Girls = Evil

We've been having a lot of discussions in class about all the flaws in a learning environment that employs the idea of absolute knowing.  I completely understand and agree with the concept that mindfulness is a much richer knowledge than absolute knowing, but I think we need to give absolute knowing a little more credit.  The major criticism of absolute knowing lies in the idea that students are not actively engaged in their education.  They are simply memorizing concepts and moving on.  We want students to get creative, and to look beyond the idea that there are right and wrong answers.

My problem is that I do not understand how one could be expected to think outside the box and apply what we learn in school to our everyday experiences without some level of absolute knowing.  I am a very mathematical thinker.  In the foundations of Math, there actually is a right and wrong answer.  No matter how you shake it, 2 + 2 = 4.  In more complex Math theories, there actually is a great deal of creativity involved, but you have to understand the basics first.  The basics depend on absolute knowing.

Here's my example.  I'm sure many of you have seen this on the internet, but I am going to break it down to make a point:

• According to some men, the amount of money they spend is directly proportional to how much time they spent with their girlfriends.  Mathematically,

• According to Benjamin Franklin, time is money.  Mathematically,

• By way of The Transitive Property of Equality...

• The product of an integer and itself is that integer squared.  Therefore,

• According to the New Testament, money is the root of all evil.  Mathematically,

• We learned in algebra class that if you square one side of an equation, you must also square the other side of the equation. 

• The square of a square root of a number is that number...

• So we use the Transitive Property of Equality again to determine...

Obviously, this proof is just for fun.  Whoever thought of this did not make any sort of Mathematical breakthrough, but I used the equation to prove a point.  Before the author of this proof was able to display his creativity, he had to know a Benjamin Franklin quote, The Transitive Property of Equality, roots, powers, and a bible verse.  Absolute knowledge was the precursor to his creativity.

I am not saying we should abandon the idea of instilling mindfulness in our students.  What I am saying is that we should abandon the idea that absolute knowledge is somehow bad.  The ideal situation would be to combine the two.

In thinking about my educational experience, I believe I have effectively combined the two over the course of my 22 years.  In elementary school and middle school, I did schoolwork and studied because that was what people told me to do.  I unwittingly was engaged in the purest form of absolute knowledge.  My teacher told me 2 + 2 = 4.  She made a pile of 2 M&M's, added another 2, and then there were 4 M&M's.  That was it.

For me, high school was all about absolute knowledge as well.  I was not a particularly engaged student, but I did what I had to do to get good grades and go to college.  That was, memorize equations, definitions, story lines, laws, whatever it took.  But it was always about memorization, nothing more.

College was a place where I finally had the opportunity to apply what I knew to topics I was actually interested in.  There were still many instances of absolute knowledge, but they were the basis for mindfulness.  By my senior year, I had a very strong concept of the fact that I could link something I learned in tenth grade to a cocnept discussed in my freshman english class to my senior capstone project and ultimately to my own life.  My mindfulness began to exemplify itself in college, but I truly believe I needed a strong basis of absolute knowledge for this to occur.

Now I am in graduate school.  Absolute knowledge is at a minimum.  There are still some facts I just need to memorize, but for the most part this has been an exploration of what I already know, and how I am going to use it to be an effective educator.

I wonder how my educational career would have been different had I been more mindful in high school.  The transition into college certainly would have been a little smoother because I would have been more comfortable with this sort of thinking.  I don't think the strong presence of absolute knowledge in my education hurt me.  I am proud of how far I've come.  With that said, I think my education and my life as a whole would have been improved had I practiced mindfulness earlier in life.

I think we should stop comparing mindfulness vs. absolute knowledge.  We should explore how we, as educators, will find a way to make them work together harmoniously.