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Choice: Is it Worth it?

The Ideology of choice, on which capitalism is structured, prevents social change.






So, is my advocation of multiple systems for learning simply an ingrained capitalist desire for choice?  And, by doing so am I undermining the stability of the current system that offers little choice?   And, does the current system, by offering little to no choice help alleviate anxiety in youth?


According to Professor Selecl, Choice creates anxiety in the three ways:


1) We choose what other people are choosing


If I simplify Prof Selecl's argument I can see that students, due to peer pressure, elevated need for belonging etc, almost always choose what the other students are choosing.  Peer pressure in teens is well documented and perhaps if given the opportunity to choose a learning system, students would end up not in the system that suits their educational needs, but the one that their friends are in.  This would most likely lead to a student body as anxious as the one we already have.


2) We are constantly trying to make the ideal choice


I love this point.  I am a victim of always trying to make the ideal choice, to find the best coffee, the best deal on flights, the best hotel.  But, I think this is where my idea for choice within the public education system defends itself.  I am not talking about wine where the difference between two is that the character of the bouquet is firm or whether it is crisp.  This is essentially the difference we have now.  Two schools may be different; they may have more or less successful sports teams, two crazy teachers, a tradition that involves farm animals, but because they are structured identically are basically the same.  When I am suggesting alternative structures, I am talking about real difference.  Rather than choosing between two similarly priced red wines, I am talking about choosing between wine and a bicycle.


3) Choice always involves loss


Sadly, choice involves loss and we are all afflicted by what we are missing.  If I choose the bicycle, I cannot help wondering what the wine would have tasted like.  Students in University are burdened with this anxiety all the time.  Biology students wish they had studied History; English students wish they had studied Science, "If I choose one direction in life I lose the possibility of another."  Through traditional classroom education in Canada we strive to keep all of the doors open.  Students must complete credits in Humanities, Arts, Science in order to graduate with the hope that they graduate as well-rounded individuals.  Is this fear of loss what drives the current system that forces students to take classes they have little interest in?  And, is it justified?


So, if choice really fosters anxiety then are we doing students a favour by shielding them from it?  I might argue that in a society that values choice in every aspect of our lives, why not our schools?   In a society that offers literally hundreds of breakfast cereals, why do we have only one school system?   I guarantee, it is not to alleviate anxiety.

Comments

  1. Richard Schwier26 July 2011 at 11:58

    First, I do love these RSA Animate videos. Second, it is clear you drink much better wine than I do. :-)

    Choice... what a neat topic, and important for us to consider. I agree with you that our major challenge is to help our students learn how to navigate the myriad choices they face. How can they discriminate good, useful choices from those that are dangerous? How can they learn to think through the consequences of choices they make? How can they learn to identify choices that aren't obvious and weigh them against the choices that are presented to them?

    I'm writing this the morning after hearing from the American leadership last night that there are two clear approaches to solving the debt crisis they face, and the leaders of both parties presented their case as an either-or proposition. I kept wondering about the "else" proposition(s).

    Choice is inevitable, and choice is difficult. But sometimes it is the choices we don't have offered to us that can be the most useful to us. In other words, how do we create choice, not just respond to it?

    Thanks for making me think.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Richard Schwier27 July 2011 at 12:24

    Stephen, I'm not sure if my earlier comment made it through, so I'll just take a chance and add a quick one here. If my earlier comment shows up in your inbox, you can delete one of them if you want.

    I just wanted to say that I really like the RSA animate approach to these kinds of presentations. This would be a much less effective presentation if it were just voice, and while it isn't easy or cheap to do this type of treatment, it is cheaper and easier than going on a remote shoot and editing video forever.

    And the concerns/cautions/stumbling blocks you offer here are great to know about, because we can confront them in our teaching as we help our students grow into good choice-makers.

    But turning to the substance of your excellent post, I will stand with you, shoulder to shoulder, to defend the idea that we need to teach our students how to navigate choice, and make intelligent choices in authentic ways. The world throws a lot of stuff at us, and we need to make choices every day. When we struggle, it is as much a failure of our selection filters as it is the glut of information we're sifting through. We need to build the muscle mass of our filtering systems and help our students do the same.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Duncan Wilcock5 August 2011 at 12:07

    Two links I think are relevant to this post:

    A good TED talk - "The Paradox of Choice"
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM

    Underpinning the Loss/Anxiety risk is the concept of Economic Loss Aversion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_aversion

    ReplyDelete

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