Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay. That may not sound remarkable, but it is one of the dwindling number of things I learned in the eighth grade that is still true. At the same time —1967 — I learned reading a picture book from pre-World War II that China and the United States were great friends.
Ponder that.
Many of my concerns about education are getting attention even at the most elite schools. We are beginning to hear discussions among educators and parents about the overly scheduled, pressured and frenetic lives children lead.
Parents of toddlers worry about making up “snow days.” College admission officers go to Seoul, Beijing and Bombay to recruit, leaving us to fear there will not be a spot for our child. And colleges compete to attract students. How much does that country-club student recreation center add? Do you learn better in a building with limestone around the windows?
Where do you stop the merry-go-round? There are issues we must address. Adolescents need more sleep than most of them get. Some forms of homework do little or nothing to advance knowledge or skills.
Advanced Placement classes in many respects are simply college earlier, not learning enhanced. Students need to explore a variety of endeavors so they can find what excites them, but there is a point of diminishing returns.
If colleges are going to differentiate among applicants, is it better that they use an index, such as AP and SAT scores, or something else?
Thinking about critical lessons for children today, I considered my own daughters. I recalled a cold 4 a.m. standing by a horse ring. My daughter insisted we arrive early for practice, and it was an hour before any competitors appeared. She won that day, and while there will be many times she does not win, there probably will not be many where she is not prepared.
I believe in hard work because it has always served me well. But I don’t believe I learned any life-defining information from my eighth-grade report on Uruguay.
Nor do I believe that our students learn essential knowledge from all of their work, perhaps even from much of it. The accelerating pace at which knowledge is changing is a reminder that the key lessons have much more to do with character and habits than anything else.
These lessons help chart a course to a full and productive life, a life as a contributing part of the many communities our young people will inhabit.
The assignment due after a several-month period can teach volumes about preparation, organization and perseverance, even if learned at the price of late nights and a ruined spring break because a student did not start it soon enough.
Our students need to run a race to somewhere — lives as productive, fulfilled and engaged adults. To do that we must keep up the dialogue that the current conversation has started. Schools should continue to look at the outcomes we want.
What can we do with our schedule, our assignments and our work in class to make each day more productive, more conducive to true learning?
How can we prioritize so that students learn the lessons of hard work but do not forget the strength given by relationships and having time to enjoy them — and to sleep?
I am glad I learned that Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay because I think I started to learn something much more valuable — and I want our children to learn it, too.
Pinney Allen is head of school at the Atlanta Girls’ School.
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