K-12 Education: Knowledge vs Skills

An Interesting and Important Matter

One of the most significant K-12 education battles today (and also among the least discussed) is between the forces who want to prioritize the teaching of Knowledge vs those who advocate for more emphasis on Skills. To the detriment of students and the public, the Knowledge proponents are winning by a landslide. I’ll explain why this is not a good development, below.

A word about Skills —

Skills are also called Competencies in the education business, but for here, I’ll stick with Skills… Some states claim to promote several Skills (e.g., here). This sounds nice, but there are two problems. First, these Skills are treated as if they are all of equal value, and they are not. Critical Thinking is the Master Skill — learning that will make an individual better at all the other listed Skills! However, it is not prioritized as it should be.

Second, despite assurances that “graduates will have these Skills” there is no evidence that any of them — especially Critical Thinking — are formally taught. For example, there are no Professional Development (PD) classes focused on educating teachers on how to teach Critical Thinking. Worse, there are no K-12 classes that are dedicated to teaching children how to be a Critical Thinker — and explaining all the benefits of doing so.

In other words, the advocacy of K-12 Skills is mostly aspirational and political. (I say political as State education departments know that legislators, parents, and citizens want to hear that their school system is producing Critical Thinkers, so they tell them what they want to hear.) No one is bothering to investigate whether that is really happening. An innate trait of bureaucracies is that their effort on any topic is in direct pro-portion to the investigative attention paid to it — which here is near zero.

Several words about Knowledge —

Knowledge is also called Content in the education trade, but for layperson purposes, I’m going to use the term Information. Right now, in most States, the Information vs Skills ratio of what is taught in K-12 schools is about 95/5. This is way off the mark for multiple reasons. There’s no scientifically proven perfect ratio, but 60/40 would be much better.

Here are some concerns about the over-emphasis of Information —

Point #1: Would we (as a Country) rather have a graduate (citizen) who has: a) high Information and low Skills, or b) lower Information and higher Skills? The evidence says we would be better off with “b,” but our public schools are designed to produce “a”.

Point #2: How many times have you heard someone say: “I was taught ABC {Information} in high school, but I’ve completely forgotten it”? How many times have you heard someone say: “I was taught to Critically Think in high school, but I’ve completely forgotten it”? The point is that skills stay with us longer than information.

Point #3: How many times have you heard school officials say: “Many of the jobs our K-12 students will eventually be employed in, don't even exist today”? What that indicates is that Information is relative, and in a fast-changing world, much of it can soon become outdated. Skills, on the other hand (like Critical Thinking), are largely independent of technical progress.

Point #4: All information is not good, as some is inaccurate. For example, teaching K-12 students that we need millions of wind turbines to save the planet from extinction, is provably false.

Point #5: All information is not good, as some is incomplete. For example, teaching K-12 students that fossil fuels are bad is a political view, not a representation of scientific reality. There are numerous well-documented benefits of fossil fuels.

Point #6: All information is not good, as some is counter-productive. For example, teaching students that they should just go along with: a) what is politically correct, or b) what the consensus view is, or c) what some experts assert, or d) what a computer program projects — are all messages that convey: “There is no need for you to spend time and effort on thinking about XYZ, as people much smarter than you have already determined what’s right and wrong, so just keep your thoughts to yourself." This is all about producing conformists, who are the opposite of Critical Thinkers!

Point #7: All information is not good, as some is age-inappropriate. For example, teaching eight-year-olds about LBGTQ is not age-appropriate.

Point #8: Interestingly the argument for focusing on Information is being undermined by technology. Today we can electronically query what the facts are about almost anything — so what’s the point of memorizing it?

Point #9: Being deluged with information gradually dulls the senses of students. Unconsciously, they focus on information retention, rather than the much more important information processing (a Skill).

Point #10: The Left acknowledges that they want to take control of our children’s thinking. As such, they are largely behind the emphasis on Information, as that is something they can easily control. And they are doing just that (e.g., see the NGSS). Who is paying any real attention to exactly what is being taught in K-12 subjects like Science?

Point #11: On the other hand, the number one fear of the Left is to have Critically Thinking citizens. As such they have gone to great lengths to squelch the teaching of Critical Thinking (a Skill) in K-12 education. As an example, one strategy being used is their false claim (see here) that Critical Thinking is not teachable.

Point #12: Having knowledge about something does not make you skilled in it. Likewise, being skilled at something does not mean you have all the required knowledge to excel at it. The proper balance is key.

Point #13: How has this intensive focus on teaching Information worked out? The standing of US K-12 students (on standardized tests in subjects like Science) has continued to go downhill for decades. At what point do we conclude that enough is enough, and we ought to seriously re-examine all of our education assumptions?

The Bottom Line —

Essentially everyone agrees that the US K-12 public school system is awash with serious problems. However, one of the reasons that we are making little headway is that the efforts of many good people are diluted by being aimed at good issues, but of secondary importance — like school choice.

There needs to be broad agreement that our top priority should be to produce Critically Thinking K-12 graduates. Until we are laser-focused on that, our decline will continue.

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Some sample references:

Knowledge vs Skills: What Do Students Really Need to Learn?

Knowledge vs Skills: What Should Teachers Target?

What is the Difference between Skill and Knowledge-based Learning?

Skill vs Knowledge: Understanding the Differences and Why They Matter

Coming to Grips with the Deadly Impact of Information Overload

My earlier commentary: Education: Content and Competencies

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