In his new book You, Your Child, and School, Dr. Ken Robinson describes three kinds of knowing that are facilitated by various kinds of learning.
Knowing that is what we might call factual learning: the memorization and recall of facts. There are many things that are very important to know if you want to succeed. (Think, knowing a recipe for bread.)
Knowing how is “about applying ideas and getting things done.” It’s vital for success whenever we need to use our knowledge to execute action. (Think, knowing how to bake, even from a recipe you’ve never seen before.)
Knowing this is “about understanding how things feel to us as individuals, and if others feel the same way or differently.” Robinson says this knowledge “is at the heart of the arts: the current of experience that flows through painting, sculpture, animation, music, movies, poetry, dance, theater, and novels. (Think, baking the birthday cake that brings joy to your child’s face.)
As Robinson says, “All three forms of understanding–knowing that, knowing how, and knowing this–are fundamental to a balanced education.
In most schools, knowing that receives far and away the greatest emphasis. It’s more straightforward to teach facts, and it’s much more straightforward to assess this knowledge. In a distance second place, we emphasize knowing how: whether in vocational ed, life skills, or in other “applied” knowledge classes.
If we emphasize knowing this at all, it is in the arts classes and in private with school counselors and social workers, when students are broken down and need our help to build some foundational self-knowledge skills.
But here is the thing: choir and other performance-based classes are an almost perfect balance of the three kinds of understanding. In choir you build factual knowledge about music, language, history, and vocal technique (knowing that); then you apply this knowledge into the successful interpretation of musical literature (knowing how); finally, successful preparation of music necessarily involves self-reflection on the emotional content of the music, sharing that emotional openness with fellow singers, and eventually connecting with an audience in performance.
It’s a pity that the performance arts are among the most frequently cut educational offerings in attempts to “improve educational outcomes” because when we take a step back, they are the most effective at providing complete instruction of the whole person.
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