The Passive Learning Style

This post will deal with a learning style that among some circles is considered obsolete.  Many early childhood experts and educational experts believe that today's children will not learn in a passive environment with early childhood experts being the most adamant.  Learning to sit still and pay attention has become developmentally inappropriate expectations for preschoolers.  While I agree that expecting preschoolers to sit still for long periods of time is developmentally inappropriate, learning to sit still and pay attention for short periods of time is essential for that child's long-term academic success.

What Is the Passive Learning Style?
First, let us discuss what constitutes the passive learning style.  This style represents the way most of us learned in school for the past 6 centuries.  Children are expected to be able to pay attention and listen to an adult present information.  Then those children apply that information in graduated exercises designed to build competency over time.  This approach also relies heavily on drill and practice exercises.  As opposed to the active learning style, children must sit still, listen, and work on their own.  For all of recorded history up until the last 50 years or so, this approach represented the way academic subjects were presented.  Trades and other skills, which relied on the master/apprentice relationship, used the active learning style rather than the passive learning style.  I do believe our ancestors had a grasp on how to present information that has been lost in the last century.  However, the division of the styles hits on politically charged areas.  Long ago, not all people were required to learn academic subjects.  Some children were apprenticed to a master to learn a trade rather than expected to sit still and learn academic content.  This did lead to a system of haves and have nots.  Therefore, today everyone is required to learn academic content.  Yet, we run into children that have an extremely hard time grasping this content.  I do not think we will ever return to the two-tier system of centuries ago, but I do believe we are going to have to relent to the notion that it takes all kinds of people to run a society.  Some people will be happier doing physical labor that does not require a great deal of academic thought, but can still be greatly skilled workers in their area of expertise.  We need to have more options and paths at the high school level that will prepare those children that have a bent toward skilled labor to be able to do work that will be satisfying.

Both Types of Smart
At this point, you may be asking yourself if I am saying that academic content requires a passive learning style and skilled content requires an active learning style?  As politically incorrect as that notion is today, that is exactly what I am saying.  The fact remains that children that have the ability to sit still and pay attention will always exceed those that cannot on academic content.  I am not saying those children are not smart.  They just may not be book smart.  We need people in a society that can do jobs that require great levels of skill but not necessarily be able to diagram a sentence.  We also need people that can handle technical details but could not change a spark plug on a car if their life depended on it.  Both types of smart are necessary.  One type of smart does not negate the need for the other type of smart.  Will one type of smart always make more money?  Probably, but there is a huge difference between rich in money and rich in life sometimes.  Many people think the other side has it better until they experience the level of stress that comes with the other side.  I believe God creates us all with a purpose and a plan, and He equips us to handle the type of stress that comes with His plan for our life.  We may not be able to handle the type of stress that comes from a lifestyle outside of His will.  I could not be a car mechanic if my life depended on it.  However, many mechanics would have a nervous breakdown trying to deal with the technical issues involved in writing for a living.  We need to help all children find their path and do everything in our power to prepare them to fulfill that path.

Should Every Child Learn to Be Passive?
How does all of this relate to the early childhood world?  Should we be actively trying to prepare children for the passive learning style?  The answer to that question is yes and no.  By the time children are three and four years old, they are already showing us very strong clues as to what their learning repertoire will be.  For those children that can sit still and pay attention we need to prepare them for the rigors of the academic world.  For those children that can somewhat sit still and pay attention, we need to help them develop that and begin to look for the strengths these children will already be showing.  We might not be able to change the way the school systems function, but we can plant seeds in the hearts and minds of both the children and the parents as to the path this particular child might take.  That little seed can truly change the course of that child's life.  For those children that absolutely cannot sit still and pay attention, we will need to switch to more active learning activities.  I will say that covering academic content for wigglers is much easier in a one-on-one setting than it is in a group setting.  Over the years I have been able to help children reach academic goals thanks to my one-on-one structure that would not have been possible in a typically structured classroom.  They had issues sitting still in preschool in group settings, but still managed to excel the average in acquiring academic concepts.  These children really need schools with very small classrooms or a homeschooling situation.  However, they might still have a bent toward a more skilled career than an academic one.  They may be farmers instead of doctors or contractors and mechanics instead of lawyers.

Basic Academics
However, in our society a certain level of academic skill is required to function.  Teaching academic concepts especially the more technical aspects in an active learning way in reality constitutes the long way around the mountain.  There is no way around this and explains a great deal of the frustration of American teachers when trying to reach certain academic goals for all children on a certain timetable.  It simply takes longer to teach certain children technical academic content that truly requires the passive learning style.  This includes reading and a great deal of math.  These children can reach these goals, but they need a different timetable and may not reach the same level of fluency that the passive learners can acquire.  We do both types of learners a great disservice by not realizing this difference.  We hold back the passive learners to give the active learners the extra time they need to become fluent.  We end up pushing the active learners to frustration because we end up having to employ many passive learning techniques to truly reach the level of competency we expect of all children.  This is especially true the higher the grade level and the more technical the information.  Until we begin to more individualize education, we will always have this issue.  This is why homeschoolers on average excel when compared to their public school counterparts.  The passive learners can proceed at the pace they were designed to handle and reach higher levels of competency than their public school peers.  (Ever wonder why so many homeschoolers win the spelling bees?  This is why.)  The active learners are free to pursue the path they were designed to follow and arrive at adulthood ready to go.  Can you say that about their public school counterparts?  Not really.  Until we take the political correctness out of the debate, our public school systems will always flounder.  We will never be a one-size-fits-all society.  We are just too diverse.  We need to embrace that instead of fighting it, and proceed accordingly.

I hope you have enjoyed this post.  Goodbye and God bless!! Check out Natalie's children's books at:  https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457