This feeling of hollowness is poignantly described in a short story by author John Cheever titled “Expelled.” Cheever attended a prep school in Massachusetts from which he was expelled for failure to maintain passing grades. Listen to him:
It was not the fault of the school at all. It was the fault of the system--
the non-educational system, the college-preparatory system. That was
what made the school so useless.
As a college-preparatory school it was a fine school. In five years
they could make raw material look like college material. They could clothe
it and breed it and make it say the right things when the college asked it to
talk. That was its duty.
They weren’t prepared to educate anybody. They were members of
the college preparatory system. (Cavitch, 1983, pp.183-184)
Hear the sense of hollowness?
What’s missing in an education that fixates on getting young people “college and career ready?” A great deal. Think about the questions that young people (like the rest of us) face as they are growing up. Who am I? Why am I here on this earth? What am I to make of my life? What is my obligation to others, to the planet, to future generations?These are metaphysical questions for which college and career readiness preparation offers no answers. And, if our young cannot begin to find answers to them, they will remain adrift, unfulfilled in their lives regardless of the career they eventually choose to pursue.
Schools driven by the commercial goal of getting students college and career ready focus too intently on preparing students to pass exams and enhance their resumes to impress colleges and universities, and future employers. They are not, as young Cheever realizes, "prepared to educate anybody." They are treating students as objects to be shaped and fashioned into marketable products rather than human beings in search of answers to the important questions of life--the questions we all wonder about and strive to find answers to.
In Hard Times, Charles Dickens also describes the problem of an education that focuses too much on the practical and excludes metaphysical questions.
When she was half a dozen years younger, Louisa had been overheard
to begin a conversation with her brother one day by saying, “Tom I
wonder” – upon which Mr. Gradgrind [her father, an educational reformer
and founder of a school], who was the person overhearing, stepped forth
into the light and said, “Louisa, never wonder!”
Herein lay the spring of the mechanical art and mystery of educating
the reason without stooping to the cultivation of the sentiments or
affections. Never wonder. [p.46]
Focusing on getting kids college and career ready is a commercial goal, and while it is important, it should not be allowed to be the overarching goal of all schooling. We must not educate children to never wonder about the larger questions of human existence and only focus on getting themselves ready for a career. And we must not reduce teachers to being Gradgrinds. Both deserve better than that.
In closing, I'd like to share with you the mission and core values of an international school I worked in. It sent virtually all of its students off to college and eventually to careers of their choice but it was committed to doing much more than that.
Mission Statement
Saigon South International School is a college preparatory school committed to the intellectual and personal development of each student in preparation for a purposeful life as a global citizen.
Core Values
Saigon South International School Believes In and Promotes:
Academic Excellence
A challenging academic program, based on American standards, that teaches the student how to think, to learn, to problem solve, and to work individually and in teams while acquiring a foundational knowledge base of the world.
Sense of Self
A community atmosphere in which each student can gain a sense of who he or she is in the world; to develop self-confidence, strong character, convictions, leadership abilities, grace, courage, the desire to be a life-long learner, and the commitment to achieve excellence in all he or she does.
Dedicated Service
A view that looks beyond oneself to the assets and needs of the surrounding community and the world and finds fulfillment in unlocking potential in the service of mankind. The model SSIS graduate will demonstrate a caring attitude, be environmentally aware, and persevere for the good of the community.
Balance in Life
An academic program that promotes an appreciation for all of life and seeks to balance the sciences with the humanities; academics with the arts; mental wholeness with physical, social, and spiritual wholeness; and future career with family relationships.
Respect for All
A perspective that each individual is a person of worth.