Last updated on July 25, 2022
“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” This is what Einstein had declared when he visited Boston in 1921, commenting on how the standard education didn’t always need to be so rigorous. In fact, this quote can be seen as the main theme of student-centered learning, an education system that promotes students being co-directors of their own schooling. This new setup is rapidly gaining attention from students, parents, and school administrators.
America’s public E-12 education, in general, does not have the main purpose of teaching students important skills they would need in life, such as teamwork, or empathy. Rather, it focuses on preparing them for the same future. Every person is not the same as another, and people started to realize this fact.
The origins of student-centered learning can be traced to when Francis W. Parker became the superintendent of all schools in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1875. The former Civil War colonel quickly made his views on the schools clear. Immediately, he replaced the strict schedule with a system that gave the children more respect. As he explained, he was dedicated to creating a “whole child.” This refers to students, when done with their education, should be satisfied with what they have learned and ready to enter the world. Parker is known as “the father of progressive education,” a title given to him by John Dewey, a fellow education reformer.
A case study by Thomas Brush and John Saye had a teacher and her 21 students figure out a theoretical problem while using this system, and the results only boosted the reputation of student-focused learning. Results showed that students worked in groups more often than before, and collaborative creation came forth. This observation has been done in more classrooms, and more schools and most results revealed the conclusion: that student-centered learning boosted education rates. In addition, a study from July 2017 from the RAND Corporation, a company that conducts experiments to help learning, found that children who worked in schools with personalized curricula had received an observable boost in grades for math and reading. The students who underwent the new schooling also had better memory retention and their scores on tests started to show up higher than their peers in regular schools. The study found data displaying that the more personalized learning a school used, student accomplishment would rise as well. This experiment concluded that student-centered learning has an amazing benefit and should be more widely used.
Julia Kaufman, Elizabeth Steiner, Jonathan Schweig, Sophie Meyers, and Karn Christianson created a toolkit of resources to be used by teachers of student-centered learning. Many have started using it, not as a strict guide, but as a reminder of how student learning really should be. As mentioned earlier, student-centered learning teaches empathy and teamwork, two skills that are prominent in everyday life, and will be helpful for when students are old enough to venture into the real world. It has a plethora of benefits for both students and schools and should be used more often.
You may be wondering, “what’s wrong with everyone learning these subjects together?” or “why do we have to learn extra skills?” And, we don’t need to. Not everyone needs extra help with their education, but no one should be left behind. We don’t have to incorporate individualized learning into our curriculum, but it would help kids reach their full potential. And we don’t need to teach students how to behave around people, but it is a fundamental part of society.
We are not required to do anything, but learning, I believe, is where everything starts. Look around you. Everything in your vision has started with, simply, education. Think back to the origins of it all. It is the foundation of our world, and without it, our society would be a disaster. Although our current system is doing a good job of teaching students, using the student-centered approach would ensure a job well done. Therefore, we should make a bigger step in trying to further education in young minds.
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