Last week, I had the privilege, and I do mean privilege, of attending the Mini Challenge Exhibition at my daughter’s school. For the past several years, she has been attending the Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning.
This is a school, as the name implies, that focuses on the practical applications of learning. Every year, each high school student is expected to choose a topic of interest and explore it thoroughly over a period of two weeks and present his or her findings during this exhibition.
I spoke with students who had studied topics ranging from operating a veterinary clinic or becoming a professional photographer to the art of mixing music as a DJ or operating a commercial towing rig. While I could see that a few of the students had viewed the assignment as a chore, the vast majority possessed a sense of accomplishment and confidence that they had pursued an interest and really knew what goes into it.
As one might imagine, most chose to explore a potential career interest. In a couple of cases, I met individuals who have discovered that their assumptions about the interest were far different than their original perceptions. This has led them to abandon the aspiration. But that’s not a bad thing. It encourages exploration elsewhere and now they know the kind of questions they need to ask.
While today’s policymakers seem to be spending all their time passing new rules on how to best test our students, they seem to ignore the value of practical application. There is no better way to engage learners and measure their knowledge than to have them demonstrate what they know in a live environment. We need to do more to give the Millennial generation the opportunity to pursue learning in a practical rather than highly prescriptive manner.