Education: Entertainment and Individual Learning

I am educator and not an entertainer.  Anything that I do that is entertaining when I teach is a bonus, not an essential part of what I do. I am also not a personal tutor when I have a classroom of students.  They are a group and not a room full of individuals.   

Part of my insistence on this comes from my belief that if you need to be entertained to learn, then you don't value what you are learning very much or see its importance. When we use entertainment to teach too often, we are not taking the material or the student seriously.  And as a result the student isn't likely to take the class or the material seriously.  The material is turned into something like a disposable, consumable product which can easily strip it of its importance.  It is used, if at all, to get a grade, to pass a test and then left aside and forgotten. 

Yes, entertainment can make learning easier-- on both the student and the teacher. However, it very easily makes it too easy and takes the seriousness out of the process of learning.  If entertainment is too closely tied to learning in the students’ experience, the students don't learn how to learn on their own and without being entertained.  Learning and knowing how you learn best is a very important skill to have, now days more than ever.

As an educator I am also not a personal tutor.  There is a time and place for that, and as a teacher there is a need to be aware of your audience and try to reach them in an effective way.  That however does not mean that the teacher needs to work with each person individually.  The goal is to get them to the same place, on the same page.  If they come to you individually outside of class because they are struggling, the goal should be to get them what they need to get up to speed with the class.  Part of learning in a group is learning to be in a group.  That is something that we need to be able to do to be part of a community and a democracy.  Having things tailor made for you all the time is a way to keep you from leaning how to be part of a group and community.

If you are more advanced and everything is tailor made for you, you never learn how to slow down and help others.  If you are behind, you may never get a chance to catch up and be part of the group.  Yes, those that are advanced should get a chance to go ahead a bit at some point.  Without people going ahead we would never break new ground that others can, as a group, cover later to the benefit of all. And those that are behind do need some extra attention to help them catch up, ideally in the form of learning habits and skills that allow them to keep up on their own.  But there should be an emphasis on the group because if we value democracy we need to value the ability to work and function in a group and in a way that that makes community possible.