Common Sense Standard (CSS) #1 - The Learning Cooperatives

Education is training; not a performance, game or race to the top. It shouldn’t make or break anyone, but it should shape and build everyone. The way I see it, no one passes or fails in training. They simply get more or less out of it. Training equips, but it doesn’t prove anything. Education is Yoda training Luke how to use the force; it’s the karate kid waxing on and off. It’s preparation and practice for the real deal. And the real deal is not college; it’s creating a meaningful life of one’s own.

So what? What does this mean for education? It means everything that comes before the “real world” is child’s play…literally. And we should take “play” seriously. (If you don’t think of play as training, just watch a couple of kittens wrestle.) We should make a lot of of room for creativity, risks and mistakes. We should give a lot of feedback and encouragement. I mean, A LOT. But never should we say it’s done; you failed or you made it. Instead, we can point kids to their own possibilities. “You can do more. I believe in you.” ….And we can point them to their progress. “You’ve come so far. You must feel good!” These are the words we expect from any good trainer. The better the trainer, the better the training.

(New to this series? Start at the beginning: Common Sense Learning.)

[Photo Credit: Image by Loren Javier]