Defining Competence and Why Education Needs a Better Definition
Education has a long history. Learning predates humans. Simpler creators can learn, teach and share information, but education - the systematic approach to advancing knowledge is a truly human endeavor. Throughout my experience in the education field I have come across many definitions of competence and just as many methods for identifying it in students.
However, all of these fail to capture what is obvious to teachers, parents and mentors - some students just get it and others don't. Moreover, the "IT" transcends content and subject matter. Competent students can traverse context, pedagogy, and a myriad of abstractions. Most consequential of competent students is the ability to converse with them about their learning. This I have found to be a hallmark of a competent student - knowing what they know (and what they don't know). There is no test for this. Competence shifts based on the domain of knowledge.
Competence is a clear marker of intelligence and education. How does a student improve their competence? How does an educator promote competence? I asked these questions during my work with Walter Reed Army Institute of Research teaching engineering to middle school and high school students. I started to notice the well known "ah-ha" moments. So what was I doing prior to an "ah-ha" moment? Often I was just talking with students, helping them to think outside their own mind. This inadvertent manipulation of their metacognition could spark a variety of talking points, many of which were unrelated to the subject at hand, but still helpful for the student to bring clarity to what they were learning.
Certainly it wasn't that simple. There were lessons and practice that came before as well. There was frustration and defeat. There were arguments about project decisions, group dynamics and setbacks. All of these things, good and bad, preceded the "ah-ha" moments. When a student was right at the apex of reaching that moment my own frustration would build, but I quickly learned not to rush them. The student had to climb this mountain on their own. And therein was the secret sauce. The student HAD to get there on their own.
As an educator I can make the path easier, but I cannot walk it for them. Too many educators and policymakers try to change the system to automate this part of learning. They give too many hints, or they guide the student with disconnected clues like "it sounds like…" that shortcut the actual learning. Just hearing the student give the correct answer is not competence. They know when they give an answer that makes no sense to them. Our systems have become too reliant on right answers as evidence of competence. This of course leads to the incessant guessing and cheating. It leads to the mentality that smart students know the right answer. The truth is far from this.
Worst is how the student is left broken after being praised for a right answer that they don't understand. It devalues the student and communicates that right answers are the purpose of education. It leaves behind a person with little support for the emotional rejection that just took place. We have all been there and only the brave speak up and admit they have no idea how they came up with that answer. It is embarrassing. But too many teachers fear the struggle. The fight that we have to keep students from giving up, the endless encouragement, the time crunch to get through the material even though this student still doesn't get it after multiple attempts to explain it. The rest of the class is ready to move on, or so we choose to believe.
The struggle is competence. This is the definition of competence that education needs to adopt explicitly. The struggle, the climb to "ah-ha" is the difference between a student who gets IT and a student who puts their head down, guesses every word in the dictionary, or looks over at their friends' work for an answer - any answer - anything other than admitting they do not know. A truly competent person will immediately state, in their mind or out loud, that they do not know the answer. A competent student will tack on a "yet".
As educators we must embrace the struggles of students. There will be times when we have to move on for practical reasons, but we can work to minimize disruption to the struggle. The struggle is the mental version of breaking the body so it can grow bigger and stronger. The neurological benefits of struggling combined with the pedagogical benefits of teaching students to struggle productively is the end goal of education. A good educator will make their classroom a place where students look forward to the struggle.
