Ughh's dead - lets not eat those berries!

I have been debating which end to start with on explaining myself with this plan. Although it seems common sense to start at the early childhood end, I think it is important to remind ourselves of what an education system aims to achieve. If we strip it back to its very basics education is supposed to be a shortcut to better understanding the world we live in. It sounds simplistic, but it’s true. Sure, it has evolved over time to an important plank in a thriving and democratic society that serves many purposes and functions, but at its core it starts with a very simple idea that if we learn from others mistakes we are less likely to make the same ones and are more likely to get to the end goal quicker.

Now, I’m not sure what the forefathers of education thought the end goal was supposed to be but I assume it probably started with something simple like, ‘let’s not get killed today. Ughh got killed yesterday when he ate the fruit off that tree – I’d better not eat it. Perhaps if I tell everyone not to eat that tree, then that’ll be one less thing that kills us!’ It really isn’t that hard to imagine the scene. I can see similar scenes playing out through history with all kinds of events through to our modern 21^st century age. 

So where have I decided unpacking my new grand scheme for education? Well, I think the end is probably the most interesting place. Just to remind you, I have students leaving school a year earlier and spending it abroad before returning to take up tertiary study. I have students working towards whatever end goal assessments they need to straight away. In New Zealand that is NCEA 1-3. 

What is my reasoning for this? It goes back to that original purpose on education – a shortcut to getting ready for the world. I think we are holding a group of students too long in school for no real gain to them or society. I think that we use schools as holding pens for these students because there is nowhere else to put them. I agree completely that schools are great places to hold them, certainly much better than jail and better than the streets but it is completely contrary to the purpose of education. We need to realise that those students who are disengaged from school are largely disengaged because they feel that they are not getting anything from it. The solution is to get them into a place where they are engaged – and quickly! Actually high schools in Auckland are already running hybrid programs like this – some schools have partnered with tertiary institutes to provide training for students that have disengaged, while other high schools regularly extend academic students by offering access to national assessments earlier. Starting earlier means finishing earlier, allowing all to quickly reach their goals – academic or otherwise.

With students now leaving school at the age of 16/17, armed with secondary qualifications we then provide the next, and most important level of the plan. Experience. How many times have you heard people say they wish they paid more attention in school because of the belated realisation that school will help them in their adult life. It is quite common to hear people say that it was not until they left school and worked for a bit that they realised the importance of school. Well, if that’s the case – let’s give it to them! Imagine if everyone got to spend a year trying it out and then making key educational decisions with experience behind them? Models for this also already exists, the idea of a GAP year has been around for a very long time (the Victorians called it ‘a grand tour’). Some Scandinavian countries actually pay their youth a wage to travel! Even the more conservative nations of the world endorse the idea, South Korea for example, continues to have compulsory military training. So too, might I add, do many other nations in the world – including the famously neutral Switzerland. 

I think it would a fantastically brave move to make our 17 year olds take a compulsory year out to reflect on what they have done so far and check that the decisions they have made up to this point are going to work for them before they are allowed into any tertiary study. I think we could use a suite of GAP projects to cater for all the diversity that our country has and I think it would bring a maturity and increased productivity to our entire country.