Abstract

This essay argues that our educational system is fundamentally disoriented, and provides evidence for an alternative approach. The essay describes how we are each our own most important teachers, because each of us is constantly building on knowledge we already have in our minds using our evolving internal tools of knowledge. The classroom that recognizes and cultivates this internal foundation gives its students the tools to create their own knowledge. I summarize extensive research about how we learn (and how we don’t learn) and about pedagogical approaches that have shown success in developing optimal self-teachers. We all need these tools. Instead of attempting to cram us full of information and skills much of which we soon forget, our education system should focus on fostering optimal self-teachers.

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