by Oliver DeMille
The secret of any great education is love of learning. Note that the phrase here is love of “learning,” not love of “schooling,” or love of “education.” Learning should be the focus of schools and education, but this is not always the case. Many schools and educational institutions have become big business, and indeed modern regulatory complexity has forced most schools to put business above learning. This is a disaster for education and the future of our society.
Getting young people to love learning is not nearly as difficult as getting them to love formal schooling. Indeed, it is nearly always as simple as parents reading to children. When a child grows up being read to daily in the greatest classics, she usually develops a great desire to learn as much as possible. Even young people who don’t have this experience still tend to be inquisitive, interested and engrossed in something.
School has never been as exciting as learning. For example, the poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote:
Some students learn better in the classroom environment, it is true. But it is equally true that some do not. Some students learn better in other environments.
In short, the focus should be on learning. If the emphasis is on schooling, then students are forced to participate in school regardless of their learning styles. They are labeled “failures” when in fact it is the school that has failed them. In contrast, if the focal point is learning, school is used for students who learn best in the schooling environment and other venues are applied where they are more effective. Every child can learn, and it is up to us to help each of them find his ideal learning environment and flourish in it. Different kinds of schools and classrooms are established to meet different needs.
This entire debate—schools versus learning—boils down to one question: “What is the basic unit of education? Is it the student? Or is it the government, the corporation, or something else?” For long eras of history in certain places, it was a particular church. In some oriental cultures, it has been the extended family (see, for example, Wild Swans by Jung Chang) rather than the individual—often with negative results.
In our time, some see the primary purpose of education as promoting the interests of the government, others as providing the needs of the market and corporations. In many cases, government agendas dominate the structures and administration of public schools and corporate interests rule many private schools. As institutions themselves, governments and corporations operate on the idea that education is best promoted through other institutions—called schools. Making students alter themselves to fit the institutional realities of the schools directly trains adults who naturally work for the objectives of government and corporate institutions. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just business.
But learning is more important than business. It creates our future. It determines the future of freedom, of culture, of class-based or non-class society, of freedom or slavery, of economic opportunity or stagnation, of entrepreneurial success or spreading dependency, of prosperity or poverty, of national progress or decline. The quality of our learning, perhaps more than any other factor, will shape the future quality of our families, relationships, communities and moral choices. Learning, or its lack, impacts nearly everything in our society.
Unfortunately, and inaccurately, we have come to equate our level of learning in society with the quality of our schools. The two are simply not the same thing. The growth of the false view that schooling equates with learning has coincided with a decline in reading and also of deep discussions between parents and youth on important topics. Allan Bloom wrote in The Closing of the American Mind that families (and even couples) have stopped “thinking together” in deep and meaningful ways.
Along with the move to schools as the center of our educational processes in society, we have stopped seeing parents as the experts in learning. We have placed as our educational experts an entire industry that is expert on schooling—but not necessarily on learning. We graduate millions with degrees in various types of education, but few major in Learning. Schools don’t even offer it. We have shifted our priorities from learning to schooling—from the individual to big institutions.
This nuance may seem irrelevant to some people, but it has a major impact on the quality of our education as a society and generation. It is hard to overstate how much this small detail weakens our nation. We are a society widely schooled and widely shallow of learning. Bloom lamented that our modern nation of Ph.D.’s and M.D.’s has little of the quality learning once enjoyed by the average citizens in America.
On a personal level and in our homes we too often follow this modern trend. We frequently make educational choices for our children and youth that are less about the quality of their learning than the marketability of their “schooling.” In such cases, the focus isn’t even the schooling they will receive but rather the way their school will be perceived by others—especially representatives of big institutions.
These cultural norms have become so widespread that we seldom consider how things could be any different. “This is just the way things are,” we believe. In this environment, not only are schools big business, but the debate about the future of education is big business as well.
The modern education problem is imbedded in the debate itself. We will never solve “the education debate” because it is centered on schools and how they can meet the demands of the government and market. As long as this is the debate, we will never feel fulfilled by any “solution.” Every new “fix” will be a fad—nothing more. We’ve got to get back to the real discussion, the dialogue about learning.
Learning, not schooling, is the real question and the real point. To the extent that any school is ideal for a given student, we should support it. As Whittier wrote:
The focus of any truly quality educational system and school must be on how each child learns and on finding ways to help each child best flourish in his learning pursuits. This is the ideal.
Society may never make such a shift, but each parent should do it for every child and youth. Making this shift in your family will make all the difference in the quality of education your family members experience. In economic terms, as bestselling author Alvin Toffler noted, financial success will flow to those who learn individualism, creativity, independent thinking and entrepreneurial initiative. This is a historical reality.
Personalized education is the key to learning, and any truly great education ultimately boils down to learning that is personalized, individualized and founded on a deep love of learning. If you want to immediately boost the quality of education in your family life, put the emphasis on learning. Schooling can be a valuable part of learning for many students, but learning must be the guiding principle.
Oliver DeMille is the founder and former president of George Wythe University, a co-founder of the Center for Social Leadership and a co-creator of TJEd Online .
He is the author of A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the 21st Century, and The Coming Aristocracy: Education & the Future of Freedom.
Oliver is dedicated to promoting freedom through leadership education. He and his wife Rachel are raising their eight children in Cedar City, Utah.
The secret of any great education is love of learning. Note that the phrase here is love of “learning,” not love of “schooling,” or love of “education.” Learning should be the focus of schools and education, but this is not always the case. Many schools and educational institutions have become big business, and indeed modern regulatory complexity has forced most schools to put business above learning. This is a disaster for education and the future of our society.
Getting young people to love learning is not nearly as difficult as getting them to love formal schooling. Indeed, it is nearly always as simple as parents reading to children. When a child grows up being read to daily in the greatest classics, she usually develops a great desire to learn as much as possible. Even young people who don’t have this experience still tend to be inquisitive, interested and engrossed in something.
School has never been as exciting as learning. For example, the poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote:
The charcoal frescoes on its wall;
Its door’s still worn, betraying
The feet that, creeping slow to school,
Went storming out to playing!
Its door’s still worn, betraying
The feet that, creeping slow to school,
Went storming out to playing!
Some students learn better in the classroom environment, it is true. But it is equally true that some do not. Some students learn better in other environments.
In short, the focus should be on learning. If the emphasis is on schooling, then students are forced to participate in school regardless of their learning styles. They are labeled “failures” when in fact it is the school that has failed them. In contrast, if the focal point is learning, school is used for students who learn best in the schooling environment and other venues are applied where they are more effective. Every child can learn, and it is up to us to help each of them find his ideal learning environment and flourish in it. Different kinds of schools and classrooms are established to meet different needs.
This entire debate—schools versus learning—boils down to one question: “What is the basic unit of education? Is it the student? Or is it the government, the corporation, or something else?” For long eras of history in certain places, it was a particular church. In some oriental cultures, it has been the extended family (see, for example, Wild Swans by Jung Chang) rather than the individual—often with negative results.
In our time, some see the primary purpose of education as promoting the interests of the government, others as providing the needs of the market and corporations. In many cases, government agendas dominate the structures and administration of public schools and corporate interests rule many private schools. As institutions themselves, governments and corporations operate on the idea that education is best promoted through other institutions—called schools. Making students alter themselves to fit the institutional realities of the schools directly trains adults who naturally work for the objectives of government and corporate institutions. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just business.
But learning is more important than business. It creates our future. It determines the future of freedom, of culture, of class-based or non-class society, of freedom or slavery, of economic opportunity or stagnation, of entrepreneurial success or spreading dependency, of prosperity or poverty, of national progress or decline. The quality of our learning, perhaps more than any other factor, will shape the future quality of our families, relationships, communities and moral choices. Learning, or its lack, impacts nearly everything in our society.
Unfortunately, and inaccurately, we have come to equate our level of learning in society with the quality of our schools. The two are simply not the same thing. The growth of the false view that schooling equates with learning has coincided with a decline in reading and also of deep discussions between parents and youth on important topics. Allan Bloom wrote in The Closing of the American Mind that families (and even couples) have stopped “thinking together” in deep and meaningful ways.
Along with the move to schools as the center of our educational processes in society, we have stopped seeing parents as the experts in learning. We have placed as our educational experts an entire industry that is expert on schooling—but not necessarily on learning. We graduate millions with degrees in various types of education, but few major in Learning. Schools don’t even offer it. We have shifted our priorities from learning to schooling—from the individual to big institutions.
This nuance may seem irrelevant to some people, but it has a major impact on the quality of our education as a society and generation. It is hard to overstate how much this small detail weakens our nation. We are a society widely schooled and widely shallow of learning. Bloom lamented that our modern nation of Ph.D.’s and M.D.’s has little of the quality learning once enjoyed by the average citizens in America.
On a personal level and in our homes we too often follow this modern trend. We frequently make educational choices for our children and youth that are less about the quality of their learning than the marketability of their “schooling.” In such cases, the focus isn’t even the schooling they will receive but rather the way their school will be perceived by others—especially representatives of big institutions.
These cultural norms have become so widespread that we seldom consider how things could be any different. “This is just the way things are,” we believe. In this environment, not only are schools big business, but the debate about the future of education is big business as well.
The modern education problem is imbedded in the debate itself. We will never solve “the education debate” because it is centered on schools and how they can meet the demands of the government and market. As long as this is the debate, we will never feel fulfilled by any “solution.” Every new “fix” will be a fad—nothing more. We’ve got to get back to the real discussion, the dialogue about learning.
Learning, not schooling, is the real question and the real point. To the extent that any school is ideal for a given student, we should support it. As Whittier wrote:
Still sits the school-house by the road,
a ragged beggar sunning;
Around it still the sumachs grow,
and blackberry vines are running.
Why is it that so many personalized, individualized, truly excellent little schools are “ragged beggars?” Why don’t we fund really high-quality schools better? If you care about the future of education, find a school you really admire and donate to it!a ragged beggar sunning;
Around it still the sumachs grow,
and blackberry vines are running.
The focus of any truly quality educational system and school must be on how each child learns and on finding ways to help each child best flourish in his learning pursuits. This is the ideal.
Society may never make such a shift, but each parent should do it for every child and youth. Making this shift in your family will make all the difference in the quality of education your family members experience. In economic terms, as bestselling author Alvin Toffler noted, financial success will flow to those who learn individualism, creativity, independent thinking and entrepreneurial initiative. This is a historical reality.
Personalized education is the key to learning, and any truly great education ultimately boils down to learning that is personalized, individualized and founded on a deep love of learning. If you want to immediately boost the quality of education in your family life, put the emphasis on learning. Schooling can be a valuable part of learning for many students, but learning must be the guiding principle.
Oliver DeMille is the founder and former president of George Wythe University, a co-founder of the Center for Social Leadership and a co-creator of TJEd Online .
He is the author of A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the 21st Century, and The Coming Aristocracy: Education & the Future of Freedom.
Oliver is dedicated to promoting freedom through leadership education. He and his wife Rachel are raising their eight children in Cedar City, Utah.
