top of page

Content vs. Process

Zack Henry


As a public school teacher in the age of Google, Wikipedia, and the vast troves of information available to us all online, I often stated the aphorism “I’m not teaching you what to think, but how to think”. Put another way, I wasn’t interested in teaching my students information, but instead how to process that information and make sense of it. After all, everything that I could teach a student about US History in my Social Studies classes was available for them online, anytime, and usually for free. The nature of knowledge and information had changed, and I was not interested in students memorizing dates, names, or details that could be, and would be, referenced online if they ever needed to be remembered. 


Teaching at Forge has brought me back in the other direction. Sure, I am still very invested in shaping my students’ thought patterns and helping them make sense of the world in which they live. But I have begun to teach ideas again, and skills alongside them. What has changed is that the ideas and skills that I teach cannot be Googled or looked up on Wikipedia. My students are not expected to memorize rote facts about history or syntax or the MLA 7 writing conventions. Instead, they are learning thermodynamics by creating fires in cold and wet conditions. They are learning environmental science by journaling about animals and recognizing birdsong. They are learning the mechanics of writing by telling stories from their lives, their imaginations, or from what they see in front of them at any given moment. Through working on these skills, I have found that students are coming to me with questions about these topics and others, not because they need to memorize facts for a test but because they are interested in learning them. They can recognize that more information about the world they live in allows them to develop skills that will help them thrive and grow. 


This difference between classes at public school and at Forge highlights something important about the nature of information in the 21st century. Facts are Googlable, curiosity is not. Equations are best done on a computer, while creative problem-solving still lives in the realm of humanity. You can get advice on how to thrive from Youtube, or you can learn from your experiences how to best move through life (one of those is more effective than the other, and I bet you know which one without needing to Google it). 


All of this has led me to a profound realization about learning and education. Humans want to learn. This is especially true of adolescents, who crave the knowledge and skills that will help them to lead successful lives. Therefore, education should not be as difficult as it is every day in public school. Let kids look up facts, for that is what adults do. Let kids learn how to use AI, as that is the technology they will grow up alongside. We need to shape what we are teaching our students around the world in which they are living, not the world that existed 20, 30, or 40 years ago. There is something deeply misguided about any educational system that struggles to unlock the enthusiasm that exists in every adolescent, and starting with building excitement around progress and highlighting the usefulness of learning seems like a great remedy to me.

9 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

The Case for Working With Your Hands

Many of us do work that feels more surreal than real. Working in an office, you often find it difficult to see any tangible result

Comments


bottom of page