How Do We Learn?

I read the Sunday comics today as usual. As the new school year is beginning, some of the comics reflected that. I read one called “Rose is Rose.” The main character is a teacher and the panels for today portrayed everything a teacher is: Diplomat, Medic, Linguist, Counselor, Nutritionist, Event Planner, Editor, Motivator, Historian, Sage, Life Coach, Confidant, Inspirtational Speaker...Teacher!

That about sums it up in my opinion.  As the new Oceanside High School begins its first year in its history, I’m sure the teachers will follow the above job description throughout the year. Somewhere in between all the roles a teacher plays a little learning can hopefully take place.

How do we learn anyway? That’s a question the teachers and educational theorists have been debating for a long time. I learned many of these theories while studying to be a teacher down in Machias. The one important fact I learned is that “everything old is new again.” That is to say theories come and go. What was old is suddenly regarded as being the right way all along and why don’t we go back to that method?

There are different ways to teach certain subjects like reading and math. About every ten years or so, the method is reevaluated and revamped so that you end up at the beginning again. Education is the biggest enigma in life.

See if you can make some sense out of these theories of learning that have been popular at one time or another:

Behaviorism

Behaviorism believes in the “clean slate” theory. That is to say that the learner learns through environmental stimuli. Behavior is shaped in theory by positive or negative reinforcement.

Cognitivism

This theory replaced Behaviorism in the 1960s. These theorists believe that people are not “programmed animals” who merely respond to environmental stimuli; but rather rational beings who require active participation in order to learn. They use the computer as a metaphor of the mind. Information comes in, is processed, and leads to certain outcomes.

Design-Based Research

This is the most incomprehensible of all the theories I know of. Basically these researchers believe that we need to study learning more and that study must not be done in a lab but in real situations. I agree with that part at least. They attempt to bridge theory and practice in education. The theory is more complicated than this, but I believe this is the gist of it.

Humanism

A theory also popular in the 1960s, this theory believed basically in the learner’s capability to develop their own “lesson plan” so to speak. The teacher ends up being merely a “learning guide.” The theorists here believe it is necessary to study the person as a whole, especially as an individual grows and develops over their lifespan.

I have outlined the very basic tenets of these theories. Which one do you believe in, or do you think it’s all hogwash? I tend to believe that “nurture” is as important as “nature,” or one’s innate intellect to learn.”

I would offer the South End as an example. Here’s what I observed about my fellow classmates in the South End.

As my best friend, Rose Ann Small, and I sat in the auditorium of the old Rockland High School on Lincoln Street for Freshman Orientation on our first day of high school, we saw a sea of South End faces around us. We all tended to stick together that day somehow. As I looked around at all these familiar faces; the faces I had grown up with in the South End; the faces I saw every day at Crescent Street School, South School, and Purchase Street; I saw a sea of emotions. Some looked bored; some scared; some very confused; some ill at ease.

While there are many success stories coming out of the South End, there are also those who fell out along the way for one reason or another. Within a month, at the most, from that day in the auditorium, many of these South End faces disappeared from the halls of Rockland High School. They were just gone; with no explanation; no reason we could think of. Gone.

Now I know our principal, Hamilton Boothby, did the very best he could behind the scenes to keep these kids in school, but his advice didn’t take for many of these Southenders.

How did their learning or lack of it affect them so much that they just dropped out of school? There may have been “good” reasons at the time. Maybe they came from big families and their help was needed at home. Maybe they had to watch younger siblings while their parents worked. Maybe they were just tired of having nothing if they were from poor families. The idea of leaving home; making their own money; leading their own lives; may have been too tempting.

Were they not nurtured at home? Was education not important to their families? Which theory do they fall under? We’ll probably never know. All I know is I missed seeing their faces and wish they could have stayed with us longer. When they left school, my life and theirs became worlds apart.

Those who did leave school may have ended up down at “Phil’s Pool Hall” down on lower Main Street. I just read a story about Phil and the pool room by Terry Economy. Here’s what Phil said to these drop-outs according to Terry, “Well if you’re not in school, maybe I can teach you other things in life you can’t learn in school. Like respect, honesty, humility, be good to your parents and friends, discipline and most of all, have common sense.”

I don’t know about you but I kind of like Phil’s theory of learning and education. It must have worked for him, as this Albanian immigrant put all his own seven South End kids through college

I wish all the students at Oceanside High School and all the schools in the Knox County area the best school year ever. Listen to your teachers. Learn…please. And a note to the teachers: For heaven’s sake, please teach these kids how to SPELL!

Thanks for listening.