Swiss Army knife thinking

This week I spent a great deal of time alongside my students as they studied the geography of South Asia, and simultaneously collaborated on a group project (their task was to create a board game proposal that included some link to Hinduism).

On both activities, many students expressed their curiosity (and, yes, their skepticism) about my rationale for the assignments.

"Mr. McDonough, if we can search any of these places [rivers, countries, cities, mountain ranges, etc.] on Google Maps, why do we need to memorize them?"

or

"Can we please not work in a group? We are not collaborating AT ALL. I need a different group."


See, I didn't see these questions as a threat, or as an inappropriate questioning of my authority, or an insubordination of any kind whatsoever. Instead, I loved the questions. I leaned into them. They meant that my students were doing exactly what I wish for them to do...they were challenging the status quo and they were seeking clarity. They were questioning and they were being curious about the process of their learning. They were not threatened by what my response might be, and they willingly engaged me in conversation. They trust me.

I knew I had to have an answer. And I do.

So, here's what I said.

Firstly, the reason I have you memorize places in the world is not because I want you to know where they are on a map. Rather, my goals are twofold. One, when you read the news and hear about an earthquake in Kathmandu or a wedding in Mumbai, or an organization cleaning up waste in the Ganges, I want you to have context. Being an engaged cosmopolitan citizen (yes, they know the term) is about having awareness, and when you meet your college roommate and you learn that they are from India, I would love for your next question to be, "oh which state?" or "which part?" or "Oh, is that near Kalimpong?" I want you to be able to see that there are so many things to learn and that knowing even a little bit more increases your cultural capital and allows you to have empathy for the experiences of others; it allows you to engage with human beings in a new and deepened way. If globalization is the "widening, deepening, and speeding up of global interconnectivity," we too must widen and deepen our understandings to keep up with the pace of the world around us.

So, you're right, my student...Google saves time, but awareness about the world connects lives. Cultural capital keeps us curious, but Google just keeps us informed.

And what about those group projects, you ask?

Well, I've been reading David Epstein's new book, Range: why generalists thrive in a specialized world and I've been wildly inspired. I want you to collaborate so you can feel the satisfaction that comes from building something that pushes you to adapt and rethink on the fly. I wanted you to face a deadline and face critics who were invested in the performance as much as you are because they are your partners and teammates. I wanted you to see that there is beauty in the messiness of being finished and admitting "this is good enough....not perfect, but enough for today." I wanted you to toil together. And, yes, my students, I wanted you to struggle. Because the struggle is part of it. And you are learning about yourself as a member of the group, and about the strengths and shortcomings of your own role and identity.

Oh, and I wanted the board game to be fun, and for you to think laterally about the marketing plan and about Hindi and how you might incorporate the language, and about competition, and about the Caste System and the Himalayas and about the landscape of South Asia and the exchange rate of rupees and your own curiosity and brilliance. I wanted you to incorporate as much (or as little) as you possibly could and to be given free rein for your ideas to get BIG. I wanted you to use your abstract thinking skills and I wanted you to see the abstractions in the ideas  of your classmates. I wanted to give you many days to problem solve and to rethink your ideas because I love listening to the ways your ideas merge and transform. And I love watching you have time to do things slowly.*

I know you think that you would rather study on your own and take a test at the end because you know what you need to do to solve that equation, and to get a 100%. But the world's problems aren't solved alone. And you don't get 100% on really anything in life. Life just isn't that binary. And YOU aren't binary. And this IS life. Already. Right here. The real world isn't out there waiting for you...it's right here in your hands, and at your feet, and in your lungs, and in your minds.

And we need you to think beyond the tests and the scores and the grades and the isolated studying. Epstein agrees in that book I'm reading, Range. He writes that the current model of education and specialization within academia

"...must change...if students are to capitalize on their unprecedented capacity for abstract thought. They must be taught to think before being taught what to think about. Students come prepared with scientific spectacles, but do not leave carrying a scientific-reasoning Swiss Army knife." -David Epstein, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (referring specifically to the work of James Flynn).

I want you to think like Swiss Army knives, my students, so you're ready to do anything. I want to watch you transform the world...and that is why I assigned you this work.

And please, never stop asking me why I do.


*these two paragraphs are, coincidentally, exactly the kind of learning environment my son has in his kindergarten class. Kind of beautiful how I am trying to remind my 8th graders to learn like the once did...back when it came so easy.