Would you rather spend 30 minutes on 1 problem or 1 minute on 30 problems?
Obviously, one could argue that 1 minute for 30 problems means they aren’t problems to begin with, but the idea behind the question should be clear. What do we expect from our children? Have we focused so much on completing a job, that when they take a long time to complete a project, they feel like failures?
Do your students equate slow work with failed work?
For years, I’ve taught my boys to work like men. That means that we focus on the job at hand and we don’t dawdle. We get busy doing work. We crank out those practice worksheets, read those chapters, and memorize that fact. Learning is happening, and it’s happening quick. Truly, if we dawdled at our work then we would lose the time we had set aside to play. That’s also how we arranged our school day. A common quote at my house is “Work first, play later”. Sometimes, as an adult, I don’t get to the play part, but I’ve always made sure that my guys have been able to. Unfortunately, as they grow, their list grows, and they start to see their play dwindle.
This conflict over time and work and play is increasingly evident in those areas that require developing skills. Any athlete, musician, or scholar will tell you that practice takes time, huge amounts of time. Writing and math seem to be the biggest time suckers when it comes to higher level education. Why is that? Because they are both focused on skill development.
In math, we focus on building the skills of a great problem solver. It takes time to solve problems. I’m not talking about drilling math facts or learning how to use a formula. I’m talking about learning how to apply those facts to a problem. Given a problem, we first start with analyzing what is being told to us. Translating it into a collection of known and unknown bits of information. Determining what we can figure out from the given facts and figuring out what tools we have to determine the unknowns. Add in some trial and error, repeats from failed attempts and you have a breeding ground for frustration.
In writing, well, we have a whole blog post on the writing, editing, writing, editing, repeat process. A good writer writes every day. In fact, many writers write and then throw it away. The practice of writing is the jewel, but doesn’t it sound unrewarding? To spend hours each and every day to then chuck it into the trash? But that’s how a bad writer becomes a good writer becomes a great writer.
Both of these processes are a test of our patience, perseverance, and practice. This is what is meant by brain work. These processes mess with our minds on both the educational, developmental, and emotional level.
Back to my original question? Busy work or brain work? Which is it going to be? Brain work isn’t easy and busy work will take you far, but which ones creates a virtuous human?
Let’s grab the bull by the horns and take them both! The goals of brain work are skill building while the goals of busy work are fact memorization. One takes more time than the other, one requires many problems, the other few. Let’s train our children to embrace both for what they each have to offer. Take the time when they need the time, and don’t feel bad about it. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.