Secrets of Flow

The primary aim of traditional educational institutions is to impart ’knowledge'. Some ’material’ is presented to the students who are then expected to internalise it. How this actually happens is the private concern of the student; it is generally assumed that ’diligence,’ ’hard work’ and other vaguely defined qualities will aid the learning process.

This is not unlike the history class where the teacher would ask the students to get in a boat, then sit at the oars and begin rowing. Being a good oarsman, he would soon arrive to the castles that are the subject of the day’s lesson. After demonstrating the fine points of the buildings he would say: „Well, now everyone knows where to come to study for your exam.” And he would take the students back to the classroom on the waves of the river, satisfied that he did all he could to facilitate their learning.

As challenging as that situation is, a few students would be able to solve it. Especially those that already know how to row. Those that had never seen a boat would be scratching their heads. Some that are really observant might have watched the oars in the teacher’s hand while he was explaining all about the castles and battles. Some extremely committed students would try rowing time and again, and might – by trial and error – end up close to some of the desired locations. Gritting their teeth with effort, they might even discover certain tricks of handling the paddles while fighting the waves. Whether getting lost on the river for years and years will make them like rowing is an interesting question.

We would probably have more grade A students if they would first be taught how to move around in the river of learning. It would seem logical to introduce them to the strategies of understanding, thinking, remembering, and other qualities which would make it easy for them to learn some content in turn.

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