by Richard Lewis

I’ve listened to a lot of talk and fiery conversations
about what kind of education benefits a nation.
These conversations seem to span a wide diversity
about what “education” means, through university.

What I’ve heard divides into two schools of thought
about what and also how our young people should be taught.
Some say teach “the basics”—reading, writing and some math—
with drilling and then testing to keep our kids on path,

then convene committees to remove the fluff and padding
and determine other facts and information that needs adding.
Students also need to learn what’s wrong and what is right
and communicate quite clearly when they speak and when they write.

Other parents note the rapid increase in our knowledge
and suspect that it will double before their kids will get to college.
They claim we cannot give them information to survive
in a world that won’t exist until two thousand thirty-five.

Clearly what’s important, say this second group of parents,
is the skill to learn what’s needed in a world not yet apparent.
Instead of teaching facts that will be in twenty years outdated,
let’s teach them how to think, a skill severely underrated.

Problem solving, analysis, inference, deduction—
mental tools to deal with any unforeseen obstruction.
Teaching youngsters what to think some perceive as “school,”
while others say the brain is not a storehouse but a tool.

Let’s teach students how what we know was initially deduced
by thinkers past and present, how their ideas were produced.
By teaching them skills they need for gaining knowledge now
we’ll show them what’s important is not what to think but how.