Speaking of paying attention

Our head of school reads a lot of reports online on the state of education and forwards things to teachers on a daily basis, often more than once. Today we got something titled "Does Technology Distract Students and Harm Learning?" Results of a non-scientific test by some middle school teacher say "yes."

Well, duh. The report should be titled "Do Distractions Distract Students..?" Well of course they do. The problem isn't the technology, it's the context. What kind of learning are you talking about? The kind that's best done free of distraction? Anything that requires single-minded concentration will clearly be adversely affected by interfering stimuli, but is technological distraction any more harmful to learning than having the room too warm or somebody blowing leaves outside the window? Or maybe I could bring some cute puppies into class during a Calculus test and see how well people do.

I'm just poking holes here (and poking them in nothing really, because I didn't actually read the article, just the title and subhead). Before you can answer a huge, broad question like that, you need to ask an even broader one- what's the objective of school? Or if even that's too specific, what's the objective of learning? This is one of those questions that's more important to ask than to answer, but here's a thought or two.

I sometimes wonder what the people who set educational objectives are thinking about. For me, school isn't really about the specific things you're learning. I mean, only a tiny percentage of people who take biology are ever going to be biologists or even biologers (?). The point of the class is understanding the scientific method and how the natural world works. The point of reading Hamlet isn't to be Shakespearean. It's to learn to appreciate the power and richness of the written word and how it can be used to illuminate humanity.

So let's just say that the goal of school is to prepare people to live rich lives when they are no longer in school. If that's the case, I'm here to tell you that single-minded concentration is only one of the skills one needs to live a rich life. In fact, given life's chaotic nature, being able to concentrate when faced with multiple distractions is as important a skill as one could possibly acquire. I'm not a fan of multitasking, but I understand the benefit of being able to balance competing demands for your time and attention. Prioritizing and managing your personal resources, whatever they may be, are key both to making a positive impact on the world and to enjoying yourself.