Take the 'A' Train?

Work hard in school and university, get A grades and a good degree. That will set you up for a rewarding career and high income. That has been the prime route in advanced economies for achieving a relatively wealthy and fulfilling life for decades, to such an extent that it appears to most parents, young people, educators and politicians that it is the only approach worth considering.
 
But is this now starting to fail, like rail lines that have had years of inadequate investment and repair work, so that they are now slow, unreliable, hold unnoticed dangers, and are incapable of effectively handling current demand? 

I believe It is actually the wrong route altogether. People are undertaking the journey purely from habit and tradition. There now better ways of getting from A to B, and the desirable destination of the past will not meet the needs and expectations of people and society for much longer.
 
With the recent economic downturn, combined in some countries with rising costs of education, following the mainline education track is becoming an increasingly risky strategy: the cost of travelling to the main terminus is substantial. If all goes well, a student arrives in their early twenties at a bachelors or masters degree, having collected a string of lesser certificates which show a steady progression and high levels of achievement. However, for many, the outcome of all those years is an inconsistent record, and perhaps years spent trying, but failing to get a set of certificates that will excite the interest of any employer, and gradually losing enthusiasm and love for learning in the process.

Education providers often talk about teaching other skills and values, helping youngsters develop into ‘fully rounded’ people, and no doubt some do an excellent job of this. But for the most part, what is measured is grades and certificates, and inevitably everything else is either very secondary, or simply marginalised. While this drives the system and everyone involved with it towards a narrow focus on grades, there is a growing suspicion - and some evidence in various countries - that the grades themselves are being devalued, in terms of the real understanding that is required to achieve them.

The actual knowledge and skills accumulated during the mainline journey of education seem to be less and less relevant and valuable to the people who have endured the journey, to their employers, or to wider society. Additionally, there seem to be more and more skills, knowledge and attitudes that are needed, but which are not meaningfully developed at all. Some authors, such as John Taylor Gatto, argue strongly that the current education system actively - if not intentionally - destroys natural skills and attitudes. Among these are curiosity, creativity, ability and thirst to learn; some of those key features that are now wanting in adults.

Imagine that we were to start afresh.  Take what we now know about human psychology, child development, the neuroscience of learning, emotion, memory and language. Add in the revolution over the last twenty years in the speed, costs and means of access to the body of human knowledge, science and art. Sprinkle in knowledge of the pros and cons of radical experiments such as those carried out by Sugata Mitra, unschooling, MOOCs, Khan Academy and adaptive learning. Take account of the educational histories of historical figures such as David Hulme, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Richard Branson, and any number of others who have shaped our world, but who were ill regarded in mainstream school, dropped out, or found their real education through other means. Define as the goal the development and lifelong maintenance of productive, fulfilled, motivated and happy people - or something better that you think summarizes the fundamental purpose of education. If you were asked to design a support system with that goal and with all that in mind - would it bear any significant resemblance to what we have today? 

Would you dispense with grades? 

Would that be a step too far? Grades and certificates are so deeply embedded in our mental model of education that it is hard to imagine how things could work without them. But, for most of what I have learned in my life, there has been no test, exam, or grade. For some of the most important things I have learned, nobody even offers one. The formal education certificates I have, my high school grades and degrees served a purpose, I presume, in helping me get noticed and selected for the next step, be it academic or employment, up until my second job at the age of about 24. Did they make any difference after that? Perhaps marginally, or indirectly by virtue of their influence on my first employment.

After leaving formal education, learning is driven by a combination of curiosity, interest, and practical necessity from one's working and private life. It is not tracked, certified or graded. Continuing to learn allows people to develop themselves and their careers. It is a cliche that people use practically nothing in later life of what they ostensibly learned in education. The real lessons are generally not what is tested directly by grading. 

So, if past the age of 25 to 30 we learn, change jobs, find employees without requiring grading, and for the most part dispensing with certification, what makes grades so essential when younger? How can we continue to support a system which largely measures the wrong things badly and inequitably, which unreasonably damages children who may develop some capability a mere six months or a year later than the 'average child', and which is poor at enabling the essential matchmaking between people, career paths and employers? If we are prepared to see that the system is actually not good at the very things it purports to provide, then perhaps we can find another way.

The A train goes to Harlem. It's a good place for some people. But if the aim is a better life, and lifelong learning for everyone, then look wider for other routes and a wider choice of destinations.