“Where is the
Life we have lost in living?
Where is the
wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the
knowledge we have lost in information?”
—T.S. Eliot, The
Rock (1934)
Every so
often, you come across a thought that hits you hard. As I have mentioned before in this blog, one
of the greatest struggles the Mozambicans, or any historically suppressed
people, face is an atrophied ability
to conceptualize. This often stems from a focused attempt by colonial or other oppressive powers to discourage their second-class (or lower) population from
learning too much. This is terrible, but understandable and even expected,
given the nature of power and what some people will do to hold onto it.
What is more
disturbing, however, is to see symptoms of low conceptualization skills
appearing in what are supposed to be (at least theoretically) “free” cultures.
As a teacher at the undergraduate level in the U.S., I have encountered many
students who come from middle-class, if not affluent backgrounds, who have
difficulty identifying cause-and-effect relationships, analyzing and
prioritizing information, and generally understanding concepts, as opposed to
mere memorization of facts. These characteristics are similar to those we find
in historically suppressed cultures. Clearly, many of the students do not act
like a suppressed people group, so barring abuse or other abnormal trauma, what
would cause this lack of conceptualization in what is, for all intents and
purposes, a conceptually-oriented culture?
It isn't that I am identifying anything new, either—most educators are aware of a
general reduction of academic ability in U.S. students. It has been happening
for years and continues to worsen, despite attempts to improve curriculum and
develop more educational programs. What T.S. Eliot has pointed out, however, is
that this may not just be a matter of poor education as much as it is an
incorrect focus on the content of the lessons. That is, we are teaching
students to acquire and regurgitate data
and information—history, math,
science, etc.—instead of helping them understand how to use the data they have available.
With the
rise of the internet, we are now overwhelmed with information. Children today
have access to more information than any other generation in known history. It
is said you can learn nearly anything that humanity knows through the World
Wide Web. The problem isn't with the information itself, but with understanding
what to do with it. It is all too easy to just take information and apply it to
situations it seems to fit, and presume we have an answer. I see this all the
time in my teaching (often in the form of plagiarism, when a student fails to cite
where they got their information). Unfortunately, this is usually not enough.
Having information is useless unless you understand how to apply it. Explaining
how to organize and prioritize the data you have, as well as
identify the consequences and formulate a response, is not something
that we are currently teaching in most schools. Others are voicing similar
opinions, and I feel the need to add my own voice to the chorus: we need to
stop focusing on teaching students data,
and start focusing on teaching students data organization, analysis, and
problem-solving.
This will
help students make better use of the massive amount of information that is
available. I do not mean that they will merely to be better at research, but
they will be better able to determine what information is important to their
personal goals and development. That is, they need to know not only what data
will help them in class or at work, but what will help them become better
people. This way, they can not only have information, but also knowledge, that
is, a personal comprehension of the data. Understanding how to use this
knowledge helps us develop wisdom. It is my hope that such wisdom can help
people learn how to truly live.
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