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Stop the Sorting
Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas
Sorting Isn’t Always Good
If you’ve read my previous columns you will know that I am a proponent of sorting as an essential component of space, tool and material organization, albeit easier said than done for me. There’s a situation for which sorting is not good and it’s been going on for more than 100 years since the one-room schoolhouse went the way of the dinosaur and in schools we began sorting our children by chronological age and teaching them all the same things. Looking back, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but now there’s a large segment of student populations for which this learning model of one size fits all doesn’t work well.
Sorting Started Years Ago
The industrialists and educators of the late 19th century, eager to have ample supply of workers for the burgeoning era of mass production, set up the chronological sorting so that everyone had common skills needed to do repetitive work on the production line, expecting everyone to learn the same things at the same age and in the same learning style. Somewhere along the timeline, we realized that children don’t learn all the same things at the same age and also not in the same manner. That’s when the sub-sorting came into play, sorting first by chronological age, then by various shades on a spectrum from smart to dumb.
When I was in the fourth grade in the mid 1960’s, my well-meaning teacher divided the class into four groups ranging from number one, smart to number four, dumb. Of course, she didn’t use those terms, but the labels came across loud and clear. I was in the number 1 group so I didn’t have a stigma, but I can’t imagine what my classmates in group four thought about themselves. My wife, Susan, in a different school system was in the number two group and says that throughout her entire adult life she remembers that she wasn’t good enough to be in the number one group.
Sorting Continues-More Subtle
Today, we continue to sort kids in school by chronological age and we still expect them, by and large, to know the same stuff as they progress from one grade to the next. The smarter ones are bored while the others struggle. Many school districts came up with Gifted programs for the bored ones. Some districts have not been able to come up with learning plans for Gifted that are any more interesting than regular classroom activities. The Greenbush education cooperative had a really good gifted program going before the shut-down in March. They would bring Gifted students from seven school districts to Fab Lab ICC on Wednesdays to do projects. Hands-on projects are great learning tools and with the right facilitation, can be as difficult as necessary to stay challenging and interesting. With the pandemic, I believe we’ll see a movement toward more of an individualized learning plan and that’s a good thing. The more individualized the plan, the less need there will be for sorting the kids into groups based on “intelligence.”
Some Are Not College Material
Probably one of the biggest and most damaging forms of sorting today is that of dividing youth into college material and not college material. Up until the last couple of years our society has told our youth that a college degree was essential to a successful life. Those with little interest or aptitude in college were, and still are, branded as not being college material. If you are not college material, you should learn a trade and work for someone else because that’s all you are capable of. You may not have noticed this societal message but it’s there. Once you are listening for it, you’ll see the subtleties all over. “If you’re not college material, you need to settle for the consolation prize of trade school and a life of working for someone else.”
Where Do We Go From Here?
We need to promote all options to students in school. Trade school should definitely be an option without the implication that your only option is to work for someone else. We need young people that will start the businesses that will drive our economy. We need to quit implying that pay is the most important thing. Yes, many trades pay more than jobs of college graduates. Yet, survey after survey of working people indicate that pay is not the most important. People want to think they are helping others and accomplishing useful work. The appeal of life’s work needs to be about how the work helps families and/or society, in general, thrive. The message should be to look for life's work that is like a 3-legged stool. Find work 1. that is useful to others in solving their problems; 2. that is challenging yet fulfilling and 3. compensation is enough to have a comfortable life. If you don't have all 3 legs, you will fall off the stool of success.
Jim Correll can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of Fab Lab ICC or Independence Community College. Archive columns and podcasts at jimcorrell.com.
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