Liberal overreach

Hey 👋

Welcome to October and the last Snack of this mini-series on instructional myths…

Big idea 🍉

The myth of learning styles is pervasive across society (and even education). But what exactly makes it so attractive? One compelling—albeit more theoretical than empirical—argument is that such concepts hold a modern-day ‘moral appeal’.

We live in a society that places a high value on individuality, personal choice, and the inherent superiority of natural traits. Understandably so—these are the cornerstones of liberal democracy and romanticism, the grand narratives upon which many Western nations have been built.

Through this lens, the allure of learning styles begins to make sense. It reflects our desire to protect and promote the uniqueness of our students and to honour their natural inclinations.

However, we find ourselves in a logical pickle when we fail to recognise that sometimes applying liberal ideals to the process of schooling can limit our ability to achieve liberal ideals as the outcomes of schooling.

For example, the more we provide students with choices during their schooling, the more we may inadvertently limit their ability to make choices in the future (because they’re not always in a good position to make wise decisions about the what and the how of their learning).

This represents a particularly pernicious form of means-ends conflation, which we might call ‘liberal overreach’.

Liberal overreach explains why notions such as student-led education, personalised learning, and inquiry teaching have such intuitive appeal (irrespective of their efficacy), and why some folks—including me—can find ourselves experiencing an negative emotional response to things like consistent routines, centralised curricula, and choral response (at least until we better understand the cause and effect of the classroom).

In these reactions, we are merely reflecting the deeply held moral positions of our society. However, despite the best of intentions, when we let such gut feelings get in the way of the evidence, we risk thwarting the very values we seek to advance.

🎓 For more, check out this review of learning styles and their origins.

Summary

• One reasons learning styles may be so popular is due to their ‘moral appeal’.

• They align well with Western society’s admiration for individuality, choice, and natural approaches.

• However, applying such liberal ideals to the process of schooling may limit our ability to achieve liberal outcomes for our students.

Little updates 🥕

• Analysis of successful schools in the US → finds that creating a sense of belonging and pursuing alignment between staff helps students learn more.

• Study exploring how students see their own academic abilities → suggests that students in high-achieving classes and wealthier neighbourhoods tend to feel less confident about their abilities than their classmates.

• Paper tracking how bullying affects mood day-by-day → finds that when peers defend victims, it can mitigate negative feelings and self-blame.

• Wild study on ‘handedness’ → replicates finding that people tend to associate their dominant side with positive things (regardless of culture).

• Plus correct link to last week’s review of failure in education paper 😬

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