Making the Right Choice about Student Choice

     For the past few years, I keep thinking that I'm going to learn some things about physics. Such as gain some basic understandings. I didn't have to take physics in high school or college, and I'm quite aware of this gap in my knowledge.Sometimes I even feel rather embarrassed about it. After all, I am the head of a school. Yet, despite my best intentions--I've even held copies of Physics for Dummies in bookstores--I haven't pursued this study.
     I'm not sure why. Perhaps the motivation isn't strong enough. Perhaps there's too much else to learn. Perhaps other things hold more appeal. Perhaps I fear I won't grasp the material. Most likely it's some combination of all these factors.
     At the same time, such a pursuit would fit my preferred way of learning. I've always leaned towards autodidactism. As a young soccer player, I read the few coaching guides available in this country at the time over and over, analyzed broadcasts from Europe on the local PBS affiliates and then ran into the yard to practice new moves, and studied the history of the sport. Whenever I became interested in a topic or certain author, I checked out all the small local library had. In college the syllabi served mainly as springboards for my own exploration. My favorite academic experience was the independent study that led to my senior thesis, during which my advisor encouraged me to dive into any rabbit hole I spotted.
     This introductory reflection is a means of moving towards a larger point. It's an issue that I've been struggling with for quite a while, and it was captured in a Tweet in my stream this morning.

It’s a delicate balance: teaching students mandated content while also developing their skills. How to prioritize when you can't cover everything. https://t.co/gJwvvJXa6b pic.twitter.com/LogrluWb2R

— edutopia (@edutopia) March 23, 2018

The article to which the Tweet refers makes many fine points, but my dilemma reaches further than the content versus skills debate. For me, that's an easy one: emphasize skills. I believe this holds not matter hat the course or age of the student. Things become murkier when you consider the idea of student choice, whether within a course or a full curriculum. I'm certainly no adherent to the dictates of cultural literacy as promoted by the E.D. Hirsch's of the world, and I've constantly called for more student choice. But that choice has to be guided to a certain degree. After all, someone should have realized that a basic grasp of physics is part of being wholly educated. Not necessarily a whole course, but a primer of sorts. As much as I want to give students greater and greater autonomy and thus perhaps thus see more relevance and draw inspiration from their learning, doing so begs questions which give me some pause. When does a student have enough perspective and maturity to make these decisions? What key pieces of knowledge can build the scaffold to facilitate such autonomy? Isn't this more of a pedagogical issue than a curricular issue, in that we need to give much more emphasize on how we often teach things? Is what matters really a debate between content and skills, or should it be more about a mindset regarding learning? While wisdom is what ultimately matters more--and always has, not just in this age of Google--isn't some knowledge (perhaps even common knowledge) worth having in our brains and not just at our fingertips?
       Someone reading this, particularly if they've read my other work or heard me speak, may wonder if I'm becoming more of an educational conservative or traditionalist because of the caution expressed in here. But I'm not yelling at any progressives to get off my lawn. Actually, I'm hoping my questions are ones they ask themselves. In doing so, they can better address legitimate concerns and maybe convert some skeptics. Maybe not. No matter what, though, our asking better and harder questions about our work can only befit our students. That must be our choice.