Humphrey contemplates his education

It’s kind of fun to have some time off from school, Humphrey thought to himself. Though, he missed all his friends and the grown-up humans who work there a lot! By school, he’s of course referring to daycare.

Humphrey discusses philosophy of
education in the cool grass.

“What’s the purpose of school?” he asked his guardian this lazy, hot summer afternoon as they sat on a bamboo mat under the apple tree to keep cool.

She looked up from the papers she was reading. Humphrey, incidentally, is not fond of people reading silently when really they should be interacting with their dogs.

“Huh?” she said, clearing the contents of the page just read from her mind to focus on Humphrey.

“I go to school, and learn some things there, but why do I go to school, exactly?”

“Many reasons,” she responded. “What do you think?”

“Well, I like school because I get to see all my friends, and sometimes I get to learn neat things.”

“Like what?” she asked Humphrey.

“Well, I learned that Oliver is hilarious!” Oliver, of course, is the Maltese dog who amuses everyone, dogs and people, with his antics, and whose name appears with astounding regularity on Humphrey’s report card. “And,” Humphrey continued, “I learned to howl, but you’re not supposed to know that.”

“Oh, I know about that,” the guardian said. In fact, the daycare staff recorded a video of Humphrey howling while perched on the top of the couch with his nose pointed straight to the ceiling (which they excitedly showed her that day). “What else?”

Humphrey was momentarily sheepish, realizing his secret was out, knowing he’s supposed to only use his quiet voice at all times. “Um,” he thought, “I learned how to use my paw to gently tap sleeping dogs on the head when I want to play. And how to trick the big dogs by hiding underneath a low chair, and racing to another low chair before they can catch me.”

“So, you can do all kinds of things, and learn different things at school, right?”

Humphrey nodded.

“People have been debating the purpose of schooling for humans for thousands of years,” the guardian explained.

“Thousands of years? Is that before you were born?”

“Yes it is, Humphrey! There were these philosophers –“

“Philosophers?” Humphrey interjected, “You mean, like your father?”

“Yup,” she said. “Just like him, but long ago, before he was born. So long ago that they wore something called togas instead of pants!”

“Well,” Humphrey said, “they must have been very smart. Pants are uncomfortable. Don’t you hate pants?”

“That’s inconsequential,” she said, winking. “So these philosophers started out some of the debates about the purpose of schools. And those same debates still happen today! They said, way back then, that there are three main purposes of schooling. They used big words though. The first is aesthetic, which is a fancy way of saying schooling to be a learned person. The second is civic, which means that school should make you a member of your community, who knows how to interact with others and do the important things that citizens do so that we have a better place to live – “

“Oh, I like that one!” said Humphrey. “What’s the last one?”

“The last one is to prepare people for their role in work, that’s the instrumental aim of education.”

“Really? Those are the purposes?”

“That’s what a lot of people have been arguing about for many years. But there are also other ones. For example, there’s a philosopher called Nel Noddings who pretty recently raised the issue that our schoolsshould include a purpose of helping people learn to be happy and fulfilled.”

“Ooooh, I like that one, too. Everyone should be happy. I think school makes me very happy!”

“Yes, it does! But she meant that school should help people learn how to make themselves happy when they are not in school.”

Humphrey thought for a second. “I already know how to do that, though.”

“You sure do!” the guardian said. “Others have a cynical view. Some people, like John Taylor Gatto, feel that schools are there to sort people in unfair ways, and to keep children busy and out of their parents’ hair.” (Here's a really fascinating article by Gatto)

“Oh, that’s sad. But isn’t it true that I go to school so you can go to work without worrying about me?”

“That is completely true!” the guardian said. She decided not to try to explain the difference between school and daycare to Humphrey today.

“So,” Humphrey asked, “if no humans seem to agree on the purpose of school, then who gets to decide what we do at school?”

“That is a fine question, little Humphrey,” the guardian said. “But you pointed out two things: there’s what you learn, and what you do (that second part being how you learn it). Right now, the government elected by the people makes a list of what children learn in school. And right now, the teachers get to decide how the children get to learn it. Some teachers allow children to learn by playing and doing, others like to talk and talk and have the children read and do worksheets.”

“Oh,” said Humphrey. "What if a teacher disagrees with what children are supposed to learn? Does she go to jail for breaking the law?”

“Luckily, no, she will not go to jail. What students learn is in something called a ‘policy,’ but not a law. So the teacher might get in a bit of trouble, if anybody notices, from her school, but she won’t go to jail.”

“Can teachers go to jail for making children do worksheets? That seems like it should be illegal.”

“That’s a fine point, Humphrey, because research actually shows that worksheets are teacher-talking are actually really not helpful forchildren’s brain development! But nonetheless, they are allowed to do such things.”

“I guess I’m lucky that we don’t have worksheets at my school. Only report cards. Otherwise I might have a tiny, pea-brain.”

"That would never happen, Humphrey. You're smart!"