Opinion
School & District Management Letter to the Editor

‘Natural’ Knowledge Systems Need Research

May 08, 2012 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

In “Reaching Beyond the Ivory Tower Into the Classroom” (April 4, 2012), University of Southern California President C.L. Max Nikias and USC professor William G. Tierney ask, “How can research universities become engaged in our public schools?”

I have a very specific suggestion—a way to operationalize their call to “knock down the knowledge silos.”

Humans—all humans—possess an amazing system for organizing, integrating, and creating knowledge. The power of that system begins to be evident almost from the moment of birth.

Formal schooling ignores that implicitly known system, opting instead for one based on the academic disciplines and school subjects. This “invented” system, formally adopted in the late 19th century, resists knowledge integration. And, because it arbitrarily compartmentalizes knowledge, it blocks the relating processes essential to creativity.

A research project that demonstrates the centrality of our “natural” system for constructing knowledge, and the ability of that system to contextualize and enrich our adopted system, would revolutionize schooling.

The country that does that first will move its young to levels of intellectual performance beyond the reach of today’s standards and measures of accountability.

Marion Brady

Cocoa, Fla.

The writer is a retired public school teacher, school administrator, and college professor.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the May 09, 2012 edition of Education Week as ‘Natural’ Knowledge Systems Need Research

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management Opinion A Good Principal Knows When It's Time to Leave
I didn’t leave my job because of burnout; I stepped away from being a school leader because it was in everybody’s best interest.
Matthew Ebert
4 min read
Conceptual illustration of someone handing off a baton to someone else over a completed puzzle.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
School & District Management Principals Tell Politicians on Capitol Hill: We’re Burning Out
Students' mental health top principals' growing list of concerns.
6 min read
People walk outside the U.S Capitol building in Washington, June 9, 2022.
Visitors walk outside the U.S Capitol building in Washington on June 9, 2022.
Patrick Semansky/AP
School & District Management Women Superintendents Experience Bias on the Climb to Leadership
Interpersonal slights and inequities make it hard for women to land the job and stay in it.
3 min read
Woman stands in front of a staircase in different colors. She is about to walk up the stairs. Concept of standing in front of a challenge and finding the right solution and courage to move on.
mikkelwilliam/E+
School & District Management Fewer of Today's Superintendents Are at Retirement Age
A new survey of superintendents adds to what we know about the people who lead the nation's school districts.
4 min read
Conceptual illustration of money, salaries and data.
iStock/Getty