It Really is Higher Education

（*SATはThe Scholastic Assessment Testのことで、アメリカの高校生が大学に進学する際に受験する大学進学適正試験です。）

Those of you who've taken my SAT classes know that I'm not much of an authority figure; I ask for enough quiet to be able to teach the class, but I've never--nor will I ever--berate a student for not trying hard enough, not showing enthusiasm, or whatever. To a large extent, this is because I don't have to; the vast majority of you come to class because you already know--even if no one's ever spelled it out for you in so many words--that you, yourself, must take the responsibility for moving toward those things that you want in life.


Still, there's a short speech I like to give my first day of SAT classes about the transition between high school and college, and how that transition represents a paradigm change between the end of primary education and the beginning of higher education.


First and foremost, higher education tests higher cognitive skills, namely critical thinking and reasoning. Certainly, the oft-repeated saw that primary schools are merely zombie factories which crush indendent thought is, at best, a gross simplification. Many of my high school teachers nurtured and encouraged rationalism whenever they saw it, and I doubt that things have changed that much since I went to school (that is, the late 1800s). However, the main mission of K-12 education is to produce young adults possessed both of core knowledge, and the ability to sit still, face front, and obey authority.


College will test (and improve) those basic skills, and you'll certainly--if you make even the slightest effort--acquire a great deal of knowledge there. However, much of your classroom discussion will probably be devoted to what YOU think, and why. You'll have many opportunities to present your opinions and evidence, and to defend them against those who don't agree with you. Stated simply, much of high school is you being told what you need to know; much of college is you being asked to evaluate the logic and value of others' arguments, and to construct your own. Hence the term "higher education."


Second, and often tougher for young students to truly appreciate, is the fact that, after high school, no one associated with your education is really gonig to get bent out of shape if you fail, whether it be for lack of ability or lack of effort. Most of your college professors will likely run their classes in exactly the same manner that I conduct mine. As long as you don't disrupt the class, you can come and go as you like, and express as much or as little interest in the subject matter as you deem appropriate.


That's not because your professors and I don't care about you or your education. Rather it's because their job is to guide you in becoming truly educated. Not just 2+2=4 educated, but running the world educated. I consider your class not just a course on how to conquer the SAT, but also an early opportunity to exercise the skills of self-motivation and planning that you will need in college.


I typically close my lecture with the admonition "brains need surgery, and poles need dancers." Ultimately, in other words, what each of you end up doing for a living is in your own hands, so treat your lives and your futures with the dignity they merit.


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・【Quantitative Comparisons: It's the Critical Thinking, not the Math!】2009.05.06 (Wed)