Human Capital and Human Capability

When I was just starting out as a teacher, I asked the founders of our small mountaintop school why they started the school to begin with. They said that in the early seventies, there were very few public schools in the area that served the local population in rural south Santa Cruz County, and they firmly believed that everyone deserved a good education.

I actually got many different answers to “why are we here,” but the simplicity of this one stuck with me. We all deserve a good education.

Later on in my career, after I had done a few things that attracted some attention, I was hired as a consultant by the biggest school district in China. My job was to train principals and teachers in Beijing to use STEAM and arts integration in their lesson planning. This was a monumental shift for their system. The schools I witnessed still had rows of desks nailed to the ground and supplies gathering dust and locked away in cabinets. The classroom teaching I saw reminded me of reading about Laura Ingalls WIlder’s experience of working in the American West in the 1880’s in her Little House on the Prarie books. Just like in Laura’s historic classroom, students in China in the 2010’s memorized things from books, then stood up and recited those things, in an environment free of critical thinking, creativity, and questions.

My work in China grew and gathered fame, and eventually, the highest official in China’s education bureau sat down to lunch with me. I asked him why he founded the program that hired me. He said, “everything you buy in the world says ‘made in China.’ We want it to say ‘invented in China.’” He wanted a different type of education because he saw an opportunity for economic growth.

A good education. An educated citizenry. What is the connection?

I believe there isn’t a very big connection in those motivations for having a school, or indeed, an entire educational system. The first one, a good education, must be the entire motivation for a school. The other follows, but I don’t think it should be the root.

Let me explain. Most funding and support for education from governments arises from the “human capital” view that an educated population will grow the gross national product of a country and contribute to financial prosperity. When STEM and STEM testing became a hot topic in the US in the 1980’s, the decision was made to add computer labs to every school and do any number of things to increase test scores in engineering, science and math. The idea being that if our American population got smarter in those areas, we’d all be richer.

I’ve rarely met a teacher who operates under that motivation. Teachers want to discover and develop students’ gifts.

Most teachers naturally backwards-map their lessons to be sure they reach learning objectives. For example, if you need students to understand Romeo and Juliet, you first teach basic poetic rhythm, then you introduce a sonnet, and so forth. Thoughtful administrators backwards map curriculum, and government leaders backwards map from what they want for a population. In general, the goal for government leaders is financial.

Governments follow a “human capital” model. I believe that true educators and excellent schools use a “human capability” model. We believe every human deserves to develop and grow their capabilities. Learning is joy, and developing oneself is a path to a fulfilling life. That is where the real work of a school should lie.

A tension between educators and the system they work in nearly always exists because “human capital” and “human capability” are at odds. I’ve never met a teacher in the United States in the current decade who marched off to work determined to mold young people into productive workers. Great teachers, however, love to help individual students grow for the pure happiness and health of it. The state required curriculum is often more of an annoying check box that gets in the way of that lofty goal.

Why on earth am I sending all of this educational thinking into a parenting magazine? All of us sending our kids to school, or running a homeschool, bump up against less freedom in curriculum than we would like. With that I offer you the idea of creating a time and space where you and your kids do have the freedom to discover and develop in any direction that feeds a child’s bliss. Summer camp!

Our area offers so many incredible options and opportunities to explore during the summer. I have one child who will spend the entire summer drawing if I make the space for him and curate the proper tools. I have another who wants to dance all summer, and one who would just like to collect and catalog flowers. 

We are so fortunate to live in an area with such a rich tapestry of interesting people offering children interesting experiences. As a teacher, I breathe a sigh of relief and satisfaction when a student shares excitement over a camp or experience they will embrace over the summer. Happy camping!