Dumb or What?

Just read in the newspaper that Britain is going to a "Teach Less Learn More" education position. It sounds like a paradigm shift, but on closer look its not. In fact, its laughably dumb. The education ministry has decided to cut out various topics that it deems is not necessary in the syllabus, going instead for lighter topics. I think this must be due to a misintepretation of the idea " Teach less Learn More."

When I say " Teach Less Learn More", I mean that teachers should teach less in the sense as to stop spoonfeeding information to children. It is much better that little kids discover knowledge by themselves, no matter how painful the process is. Knowledge is something I feel, that should be discovered by oneself. Of course a little guidance helps the process, which is why the role of teachers are there. They are supposed to guide the way with small lanterns, walking in front of you. They are not supposed to roll out the red carpet for you, carry you in a sedan, so that you can attain knowledge.

Therefore, it was with most amusement that I read that Winston Churchill would not be taught compulsory in WWII history. Anyone who covered history in secondary, should be pretty familiar with Churchill and the pivotal role he played during the war. To ignore him, is like trying to ignore Hitler. LOL. What they are supposed to do, should be to point out what an important role he played, show them some of his speeches etc. But they should take him out of the exams.

This therefore is the crux of the issue. When something is taken out of syllabus, it does not mean it is unimportant. Just that its not tested in the coming exam. But unfortunately, students and teachers alike often ignore these "NOT IN SYLLABUS" topics. As such they "Taught Less, Learn Less." And we are back to the tricky issue of examinations again. If only we can truly draw emphasis away from examinations. But sadly we cant. We can only see the next well intended education scheme fail again.