“The principal goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive, and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept, everything they are offered.”
-Jean Piaget, quoted in Education for Democracy: Proceedings from the Cambridge School Conference on Progressive Education
Assignment: In school, is it more important to focus on learning facts, or should the primary goal of education be to ensure that students develop open minds? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on these issues. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
Learning facts is necessary and important to churn out educated people. However I believe, the chief target should be to educate students so that the students become capable of thinking outside the box.
There will be no progress if one generation simply learns all that the last generation had. Both the generations will succeed up to the same point and there will be zero net progress. I met a Quantum Physicist last year, and we discussed the path one needs to take to pursue science and gain a PhD. He told me one simple thing. He told me that if one needs to get a PhD, one needs to have excellent research skills as one will be venturing into something extremely intricate and detailed. If one just relies on the facts, one will not be able to think outside the box and delve into the immensity of the subject. He told me that science is all about asking questions, and this attribute comes with curiosity, and not already learnt facts. Since a PhD is all about diving into the unknown and specialising in it, not many facts pre-exist. One needs to start fresh and come up with his own ideas. Following this train of thought, I think that if one is not trained to be able to depend on his own mind from an early stage, it will become very difficult to do so later on. Therefore schools should focus on helping one inculcate the habit of open mindedness.
A few years ago, I met a product designer at Apple who had contributed to the iPhone’s elegant and intuitive design. When I asked him how the team came up with such simple yet mind blowing designs, he replied to me by saying that all they had to do was create something that had never been made. He told me that the key to being successful is to learn how to not do what others have done, but to do something that no one ever has because the world is interested in the new. He added that back when he was young, he was made to do something new and creative every day at school which is helping him in the present. As evident, an open mind which is willing to ponder, create and discover is always better than a rigid mind which is unwilling to go beyond the facts.
Jean Piaget is right as one should not simply accept something as a fact. One should question it, argue back, and propose his own opinions. If Nicholas Copernicus had simply accepted the fact that the Earth was in the centre of the solar system, the world would have remained shrouded in mist for the next few years which might have thrown science onto a false path. Copernicus was one man against an entire world, but his strong belief in himself led him to emerge victorious.
To conclude, schools should not just simply teach facts but also help the student to become an all rounded and open minded person who is not chained to a world governed by facts, but is free to transcend into the unknown to do something new.
This essay is posted as it was written. Can anyone grade me out of a 12? Thanks a lot!