Education Today

Student-Centered Education

This seems like a no brainer...of course students are the center of education. How could anyone argue with that? The problem is, in the world of education what something is called is not necessarily what it is. While there is a time and place for some student-centered projects and lessons, the drawbacks far outweigh the benefits if implemented as a fulltime, comprehensive strategy.

A student-centered classroom or school uses curriculum and instructional methods based on the premise that students should decide what and how they learn. Basic curricular parameters may exist--either standards or blueprints--but the child has input and even decision making power in the pedagogical process, an area traditionally in the jurisdiction of the teacher. For example, in English class the focus standard deals with the author's point of view. Instead of the teacher assigning texts appropriate to student reading levels, the student is allowed to choose what they want based on their individual interests. So what's wrong with that? Students are learning and are given some freedom to decide what and how they learn. It sounds great but there are serious flaws. This approach is based on the assumption that students will willingly challenge themselves. The reality is that most students will choose the easiest path, the simplist book, the quickest (though incorrect) method to solve the problem.

Even in mathematics this strategy Is emphasized by teacher colleges, education consultants, and a myriad of think tanks. Students may not have the freedom to choose what lesson they will learn but there is a heavy focus on group work and student collaboration. Student-centered assignments in math tend to be project based in which the product, whether mathematically correct or not, is more important than the process. Studies show that such assignments are often graded based on effort and creativity more than whether they illustrate the mathematical principle being taught. In addition, the heavy reliance on group work in student-centered classes usually means the brightest one or two in the group do all the work but everyone gets equal credit.

Part of the justification for student-centered education is the psychological theory of constructivism. This approach to learning was popularized by John Dewey over one hundred years ago but was also influenced by research done by Piaget and Montessori. Constructivism says that students "construct" knowledge by filtering new material through a sieve of what they already know, so there has to be some prior knowledge to attach new knowledge to. Again, on the surface this educational approach makes sense, but if a child comes to school deficient in background knowledge, then there's little to construct upon. Increasingly elementary grade children come to school with poor language skills and little other knowledge as TV and video games have replaced books and reading time in the home. At the secondary level there is little knowledge of science and history among incoming freshmen so again constructivism fails because there is no foundation to build upon. In addition, this theory has been intertwined with the student-centered philosophy to justify social activism, project based learning, and even the elimination of grades as a measure of progress.

The essential flaw of both student-centered education and constructivism is that the focus is only on the product, which is rarely based on quality, and not the process or what students should know or be able to do to be productive and engaged citizens. Another flaw is if students do not have the ability to hold themselves accountable (and most will not) then academic performance suffers. As the nation's public schools embrace the Common Core movement parents need to be watching and monitoring, because it calls for such student-centered project types of activities and assessments.

 

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