Rethinking education system

 Debbie Jacob -
Debbie Jacob -

WHEN A covid19 vaccination finally arrives and we forge a new normal, what lessons will we have learned from facing this pandemic? Without a doubt, the main lesson has been the need to rethink our entire education system. While we have been busy covering syllabuses, we have sacrificed the essence of education.

Education is not about how much information students can cram or how well they can take a test. True education prepares students to be happy, productive, independent, critical thinkers with values that shape individuals and society. Covid19 has certainly taught us the need for self-discipline.

Look around and see people who have no concept of social distancing. They refuse to wear masks or, at best, wear their masks under their chins. This is a stark lesson in the need to teach empathy, sympathy, self-sacrifice and self-discipline.

If people still can’t understand these simple measures save lives, and that we all have a responsibility to protect the elderly and vulnerable in society, then we have failed to teach these important values in school.

The literature that we teach in school and the expectations for students’ behaviour in the school environment can help to teach the values students need to face a post-pandemic world. All the science we have taught from textbooks didn’t get us far. Look how many people still doubt the science behind wearing masks. Look how many people still insist covid19 is a hoax.

I have been reading David Quammen’s books for years about spillover diseases so I knew a pandemic of this nature was coming. Why aren’t our children reading these books in their science classes?

When I was a librarian, our biology teacher Maeve O’Donovan required students to choose a book from the school library to read for their biology class. One of the students’ favourite books was Quammen’s The Chimp and the River: How AIDS Emerged from an African River. Taken from Quammen’s larger book Spillover, The Chimp… shows how scientists tracked AIDS to ground zero. The book reads as good as any fiction book.

Never before have we had such an invaluable lesson on the need for reading. When students’ social lives came to a screeching halt and they were deprived of sports, those who were into reading fared better because they knew how reading serves as both entertainment and an escape. There are no travel restrictions when you’re reading a book.

Coping with this pandemic has also shown us the need to incorporate library classes into our schools. Librarians encourage reading, but they also teach research skills. Students who receive a foundation in good research skills know how to separate fact from opinion. They understand how to sift through fake news. This prepares them for adult decisions like voting.

Too many libraries are used for nothing more than study areas. The library needs to be the learning hub of every school with librarians visiting classes to give book talks and integrate research skills for individual subjects.

This pandemic has exposed the flaws in education systems that depend on programmes rather than individual creativity. We have been treating students as square pegs we try to fit in round holes. We still care too much about what information students know rather than how well they can analyse and apply that information.

If schools encouraged students to pursue their individual interests more, students would be happier and more engaged in their own learning. They would learn that they don’t need to be entertained by technology or other students all the time. Who knows what creativity could emerge when schools encourage students to use self-reflection and explore their interests?

Avi Schiffmann, a student in Seattle, designed a covid19 tracker in the early stages of the pandemic. He took his interest in computers to develop one of the first tracking sites of this disease.

Much has been said of the psychological and social toll that this pandemic is taking on students. It is real, and it is serious. Schools have a duty to help students to understand how they can build social and psychological support networks in times of crises. Every generation has crises to face and sacrifices to make. We are no exception. We live in a time where it is necessary to teach the lesson that life often demands sacrifices, and we have the resources to teach students how to cope with their individual, social, psychological and academic challenges.

There is so much work to do in our schools to prepare students for this post-pandemic world we must face.

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