Is Spoon-feeding the way to go?

Written sometime in 2020 or 2021.

As a product of the education system in the Philippines, I believe we have been set-up to expect a ‘spoon-feeding’ kind of learning environment, and it just might cause problems later on.

Spoon-feeding in education is described by learning specialist Richard Andrew as “Any process which robs students of the opportunity to take responsibility for their own learning.” We go to school. We listen to lectures. We answer seatworks and quizzes. Listen to more lectures. Go home. Do assignments. Go back to school the next day and listen to more lectures. Sounds familiar?

The teaching style is variable from school to school, some requiring more group works and student presentations than others, but essentially, the system tells us this: The teacher is the center of the learning process.

Why is this problematic? As we can see now in the pandemic, we have moved to a kind of learning environment where students are mostly left on their own, without their teachers’ guidance. Self-directed learning is now becoming the norm, requiring a lot more effort from the students which is causing significant stress, some more affected than the others. This may be because from the very beginning, we were trained to just ‘receive’ information, perhaps do a little self-study, but in the end, almost everything is given to us on a silver platter. We were trained to simply absorb knowledge and use it for the sake of passing quizzes and exams, moving on to the next level, and graduating. As a result, we were not trained to go out of our way and learn the lessons on our own. We were not trained to ask questions because the answers have already been provided, or will be provided eventually. We have been, I daresay, ‘spoon-fed’.

We may be learning, but is this really the best we can do to maximize students’ potentials?

I remember an incident back in 2nd year high school, when our algebra teacher gave us an assignment. There was no lecture beforehand. No sample problem sets. As expected, we grumbled among ourselves. I mean, what kind of teacher doesn’t teach? The next day, random people were asked to solve the problems on the board. Some got it, but most didn’t. I distinctly recall him telling us that time, “You have your books. Do not expect me to spoon-feed you.” And then he proceeded to show us the correct way to solve the problems. He basically tried to make us learn on our own first before giving out the answers. That was the first time the concept of ‘spoon-feeding’ was introduced to me, and it somehow got stuck in my subconscious. If teachers and students had this kind of thinking, would it have been easier to adapt to learning in the new normal? Is it too late to change mindsets? Is it even possible to shift to a student-centered learning approach given our years of being teacher-centered?

I don’t know. I really don’t know. I’m not even sure if this is an issue, because maybe people might prefer the status quo. But it is an issue for me, and I want to just put it out there for us to ponder on. Maybe people will have ideas on how we can get out of the ‘spoon-feeding’ zone and transition to a more independent style of learning that could help students in the long run. Perhaps we could do it slowly, with a clear goal in mind. Students should be able to acquire knowledge for themselves and develop critical thinking skills which they could use to become smarter in life. School should not just be about graduating with honors or passing board exams, although those are much welcome. School should be able to prepare the students for a future that is uncertain, like for when pandemics suddenly appear and disrupt our normal day-to-day lives.

Besides, isn't it empowering to be able to hold the spoon with our own hands?