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#BTColumn – Learning is now a buffet

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Julia Hanschell

I am a pragmatic problem solver by nature. An Art background brought me more truth than dreams.

Yet, I am a utopia-seeker, although I have finally accepted utopia will never exist. I am not yet at the point of believing that creative solutions cannot be found – constantly thinking positively in the realm of the unusual.

I acknowledge the discomfort that progress will require. Truth + change = resentment or progress.

This is my current challenge: the unfortunate fact that a huge majority of students have basically been under-taught for the better part of a school year. ‘Wait and See’ has failed dismally and detrimentally.

Teachers annually manage what is known as ‘summer slide’. Students spend July and August forgetting what was proficient just weeks before.

Teachers diligently ‘spiral back’ to past-learned material, so that they can catch students up and get them ahead to where they should be. But how do we compensate for seven months of lost, meaningful learning?

Sadly, I am witnessing the ‘Ostrich Syndrome’ in full swing and ‘Rome’ actually took teams and centuries to build. We have seven months before CSEC.

It is a colossal task and the solutions are far from straightforward as they involve commitment from a united and focused team – parents, students and teachers collaborating.

More crucially, the truth of clearly obvious solutions needs to be paramount: a change of habits, sacrificing social time, a mental paradigm shift, longer hours spent independently catching up through dedicated practice and intrinsic motivation to plough through. It’s obviously ‘unfair’ but we need to get beyond this.

The only analogy I can think of is that the fine-dining experience of being a student has been replaced by an inadequate buffet where there is not enough ‘food’ available to feed everyone.

Forget ‘waiting for service’; students must ‘grab’ what they need to succeed.

We are also living in a ‘no man’s land’ with zero information on examination amendments for 2021 for which teachers can plan.

Teachers’ mental health is challenged daily; fear has paralyzed many. The challenge of completing Curriculum, which is already behind by about 75 per cent exacerbates the professional panic.

Meanwhile, parents have expectations, as they have a right to, that teachers will somehow ‘teach selectively, and thereby effectively, so that their children pass exams’.

It is time for truth and facts, collective amendments, change, teams.

Students have never craved social interaction more, and we all understand this need for personal connection, especially among the young.

Parents who support ‘partying’ should be aware of the price being paid – this dilution of focus will result in hours that negatively impact concentration to ‘catch up’. Parents have ownership of the coin – flip it and accept
the result.

The time for sitting on the laurels of ‘my child is bright and capable’ is over. Neither of these accolades can compensate for lost learning, without extensive effort being embraced by students and almost dictatorial involvement being enforced by parents. Supervision at home has never been more essential than it is now.

So, let’s first of all, discover the facts. Ask teachers to tell you honestly where your child stands in relation to preparedness for 2021 exams – whether these are promotional, CSEC, or CAPE. You may not hear what you want to, but ‘Knowledge is Power’.

Make the commitment to change the home environment. Right now, there is still some time; not a lot of it, but some. Home study has become, on average, 65 per cent of a student’s week.

If schools were to be informed NOW what to expect with CSEC or CAPE in 2021 (as Cambridge does), teachers could amend Lesson Plans and actually PLAN.

If nothing else, they could plan to teach TO the exam. This is never the best option, but at least it would furnish teachers with the information they need to ensure that students pass, so that they can move on academically.

We are all craving certainty. None is forthcoming, nor likely to be.

However, CLARITY would help enormously. So, we together, are faced with making the best of an incredibly unpredictable situation.

Parents, monitor your children exceedingly closely – particularly their ‘trusted’ access to the internet. Ensure they understand THEIR current reality and that they must participate, to an unprecedented degree, in personally accessing learning.

Students need to accept that changed practices are expected of them – they are responsible for their grades.

Parents should oversee their children, change their habits and ‘Seize the Day’. Particularly if they are on ‘short time’ and receiving reduced contact teaching.

Those non-contact hours need to be embraced by students to continue learning through managing the material sent to them. If there is none, they know the topic.

Have them utilise YouTube or Khan Academy; research everything available to access knowledge.

Hippocrates said, “Desperate times call for desperate measures”. We all have to step up to the plate if we want progress-driven success, or sit back and trust. In what?

False hope?

Finally, Arthur Schopenhauer said, “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

Julia Hanschell can be contacted on smartstudying@gmail.com.

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