Truth is, if I actually did get arrested for writing a piece like this, then this isn’t a democratic society so my attention would just go towards that issue, before education. Simples! :D

Anyway, my gran’s anxieties aside, this is another rant about how western governments use competition rhetoric to provoke fear and win votes for education policies, when it’s simply not necessary and retards education by putting fear in the driving seat.

You’d never guess! My article went down really well! These are some comments from people who’s work I admire and who I asked to pretty-please take a look at the piece…

Crazy right? It’s so much fun to feel seen inside a field I actually want to learn about and help improve. So much fun! Which field interests you the most?

Here’s the article…

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You know those fist-pumping speeches that invariably include the line, “make this nation’’s schooling the best in the world!” Almost without exception we hear this wherever national schooling exists: US, UK, Canada, Australia…

Am I the only one who shudders at this wholly accepted rhetoric around competition? Does this really make sense?

You might say “competition drives improvement!” Or national pride is good.” Yes! I wholeheartedly agree with both of these excellent points. But let’s explore what this means.

Competition

Would a world-class sprinter have any interest racing the nearest 30 people of the same age? We all know this race would be pointless, for our sprinter would probably thrash the competition without breaking a sweat. Then we have the runners forced to race when they ha’ve other interests and strengths. What a joyless experience for everyone involved!

When we push all students through the same exams, students, like our sprinters, are not challenged. Other students, shamed by their poor comparative performance, lose confidence, as they’’re beaten in races they never chose to run. This, my friends, is how a system creates student disengagement.

Some people may argue that “school exams are the basics!” Are they though? Basics? Are you able to read what you want to read in your own time? Can you add and subtract numbers when you are ready?

Even when students ace exams it’s said it’s because the exams “are too easy. Governments add hurdles–—a wall, a ditch and monkey bars until our sprinters finally feel the pinch of failure in the name of “rigorous assessment.”

What did our sprinter need? Competition, yes! But not externally defined compulsory competition that ranks all who happen to share a birth year and geographic region the same way. Not competition designed to lead to failure.

Governments that want competition, better step back and let teachers support students in connecting with peers regionally, nationally and internationally. Let mathletes find mathematicians, writers find journalists, bands find musicians, and tinkerers find mechanics.

We love challenge! Competition emerges naturally as we connect with others who love what we love regardless of age, location, social status, gender, religion or any other defining factor. The internet is here now. Let us connect and you’’ll see how we really compete.

National Pride

Pride in yourself, your family, community, nation and humanity are all good things. When teachers must batch students through a career of hoops that lead to failure, our students are left with little time or energy to develop true self-pride.

School grades, certificates and prizes condition the idea that hoop-jumping is something to be proud of. This is empty. This system leads to stressed teachers calling students lazy, exasperated and parents bribing their children to learn. When the media plasters student’s supposed incompetence throughout the world and politicians shout about “lost futures” we must ask: Governments, don’’t you see any fault in this system?

What if schools were places where students develop real personal pride by doing the difficult work of finding themselves, discovering a purpose, then learning and growing from there? Perhaps we’’d see this pride of purpose filter to families, communities and, yes, to the nation. The best thing is it would not stop there. By doing this, we might even have a chance at discovering pride of purpose for humanity. Now, that would be something!

“Schooling in my country is better than yours!” This line never served us well. Is it not time to reach a higher level? Local, free and non-selective schools standing for self-selected competition and the search for true pride among nations–is this not what we all long for?

Leah K Stewart is on a mission to bring students and teachers together with this call “Dear Governments, Trust Our Teachers!” Leah is a Teaching Consultant and Public Speaker on Schooling from the Student’s Perspective from the U.K.

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BTW, that title ‘Teaching Consultant and Public Speaker’ is totally made up to make myself sound more official. The funny thing is that it’s kind of true now, only I wouldn’t phrase it that way.

In six months, what would you like to be called? What if you wrote something and signed off as that title today? Just for fun of course ;-)