Challenging the Education Status Quo

This season, I coached some pretty intelligent kids. However, they were constantly stressed about their homework. I remember those days. However, looking back, I realize much of the work was very inconsequential. In both cases, the most important result from the work was the grade it earned. Few people - teachers or students - appear concerned with learning, only doing work and getting the right grade. Teachers have a responsibility to show that they finished all the material, while students chase the right marks for college admissions. As Sir Ken Robinson said in his talk at the TED conference, the entire educational system has turned into a protracted university application.

When I write about developing basketball players and the youth basketball development system, I start with the end-product and work backwards. If we use this same idea with education, what does it suggest as the end-product? A student with perfect attendance and a 4.0 GPA: is that all the education system attempts to accomplish? Is there education beyond GPAs?

Many argue that a high GPA is evidence of intelligence. I disagree. I think my high school GPA had very little to do with intelligence and had very much to do with time management skills and understanding the school process. Teachers did not reward those who learned the most, but those who performed the best on tests, quizzes and homework. Most tests, quizzes and homework do not require thinking and analysis, but memorization and regurgitation. Teachers test one's ability to read material and repeat it the next day, rather than the ability to read material, understand it and make sense of it outside the context of the portion read for homework.

Somehow, I understood the process very early and very clearly and so I mastered the educational system even though I never felt as smart as my GPA suggested. I received an A in chemistry, for instance, and never learned anything about chemistry. I passed the AP U.S. History test with an essay about Kirk Gibson's home run in the 1988 World Series.