Sunday November 21, 2010
What all educators must know
By DR THEVA NITHY
Having an assessment-based education system is not good enough if the country has plans to transform and move ahead.
WE ARE stuck in a system where we educators envisage ourselves as “knowledge managers, rather than as “knowing managers”.
What is the difference?
Knowledge managers are people who think that knowledge is an independent wheel in a vehicle and does not interact with the rest of the vehicle. It can be removed, damaged or modified and still have no causal effect on the rest of the vehicle.
Knowledge managers are also traditional teacher-centred practitioners who think that knowledge is to be swallowed and regurgitated by learners. Regurgitation of course, occurs at examination halls, where it will be determined how good learners are at reproducing data.
Knowing managers, are people who understand that that one insignificant wheel plays a determining role, in the overall performance of the vehicle.
These managers know that the sum total of learning occurs in a multi-linked wheel where the weakest link determines the overall performance.
The overall immersions, interactions and experiences in a learning environment will determine the final outcome – the person that the student will become.
I have found that students, who make the effort to spend time with their lecturers outside their classrooms and engage in issues outside their areas of expertise, are thoughtful thinkers and have a better perception.
They are quite distinct from the straight A’s scholars who studiously plug away at their assignments and books, but never really understand where everything falls in the greater scheme of things. Why is this so?
Many educators make the mistake of falling into the role of knowledge managers the instant they step into formal learning spaces — this is true at schools and at universities. It is the job of schools and the universities to ensure students graduate with sufficient knowledge that will enable them to acquire an acceptable grade or degree.
Who can blame the educators then, for wanting to become knowledge managers who teach with only exams in mind since this is the requirement the institutions and ministries want. Knowing managers, however, are aware that learning through knowing is an infinite system of beliefs, knowledge, skills, ethics and social interactions amongst others.
Research and investigations, debates and discussions, all mesh into a single coherent set of skills that stimulates and builds “knowing’’ and the series of orchestral manoeuvres finally result in a learned person.
The environment that provides all these are almost non-existent in nearly all educational systems.
In my own students, I have found they quickly disengage from me when they cannot find relevance and synchrony between my teachings and what they want.
This is especially true in first-year students. They come to the university with big ambitions, after having been told they are the cream of the crop, and that success is guaranteed. The system gives me the impression that they are excellent and ready for “knowing”.
When we meet, the students and I find there is almost a complete mismatch in expectations.
With the stage set by this mismatched expectations, students slowly succumb to a downward spiral where they realise that the knowledge and certainty they had, is not quite the knowing and certainty they face.
They realise that their achievements in examinations have no value. The actual expectation is for them to open their minds to new ways of thinking and knowing.
They realise that it is the discussions and arguments that provide a real understanding of knowing.
A new twist
This is the start of the mess we are in now. The system demands that I become a knowledge manager who grades students on quantified knowledge, and then assign them marks and points that will determine a range of grades.
At the same time, the system also demands that I become a knowing manager who will immerse students into a knowing environment.
I am reminded of a public speaking class earlier where my students could not grasp that a great speech was a combination of many components coming together.
When I spoke about eye contact, everyone focused on it, forgetting gestures and voice tone.
They are now getting the idea that nothing can work by itself, and it is all about knowing their speech and their audience, not knowledge of the speech and the audience — knowledge being an ineffective tangible factor; and knowing being about an intangible, powerful force.
Don’t get me wrong. We just never have had high expectations until now. The problem lies with the fact that educators and education systems are not evolving fast enough to meet new demands.
The other problem is that entrance into universities and schools is a global economic game now, and all the major players believe in looking at knowledge grades first before looking at the knowing skills.
We have encouraged the growth of a grading system based on student competition, where students (and educators) are forced to seek an edge over their peers.
This restricts them from engaging fully with each other in a trusted manner since information that is perceived to give an edge, will be held back.
In many Asian countries, this has also resulted in one of the biggest disasters — tuition centres.
I have come to believe that the assessment-based system we have created is the core catalyst for the dysfunction of our education system. We are addicted to knowledge of the tangibles and have lost focus and faith in knowing the intangibles.
What is the way out? We have to create meaningful and relevant alternatives to exams, and there are many – from research projects to scholarly debates to entrepreneurship – the list is endless.
They may be difficult, but we no longer have the option of choosing a simpler route. It is time to decide once and for all whether we want students who MUST go to school for grades and knowledge or students who will immerse themselves into ways of knowing and become relevant to the future that is already at our doorstep. Or are we willing to risk a failed state?
> Dr Theva Nithy is a senior lecturer at the School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Through this column and through the revolutionary ENGAGE Programme – Education for Sustainable Global Futures – USM has started, he and his colleagues hope to help transfor the landscapes of Malaysian schooling and higher education systems. He can be contacted at
theva@usm.my.
theva@usm.my.
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