Parenting Advice From Joy Berry: Back to School—Part Four (The Three Main Goals of Education)

I had a college professor who began her teaching career in a makeshift, one-room school located in a remote area of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She was at her best when regaling us with what seemed to be far-fetched stories about the indigenous people with whom she worked.

One such story involved the installation of a small U.S. postal outlet inside the general store. Before then, there was little motivation for the natives to learn how to read and write. However, all of that changed with the advent of the ability to send and receive mail.

In the beginning, the person running the post office would read the mail to its recipients. But as the volume of incoming mail increased, it became incumbent upon the people in the area to learn how to read and write. And this is why the primitive school was established and my professor was hired to be its one and only teacher.

The most profound discovery that my professor made during her tenure in that one-room school, was the fact that people who are highly motivated to learn a subject (i.e. reading) can learn it in an approximate six-month period—even if, under ordinary circumstances, the subject would be taught over a seven-year period (the elementary school years). Such was the case with the Blue Ridge Mountain people who wanted to read and write their mail.

Many subsequent experiences confirmed to my professor (and later to me) that motivated learners can learn a subject in the span of approximately six months. And if this is true, this fact has profound implications for the educational goals of both parents and educators.

So, what should be the main goals of early childhood and elementary school education? To me they are simple.

The first goal is to help a child develop positive self-esteem. The second goal is to help a child develop positive social skills. And the third is to help children become lifelong learners, curious people who (1) love learning, (2) know how to formulate questions and (3) know how to get their questions answered.

If we accomplish these vital goals during the first 12 years of a child’s education, I believe with all of my heart, that all of the rest will fall into place.