Anti-Efficient

The idea of a perfectly efficient education system is an oxymoron.

The best teachers know that there has to be a give-and-take in the pacing, including sufficient slack and downtime, because humans don’t process learning at the same pace.

The push to make learning more efficient comes with several big problems. The standardized structure take all the fun out of learning, alienating students. The rigid pacing frustrates both fast and slow learners. Efficiency experts only care about measurable data points, so anything nebulous (including interpersonal skills, creativity, kindness, mental health) are overlooked.

In education, I am anti-efficient. I celebrate and seek the freedom to adjust my pacing, goals, and plans day-to-day and week-to-week in order to teach more effectively, if less efficiently.