Susan D. Blum tells us that some people love both learning
and school; they often go on to be teachers or professors.
But some enjoy learning - apart from having to go to
school. She explores this topic and new cognitive science
in I LOVE LEARNING I HATE SCHOOL which is a quote from one
of her own bright students.
As a professor in anthropology, and a parent, Susan Blum
decided to analyse just why students did not care about
learning, which she enjoyed. Humans are designed to learn,
especially while we are young. We learn everywhere, all the
time. But the American administrative, managerial education
system often takes subjects out of context and without
regard for relevance, forcing young people to take subjects
for which they have neither interest nor aptitude. Students
learn plenty in school, she says, but often forget formal
lessons at once. She describes the current system as an
industrial model which prolongs class and race
inequalities. Learning by apprenticeship for some would be
much more suitable, while others just need a different
manner of delivery and examination. College would no longer
be the sole option and goals could be reached by each
student at their own pace.
Susan describes how at Notre Dame a schedule put students
together by time slot rather than choice of subject,
forcing many athletic students to take a semester course in
childhood studies. At the time she couldn't understand
their silent resentment and failure to learn. Actually it
seems obvious to me. I was forced to learn the Irish
language all through school, although the only people who
might need it were civil servants. The majority leave with
no better knowledge of Irish than they gain by the age of
twelve. Forcing bright young people eager to become
engineers, scientists and lawyers, to study childhood, must
have fomented rebellion.
Another issue Susan faced was dishonesty; plagiarism and
cheating. Where at first she thought this was an attempt to
skate by on as little work as possible, she learned by
mixing with graduate research students that some people
were working around a system they did not like in order to
produce the required result. They were intellectually
disengaged, just going through the motions. Other aspects
of college life, such as sports, volunteering, debates and
societies, occupied their thoughts. They learned by doing.
Some hated college and just learned to survive it. Susan's
own daughter learned best out of school. And Susan now
realises that this is as it should be, because we need a
wide assortment of people; the thinkers, the doers, the
leaders and followers.
Susan sets out fifteen disclaimers which basically say that
the theories presented are her own experience and other
contributions are needed. Some people do splendidly out of
their education, gaining better jobs and pay than non-
graduates. Working with other academics she never realised
how poorly the educational system served a majority of
students, who just marked time until they could be on their
way to real life. I have found this is always the case with
any insular group; they forget that the whole world is not
the same as the people they know. Susan lists many, many
books on the subject of the decline of educational
standards. She adds that prosperity and connections means
some students can take the summer to volunteer abroad or do
internships while others have to work all summer, or
throughout the year.
Interestingly Susan tells us that most faculty believe
students should learn critical thinking at college... but
not all do. Well, my husband has in the past told me that
university taught him critical thinking and the scientific
method. I would ask then why this is not taught earlier, in
schools? Would it be too hard for teachers to control a
class of critical thinkers? Susan reminds us that the
internet has shortened attention spans and rewarded surface
reading. Students may never have read in depth. But she has
stopped worrying about this, as long as they are reading.
Susan is more troubled by student mental health concerns.
Much of the book is written for educators, with topics like
grade inflation, evaluations, assigned reading and
effective teaching. But those at college to learn may find
it a very useful perspective. Susan looks at the history
and structure of education, though saying little about the
struggle of women. The focus in Ireland is now on life-long
learning, so that even those who were early leavers from
the education system can pick up a subject they like or
which will boost their job prospects. Mature office workers
may take a psychology course to gain a Human Resources job.
Mothers returning to the workplace may take a diploma in
child care or computers. I LOVE LEARNING I HATE SCHOOL will
speak for many people so I'm glad Susan D Blum has written
this interesting work.
Frustrated by her students' performance, her relationships
with them, and her own daughter’s problems in school, Susan
D. Blum, a professor of anthropology, set out to understand
why her students found their educational experience at a
top-tier institution so profoundly difficult and
unsatisfying. Through her research and in conversations with
her students, she discovered a troubling mismatch between
the goals of the university and the needs of
students.
In "I Love Learning; I Hate
School," Blum tells two intertwined but inseparable
stories: the results of her research into how students learn
contrasted with the way conventional education works, and
the personal narrative of how she herself was transformed by
this understanding. Blum concludes that the dominant forms
of higher education do not match the myriad forms of
learning that help students―people in general―master
meaningful and worthwhile skills and knowledge. Students are
capable of learning huge amounts, but the ways higher
education is structured often leads them to fail to learn.
More than that, it leads to ill effects. In this critique of
higher education, infused with anthropological insights,
Blum explains why so much is going wrong and offers
suggestions for how to bring classroom learning more in line
with appropriate forms of engagement. She challenges our
system of education and argues for a “reintegration of
learning with life.”
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