Tomschoolery and Such

By Dr. Kevin Beardmore

Recently, I was reminded of a word that brought a smile to my face. Tomfoolery is silly, harmless fun. It brought back memories of carefree days long gone by. What sparked it was a new term, schoolishness, coined by anthropologist Susan D. Blum. Unfortunately, it is not so harmless, and, as you might imagine, it is not a term that an educator would want applied to one’s classroom.

While there is much more to her book-length exploration of current educational practice, she is concerned about the packaged nature of curricula in schools, which emphasizes time on task, continuous assessment, and topics that are presented in artificial contexts. Successful students learn to play the game, rather than to value learning. This results in most students being alienated from the joy of discovery and the mastery of knowledge and skills that will help them navigate and thrive in the world that they will make their own someday.

For me, this idea connected with my recent musings on how to best approach a college education increasingly impacted by artificial intelligence. The students who attempt to use AI to complete assignments are typically trying to avoid the critical thought that we were hoping they would exercise. Might it be that a curriculum composed of contrived and schoolish problems is to blame? If AI can do the work assigned, maybe a different approach is needed.

Thankfully, many methods already exist, particularly at the college level, that are better. Career-focused preparation is grounded in developing skills for the real world. While AI can provide solid summaries of essential background information, there is much it cannot do. It cannot complete hands-on troubleshooting and repairs. It cannot read the room when one is called upon to make a presentation. It cannot connect with a client who may know what they want but is struggling to express it, nor can it empathize with a patient and provide comfort. These are uniquely human endeavors at the heart of one’s education that require practice and feedback from experts. They are relatively resistant to Blum’s concerns.

Yet one might think that some general college courses could be more susceptible to schoolishness, and there may be some truth to this. An antidote came to mind, however, care of Neil Postman, an educator who was critical of mass media and the digital world more than two decades before the dawn of artificial intelligence. He wrote about the essential nature of questions, definitions, and metaphors to learning.

While AI can define terms and share previously written about metaphors, only an individual learner can come to understand what a word means to them, connect disparate ideas together through a metaphor that speaks to them, and formulate an original question that they want to answer. I believe these “Fundamental Intellectual Tools” are what make us “FIT” to be a species adaptable enough to survive in nearly every environment on this planet.

All this dovetails nicely with Blum’s call for more “learning in the wild.” She believes that learning is a human superpower. This may be one of the most important realizations to kindle within our students. If they own and treasure the power of that fire within them, it, once lit, will serve them for their entire lives, whatever career path they may choose.

The students who will be the changemakers of tomorrow will be able to think for themselves and use AI to enhance their learning, making their superpower even more potent. I believe some are already beginning to understand this. Let’s put an end to schoolishness and help them fulfill their potential.

Kevin Beardmore, Ed.D., is President of Southeast New Mexico College. He may be reached at kbeardmore@senmc.edu or 575.234.9211.