Educators Should Heed Tolkien's Warning

There is no shortcut to providing a good education

One of my students has a bad habit of skipping the reading assignments (whole chapters of whole books) before attempting to answer the accompanying questions. Nine times out of ten, she gets most of the questions wrong and has to redo them. She usually responds with a sheepish grin and a head shake when asked if she read the chapters. When I quote J.R.R. Tolkien and tell her that "shortcuts make for long delays,” she laughingly rolls her eyes and heads back to her desk to read the chapters. That truth applies to her situation and nearly every part of education, yet shortcuts are what too many school leaders gravitate toward.

Admittedly, school leaders face pressure from their Central Office bosses to produce specific outcomes and maintain good optics for the public. They are also under pressure from parents who want to see their children succeed as quickly and, sadly, as effortlessly as possible. Classroom teachers who understand that learning is a process are sandwiched between these two entities. Sometimes, learning is a dreadfully slow process, and sometimes, it happens at a quick clip. Teachers know the outcomes will often vary, regardless of their efforts, and that the reality of the classroom doesn’t always provide the best optics. They also know what many parents don’t want to hear: the learning process won’t happen unless students actively participate.

Making decisions about education based on the swiftness of superficial improvements or needs and interests of the adults involved has proven ineffective and harmful. What looks like a shortcut for teaching children quickly often leads to a delay in their learning. An example of this is one particular literacy curriculum that asks kindergarten students to write an opinion piece about planting a tree. While that sounds lovely, it is putting the cart before the horse.

Kindergarten students are just learning to hold a pencil correctly, form letters, spell words, and write basic sentences. They are just beginning to acquire the knowledge they will need to make connections further down the road in their education. Those things are tedious, repetitive, and often slow to produce visible results, but they are the foundation for everything else. Skipping over or breezing past those things to get six-year-olds to write opinion pieces is a perfect recipe for confusion, frustration, and exhaustion- for students and teachers alike.

The same is true in mathematics. While it may seem “engaging” or “innovative” to take a shortcut around memorization and fluency and give young students opportunities to “discover” solutions to math problems, this will result in a long delay later on. There is no shortcut to gaining the foundations of math; without them, students will be set up for failure. Unfortunately, a lack of fluency and confidence in math also causes delays in their science education.

Most of us grew up with a microwave, immediate access to our favorite shows, and instantaneous access to information on computers. We have become very accustomed to instant results and gratification. While that might be possible in some areas of life, it is simply not possible in education. It’s time to stop looking for shortcuts to learning and admit that it can sometimes be slow and laborious work. If it’s done well, the time and effort invested by all parties will pay dividends in the long run.