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At school,
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tests and grades are meant to show our progress
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towards gaining practical skills
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or understanding complicated ideas.
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Unfortunately, they often measure the wrong thing
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or a limited form of progress.
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Albert Einstein said,
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“Any fool can know. The point is to understand”.
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And he was right.
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There is no point in knowing what a solar panel is
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if we don't know why it was built or how to install it.
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Too often, tests focus on the what,
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rather than the more important questions of
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how or why.
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Multiple Choice is especially tricky.
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Governments and schools love it
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because you can compute the results fast and cheap.
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Unfortunately, Multiple Choice
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does not measure for creativity
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or original thoughts.
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As long as test scores assess
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only one very limited form of understanding,
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there will be parents and teachers
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that push children to focus on the wrong things:
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facts for example.
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As long as kids have to study subjects
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not aligned with their personal interest
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- boredom,
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confusion or low self-confidence will prevail.
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Psychologist Angela Duckworth says character,
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perseverance and mindset
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make all the difference in school,
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work and life;
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she calls it 'grit'.
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Famous neuroscientists Manfred Spitzer
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argues the most important subjects to become
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good at anything include music,
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handcrafting, and drama,
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which are difficult to measure with tests.
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Some top schools already focus on mindset
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or teach theatre.
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In the west,
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Montessori and Waldorf schools
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help children to develop practical,
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creative and social skills
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whilst grades matter little.
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In East Asia,
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there's a new breed of Buddhists schools
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that focus on character,
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empathy,
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awareness and mindset.
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What do you think?
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Is it an accident that the visionary founders of Google,
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Wikipedia and Amazon all went to Montessori,
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a school that doesn't use grades?
