Why Education Is Important

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Learning is not all about the other.

Learning is very much about the self, wanting to learn.

Learning involves looking and listening to the expert and doing the work.

I must have inspirational teachers if I am ever going to learn anything. From a universal perspective, having inspirational teachers brings benefits if the teacher also provides integrity in presenting information, and universal structure through the proven principles of explicit teaching and worked examples, and ethical social direction through moral guidance; however, in terms of results and outcomes, the decisive factor in learning is—and has always been—the self-disciplined action of the learner. You cannot stand on the mountaintop of achievement without the action of climbing.

Teachers, coaches, and parents, at its purest, “simply” present information. During this information presentation stage, it is up to the learner to listen and be self‑motivated to learn. In this self‑motivated desire of wanting to learn, the following learning behaviors must take place: Look, listen, and follow instructions. As such, the learning mantra is: “I want to learn.” Learning is not about: “You must inspire and motivate me.”

Glasser (1986) argues that it is an individual’s intrinsic motivation and personal attitude that has the most influence over what the individual will achieve. In this, Glasser acknowledges that “[w]hile there is no doubt that some teachers are more skillful at motivating than others, there is no teacher, no matter how skilled, who can teach a student who does not want to learn.”

In terms of potential, the teacher, coach, or parent is, self-evidently, important; however, ultimately, it is the self-motivated passion and drive—of the self, wanting to learn—that leads to learning. Furthermore, Woolfolk (1998) points out that the “responsibility and the ability to learn [remains] within the student, [no one can actually] learn for someone else.”

And as Responsibility Theory informs, the intention, action, and engagement in learning is a journey of the self, by the self, for the self (Purje, 2014). In every school and classroom, for example, the following self‑motivated actions must take place if learning is to proceed: Listen to the teacher, follow the instructions, and then do the required reading, writing, and arithmetic—which form the core of every subject (Rosenshine, 1986; Rosenshine, 2012; Zohar, 2011; Zohar & David, 2008).

Effective Explicit Teaching and Higher-Order........

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