How to Break the Cycle of a Repetitious Education

Back-to-School

Do you remember being a 5th-grader and savoring those last few weeks of summer before you start
back to school? You treasure every day, skating in the street with your friends, swimming at the
community pool and staying up to the last minute of your summer bedtime curfew. Then, all the
sudden, summer is over and the first week of school comes with a barrage of emotions: excitement to
catch up with old friends, nerves about being in a new school or with a new teacher, happiness over
being in class with an attractive girl or popular boy, worried about getting stuck with the hardest
teacher, and eagerness to start learning! (Okay...maybe only a few students experience that last one, I
loved learning and still do!)

Unfortunately the high from the first day of school doesn’t last long. As a teacher begins a new year with
a fresh set of students, they will often prompt an entry exam. Not for a grade, but to gain an
understanding of the student’s knowledge in each subject...and to observe how much material was
completely erased over the summer holiday! Soon students are reviewing the syllabus and dreading the
work ahead: homework, projects, presentations, and cumulative exams. In most cases, the first month
or so is spent laboriously reviewing all of the lessons that the summer magically erased from kid’s
brains.

Ironically, students complain, “But we already learned this last year!” or “Why are we doing this again?”
Yet they don’t actually remember the information. Traditional schools function in this manner: test for
basic knowledge, review previously learned material, teach new information. Rinse and repeat.
How would you feel if your career followed this pattern? What if every Monday your team got together
to review the professional codes of conduct? At first, you’d learn new things and be engaged, but I’m
assuming that six weeks later you’d be bored out of your mind and wouldn't even hear the codes of
conduct being discussed...you'd all be participating in a rote and memorized manner, not really even
knowing what you are learning and saying.

We wonder what happens after the first few weeks of school...

 Is all of the material new or is some of the content repeated?

 Do kids learn the same concepts year after year?

 Why is there such heavy repetition of information?

 Why does the length of review expand longer and longer every year?

At Makarios, we’ve noticed that kids are tired of learning the same material over and over again.
Eventually, they just block it out altogether. This is fruitless and unproductive...so what is the
alternative? In her blog Approaching Academics at Makarios Community School, Donella Cecrle shows
how nothing really matters until high school, so why not engage those young minds in subjects and
experiences that intrigue and delight?

Repetition of Information

As an elementary student, you learn how to write the alphabet and read basic words. Then you expand
your spelling and reading skills until you can analyze stories and create your own writings! Recognizing
literary elements like antagonist/protagonist, conflict, and theme becomes second nature indicating
that some repetition is helpful. But is it really necessary to practice poetry or comprehending
Shakespeare every single year in high school?

How about grammar? I can’t tell you how many times my teachers reviewed the differences among
“to,” “too,” and “two” or between “their” and “there.” I bet flashbacks are rolling through your brain,
too...guess what? I still look up when to use "it's" vs "its". Did my teachers "teach" me this lesson? Of
course, they did, but I don't always remember the rules because my brain is full of stuff that I can't look
up on Google. My brain is full of strategy, ideas, solutions, plans, and everything else that goes into my
career and life.

Algebra isn’t useful for daily life, but it’s hammered in school over and over. Concepts of algebra are first
introduced in late elementary school with word problems: “I bought 10 apples. Each apple cost $1. How
much money did I spend on apples?” They are then more complex by the end of middle school: “I have
$20 to spend at the store. 1 apple costs $1 and 1 potato costs $2. How many potatoes can I buy if I buy 6
apples?”. And algebra is in full force before high school graduation: Solve for x. 9(x+723) - 4(x-64)= 32 +
618x . No matter the subject of math, algebra is an integral part of the lesson (For all of your calculus
nerds, that is another pun for your enjoyment!). Let’s not even get started on geometry...from
kindergarten to 12th grade student’s simply can’t escape learning their shapes, over and over and over
again.

Anyone else have the problem of never finishing history class? Not that you didn’t pass the class, but
that history always seemed to be chopped off. World War II? I barely finished learning about WWI.
However, every history teacher loved to teach about the Civil War (every single year, over and over
again). Another confession, I’m not good at remembering specific dates of importance from our history,
and yet, I received straight A's from elementary through college. What does that tell ya?

Our secret...

Do you know what we’ve noticed? It seems that certain topics have repeatedly been “learned” so much
that they are forgotten. Facts, formulas, and famous people are so heavily discussed year after year that
our kid's eyes begin to glaze over. Sure, they think that they know about (fill in the blank,) but the reality
is that they can’t really tell you much.

Don’t believe me? Test yourself on basic knowledge that is taught frequently throughout the span of a
child’s education. See how much you remember!

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Do you remember these facts that you probably learned every single year of your schooling?

1. Geometry: How many sides does a heptagon have?

2. History: What year was the Declaration of Independence signed?

3. Algebra: Which algebraic property is shown here? 5 x (2 x 7) = (5 x 2) x 7

1. Communicative

2. Associative

3. Transitive

4. Grammar: What is a homophone for the word “one”?

5. Geography: How many oceans are there?

6. Science: What temperature does water freeze at, in both Fahrenheit and Celsius?

7. Science: According to the Periodic Table of Elements, “Ag” stands for what element?

1. Gold

2. Silver

3. Aluminium
 4. Argyle

8. Math: Which of these fractions is not equivalent to ½?

1. 33/66

2. 49/98

3. 23/48

4. 102/204

9. Grammar: How many plural nouns are in this sentence? I put a rock, a spool of thread, five
needles, and a handful of buttons into my pocket.

10. Who was our 12th president of the United States?

1. John Quincy Adams

2. Zachary Taylor

3. Ulysses S. Grant

4. Abraham Lincoln

Do you actually remember as much “common knowledge” as you think? I'll share something with you, I
have a couple of college degrees and run a couple of businesses and guess what? My brain hurts trying
to remember what I learned in college...I can't even think back to 5th grade! Instead of adding more
gray hairs to my head, I pull out my iPhone and ask Siri for answers. So, what do you do? Do you
continue to store countless facts and lessons in your brain or are you like me and you pull out your
smartphone to ask Google the answer? (Answers are at the bottom of the article.)

Why so much repeated curriculum?

From our perspective, the reason is simple: the lack of integrated curriculum.
And our solution is also simple: self-directed learning.

Content is frequently repeated among various grade levels because of the lack of vertical and
horizontal alignment of integrated curriculum.

Woah, that’s complicated...so let me do what most people do when they want to understand or learn
something...I am going to look that up on Google, spend a few hours researching and learning and then
I'll be back to explain.

So, here it is in nutshell...

The integrated curriculum ensures that all learning is covered, but not repeated, from one grade level to
the next, and also makes sure that material isn’t skipped between years.

Horizontal alignment is where teachers from each grade level collaborate to decide on which key
concepts are emphasized in each classroom of each specific subject; ultimately this allows every student
to have an equal education regardless of which teacher they have. For example, all 4th-grade science
teachers gather to create a 4th-grade science curriculum that all teachers follow and create together.

Similarly, vertical alignment is a process where all teachers of one subject gather to form a progressive
curriculum for each year of education. For example, the math teachers from 9th-12th-grade form
curriculum for each grade level to create a cohesive, smooth path for students, aiming to ensure that
each student fully comprehends math throughout their high school career.

Our simple solution

Self-directed learning. Why? Because it works!

Students who spend at least two years of their high school

education in a non-traditional school, like a Democratic Free School, are likely to go on to college (83%)
and complete at least a bachelor’s degree (44%), while most enter the arts or become an entrepreneur
(42%). According to longitudinal studies, in general students from schools like Makarios have no
problem adapting to a university or transitioning into adulthood.

You may consider author Black Boles' The Art of Self-Directed Learning as an individuals guide for
pursuing an "unconventional education" or on a much larger scale the Finnish education system. “We
prepare children to learn how to learn, not how to take a test,” said Finland’s Minister of Education and
Culture, Pasi Sahlberg. Isn’t he spot on about the aim of education? Self-directed learning, a concept
appreciated by the schools of Finland, allows each student to pursue education as they are interested.

Did you know that Finnish kids start school at age seven because the belief is that starting any earlier
will stress the kids out?

I am going to pause here and get on a soap box. Ready?

If we looked at that concept from the minds of typical Americans we'd be thinking "How is my 4-year-old
going to make it into Harvard if they don't start piano, ballet, and preparatory preschool now?! Those
Finnish people must not want their kids to be successful, kids can't learn if all they do is play and work
on stuff they want to do." So let me ask you, the typical American thinker...

 How many young kids do you know are on medication to focus their attention?

 How many young kids do you know are on medication for anxiety?

 How many young kids do you know that don't know how to climb a tree or fix themselves a
sandwich or solve a problem through experimentation and learning from cause and effect?

 How many young kids do you know go from sun-up to sun-down because they are booked in a
thousand-and-one activities to make sure they are ready for Harvard, Yale or Princeton?

I can guarantee you know at least five or maybe a dozen or more of these kids. How many of those kids
will actually go to an ivy league school? How many will complete their degree? How many will be happy
and successful in their career? How many will change their career at least 10 times? On the flip
side...how many of these kids will need to add two or maybe 4 more medications to help keep them
sane because well, now they not only have ADHD, but their appetite is suppressed and they can't sleep
or they sleep too much, so we might need to add in downers or uppers? Oh and now they need anxiety
meds because of side effects of the other meds. They are struggling in school and start cutting to cope
with the pain of life and the cycle just gets worse and worse until something breaks. Read the studies on
what is happening to American youth--it's horrible. (and...yes, I checked Grammarly to see if I used the
correct form of "it's".) .... end of soapbox.

Ok, back to the benefits of self-directed learning...

So in Finland, kids start at age 7 and only go to school for an average of 20 hours per week and roughly 6
hours and 45 minutes of their school week is spent outside playing. Giving young kids the time and
freedom to discover and explore their interests without the pressure of preparing for college.
Also, remember in our recent blog post, Comparing Democratic Frees Schools and Finland, the Finnish
education system has built their institution around trust, equality, play, and a multidisciplinary approach
to applicable learning. Teachers personally know their students and teacher knowledge is respected,
which means that a standardized test is not needed to understand skill levels. National standards are
given, yet teachers are prompted (and encouraged) to apply teaching methods that actually work for
their unique bunch of students, rather than simply force the knowledge.

At Makarios Community School, we couldn’t agree more! It seems that certain topics have been
repeatedly “learned” so much that they are forgotten. Why teach lessons in first grade that will be
continually preached over the next five or even 16 years? Shouldn’t we be providing opportunities for
our youth to be captivated by curiosity, driven by a desire to learn, and allowed to understand their
individual identity and learning style? Once those foundations are established, students can thrive
without the hindrance of repetition, forced learning, or boring school.

Break the repetitious cycle of rinsing and repeating information and allow kids to explore the world
around them through curiosity and play! If you are ready to explore alternatives to traditional
education, Schedule a Tour .

Answers to the quiz:

1. 7
 2. 1776

3. Associative

4. Won

5. 5 - Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, Antarctic

6. 32F, 0C

7. Silver

8. C. 23/48

9. 2

10. B. Zachary Taylor

References:

 The American Epidemic: Solutions for Over-Medicating Our Youth (Morgan James Publishing)

 https://www.amazon.com/Blake-Boles/e/B002EQHUME

 https://www.elevatedexistence.com/dr-daniel-amen-healing-the-7-types-of-add/

 http://facesofchildabuse.org/blog/americas-secret-crisis-over-medicating-our-youth/

 http://www.amenclinics.com/conditions/adhd-add/

 http://www.parenting.com/article/are-we-overmedicating-our-kids

 http://www.strugglingteens.com/artman/publish/printer_WRI-RS_130910.shtml

 http://www.caooy.org/

 ttp://www.hotchalkeducationnetwork.com/curriculum-alignment-matters/

 http://othereducation.com/index.php/OE/article/view/105

http://info.makariosschool.com/blog/how-to-break-the-cycle-of-a-repetitious-education