen knowledge on a specific subject, inevitably teaching learners, future citizens, to think and be independent.