The Mission of Braving Education

I don’t remember how old I was exactly when I got my first Walkman, but I remember my sudden amazement to the fact that I could slide a cassette tape into a device and play and replay (over and over again) that one hit song I first heard on the radio or saw on MTV. And I could use this technology wherever and whenever I wanted. It was fascinating. 

But, eventually, most of us would grow tired of that one song, and the manual rewinding it demanded of us. Bored by it even. So we acquiesced and let the whole tape play. I mean both sides. And you know what? That’s when the spell would lift and many of us discovered that our favorite songs were never the hit songs; they were the songs hiding behind the hits. They revealed so much more about the album and the artist, and ourselves.

The MO of the Walkman showed me the value in slowing down and appreciating both the sum of something and all its parts. The album and all its songs. It took time to listen through every song that I didn’t know; and, more often than not, it was worth it. These were the songs that offered something more than just a catchy chorus or beat. Of course the hit songs have their place in our precious pop culture. But these other songs offered something more for the individual: deeper thought and reflection on how the hidden and the showcased rely on one another. Acquiring this kind of holistic knowledge allowed us to formulate our own opinions on how we viewed the artist and their work, and allowed us to engage in legitimate discourse on the matter. 

But these other songs offered something more for the individual: deeper thought and reflection on how the hidden and the showcased rely on one another.

Gradually, with the rolling out of the DVD player, and then the MP3 player, and now with streaming platforms and algorithms, we’ve slid back into obsessing over the hits, speeding past the other pieces, taking the process for granted. Let’s throw in the latest in artificial intelligence and zoom out a bit further. AI is not only inspiring and wreaking havoc within creative communities, it’s also doing the same to learning communities, threatening the legitimacy of student work and throwing the learning process clear out the window. 

That’s one view, isn’t it? But we could also make the argument that it doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t have to view AI’s final products as our final products. Perhaps we should, and must view AI as just an improved tool to be used in an evolving process. The reality for educators, however, is that we are still operating within a product-centered culture. The assumption is that it’s easier and simpler to measure success by the final product, the final draft, by the final standardized test score. It’s more efficient. Concrete. Organized.

Perhaps we should, and must view AI as just an improved tool to be used in an evolving process. The reality for educators, however, is that we are still operating within a product-centered culture.

But, I don’t know. With all of these product-centered tools and theories and tests and mandates, our education system feels overwhelmingly piecemealed and at times completely disjointed. From my experience, product-centered systems can be just as messy as process-centered ones. If the goal is genuine and authentic learning, one is much more effective than the other. I’m glancing over at my dining room table as I write this. 

For the past week, my 10-year-old has been working on an upcycling project for school. The table is covered in scribbled and sketched brainstorms, scraps of plastic bottles, aluminum foil, cardboard, and garden netting. The list goes on, but you get the point. Eventually, a final product has emerged from the intentional chaos, and she’s now onto the writing portion, composing her introduction and a tabled list of her materials with descriptions. She’s had to borrow my phone a few times to take the required pictures of her project in its various phases. 

Needless to say, there’s nothing tidy about the process behind her project–and there shouldn’t be. It’s within this mess that all of the best learning is happening–in the process and its pieces. There’s creativity, resilience, engagement, failed attempts, frustration, revisions, and successes. 

The final product, albeit a significant moment of pride, is really just one piece of the larger picture–the hit song of the album if you will. It catches our attention, but it shouldn’t and doesn’t stop there. The real value is in the culmination of experiences created in each phase of that project. The album.

The final product, albeit a significant moment of pride, is really just one piece of the larger picture–the hit song of the album if you will.

Of course, this type of learning and teaching takes time, energy, and resources that, more often than not, are reserved for other things that run counter to, or distract us from these more effective teaching models. Budgeting. Time. Support. Time. Standardized testing. Flexibility. Time. Antiquated philosophies. Did I mention time? 

Some of us have been able to incorporate process-centered learning; but, more often than not, such learning gets more of an honorable mention in our curriculum instead of being the prized pillars holding the whole thing up.  

… such learning gets more of an honorable mention in our curriculum instead of being the prized pillars holding the whole thing up.

So, what exactly is my mission with Braving Education? It’s to slow down and engage in the larger discussion, explore the sociotechnical landscapes–the empirical pieces if you will– through the eyes of the teacher. It’s about finding and recognizing more purposeful ways to work within our current systems. But, if I’m being completely honest, especially in this new age of artificial intelligence, it’s also about challenging how American education operates and what it values. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some new music, and I’m hoping to build a community of educators who feel the same.