Education is a Human Endeavor

As we finish the first quarter of the 21st century, we tend to think school is very different from “when we were kids.” For example, here at St. Mary’s, we are celebrating our 160th birthday. And sure, the St. Mary’s that was founded in 1865 probably wasn’t all that different from the stereotypical Little House on the Prairie school you imagine: blackboards, book straps, lunch pails, and a school bell. 

Our campus certainly looks very different today, and upon first glance, education also appears to be very different. Blackboards have given way to whiteboards or mounted projection screens, book straps for backpacks, lunch pails for lunch runs to Taco Bell, and…well…a lot of schools still have school bells, but clearly, these other changes alone are noticeable. Throw in other 21st-century developments (AI, anyone?), and one wouldn’t be questioned for saying, “We are a long way from 1865.”

But I beg to differ.

Here’s why:

Above all else, education is a human endeavor. People are at the very core of any educational experience. People make it happen. People–from those who support it, to those who deliver it, to those who benefit from it–are the very reason for its existence. The magic that happens in a classroom has very little to do with the tools or technology being used, or even the physical place; the magic happens in that bridge between inspiring teachers and inspired students. In short, the people make the place. The ideas they share, the concepts they teach, the debates they have, and the support they provide—those things are decidedly Old School, as it were. 

I suspect that most readers of this magazine, if asked about their best memories of school, would reply with a teacher’s or coach’s name, an educator who inspired them or challenged them or supported them when they needed it most. And if they didn’t answer with that, they would say something about a friend or teammate, or a memory of what happened in a class, and that experience in the classroom didn’t happen in a vacuum.

So, sure, perhaps the world is a more complicated place. Technology is just one element of the outside world that seems to influence education, but at the core, the people trump the technology. The beating heart of education comes from a place much more personal, just as it always has. The more things change, the more they stay the same.