Activity 2.3 (Skinner and American Education)

The largest theme that stuck out for me in Skinner’s article, outside of reiterating why cognitive and humanistic psychologists haven’t been able to grasp the essence of effective teaching, is that teachers need to use their time in class more efficiently. He gives 4 suggestions which include needing to understand and be clear about what is being taught, that the bulk of what we teach should focus on the process (first things first) rather than just being about the end results (tests), also that each student learns at different paces and through different methods, and finally that we need to program the subject matter specific to our audience members (individual/student). I found it very interesting how Skinner talks about research and other scholar’s views on education from 10-30 years ago, in 1983 when he wrote this particular article, and that 30 years later in 2013 we still are missing fundamental aspects of what learning and education is really about. My favorite statement is on page 4 when he says that “It has long been said that college teaching is the only profession for which there is no professional training.”

With that being said, would Skinner be ashamed at American education today? Absolutely! We aren’t training our teachers to be effective teachers in the college setting. They get a Masters or PhD in their major field of study and, if they want to teach, go right into the classroom as if they know how each student will absorb and apply the information. I know I’ve been guilty of this approach as well.

I think Skinner would not only embrace the School of One but be one of its biggest advocates. One of his solutions to the problem with American education was that we need to “stop making all students advance at the same rate”, which is essentially what the School of One is all about. It allows students to learn through various means and methods either by use of technology, hands on experience, or within a group. At the end of the day, hypothetically speaking, students learn what the teachers set out for them to learn.

Free will is said to be more of a thought of fiction, that we must be willed to act based off of our internal thoughts and feelings. Skinner, and behaviorism, believes that there are external reasons or causes for the internalized state of affairs. Once we identify the causes then we can get rid of or “dispose of” free will and “attribute nothing to it”. I’m beginning to rethink everything I do now!