Education is a Niche, Not a Profession

How would you explain education to an alien from Betelgeuse V?

Created by DALL-E in response to the prompt “friendly intelligent alien from the imaginary planet Betegeuse V”

Imagine a class at Stanford University.

There are just over one hundred medical students in the room waiting expectantly. They are about to be addressed by an alien from Betelgeuse V. 

It begins to speak.

“First of all, is it true that you remove children from their families at around the age of five and then put them into institutions where they are raised by strangers until they are adults?”

After finally getting nods of agreement from the students, the alien seeks to clarify something.

“You forcibly remove children from their families and put them in institutions for the most crucial years of their development. And they can’t leave or use the washroom without permission. Is that correct?”

 The students nod, but they are beginning to shift in their seats. Some of them seem uncomfortable.

“You incarcerate them,” the alien says, seemingly making notes on a device. 

“We are interested in how you train people in different professions. It seems that the best mathematicians are to be found in mathematics departments at universities, the best chemists in chemistry departments, and the best physicists in physics departments. In short, the best practitioners of a discipline are to be found in their respective departments. Is this correct?”

A flurry of nodded affirmation ripples around the room.

“But there is one exception to this rule. When we searched for the best teachers, very few were found in education departments.” The alien seems to frown, lost in thought, before continuing.

“Unlike other professions, the best teachers—the award-winning ones—appear sprinkled throughout various disciplines, almost with the exception of education.”

“I am here because we have determined medical students are probably quite intelligent, and you are likely to give better responses than students in other departments.

The students seem to relax. Some are smiling.

“How about, say, students in engineering or architecture? Would they be likely to be intelligent as well?”

Another ripple of nods.

“How about education students then?”

Many students frown, and some seem to have expressions of disgust.

“I see,” continues the alien. “Our research has found that education students are generally regarded as being at the lowest level of academic standing at almost any university in the world with the exception of a couple of places in Finland.”

“I have just one last question, and then I must go.”

“If you are so smart, and you think education students are so stupid, why do you let them raise your children?”

And then, before anyone can speak, the alien vanishes in a puff of splendidly multicolored smoke.

Humans have also been critical of education.

In 1991, John Taylor Gatto, New York State Teacher of the Year, resigned, sending a copy of his resignation letter to the New York Times. Here is a small quote:

I've come slowly to understand what it is I really teach … I teach how to fit into a world I don't want to live in.

I just can't do it anymore. I can't train children to wait to be told what to do; I can't train people to drop what they are doing when a bell sounds; I can't persuade children to feel some justice in their class placement when there isn't any, and I can't persuade children to believe teachers have valuable secrets they can acquire by becoming our disciples. That isn't true.

― John Taylor Gatto

Similarly, Ivan Illich in his book Deschooling Society says:

Universal education through schooling is not feasible …  The current search for new educational funnels must be reversed into the search for their institutional inverse: educational webs which heighten the opportunity for each one to transform each moment of his living into one of learning, sharing, and caring.

― Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society

All is not lost, however. Sugatra Mitra is known for his “Hole in the Wall” experiment. 

This work demonstrated that groups of children, irrespective of who or where they are, can learn to use computers and the Internet on their own with public computers in open spaces such as roads and playgrounds, even without knowing English. Mitra's publication was judged the best open access publication in the world for 2005. 

― Wikipedia

Let's make a few things apparent in case you are a parent.

You might be wondering if I have indeed said, “We incarcerate our children in institutions at a critical time in their development with some of the least educated among us.”

That is exactly what I am saying.

But  relax.

You are probably a reasonably adjusted person, even though you went through the education system. You managed didn’t you? Your children will too.

If you are in online programs such as Write of Passage, or reading articles on Substack or Medium or Ghost, you are probably an intelligent person. Intelligence has a substantial genetic component. So your children are lucky because your genes will make them smart too.

There are a few things you can do. The first thing is to get out of the way. Support your child with love, a safe environment and the freedom to safely explore. Let them discover the world by themselves.

You could move to a place where schools are awesome, like Finland. Finland is known for having wonderful schools. And you can see the Northern Lights there. 

You might enroll your children in a free school like A. S. Neill’s Summerhill School, a place where students go to classes when they want to.

Be an example to your children by making yourself smarter. 

If you read books instead of watching television, eat nutritious food instead of Twinkies, and scan the news using RSS feeds, or Ground News rather than Fox News, you will serve as a great example to your children.

Check out online learning Websites, like Khan Academy, an American non-profit educational organization with over 10,000 video lessons teaching a wide spectrum of academic subjects.

At the end of my career, I am trying to explain to my students that they don’t need me. All the resources are readily available. They should take responsibility for educating themselves.

I am merely a guide. 

The deepest, most important learning isn’t something a teacher does to you, it’s something you need to experience yourself.