This current pandemic has had a huge impact on education. As a result, it has caused educators, and others, around the world to go back to asking the question, "What exactly is education for?"

Cultural critic and educational commentator, Neil Postman in his book, "The End of Education" suggested that, “At its best, schooling can be about how to make a life, which is quite different from how to make a living.” (2011, page 10). Like Postman, I do not believe education through K-12 schooling is about preparing children for a job.

I am sorry if you have your child at GPCC because you think we will help them to get a good job. I believe that we educate at K-12 level in order to equip children to be able to make the most of the training they require to do a job or profession well. In other words, we set them up to be trained to get a job.

This means we focus on knowledge and skills, a deep understanding of those, how to acquire and use them and we teach them to apply that knowledge in wise ways. We cannot do this without also touching on their character and challenging them to think about how they are going to use their newfound knowledge and skills in useful and productive ways.

Traditionally, going back as far as the Greeks even, education was thought to be about shaping a person for living well, not about teaching them how to make a living (as per Postman above). So, you may be surprised sometimes when teachers seem more interested in a student’s character, their behaviour and their social skills than in their grades.

It is not that we are not interested in grades – we are. But grades are simply a means to an end, they are not an end in themselves. In fact, grades cannot tell us about someone’s character such that even a very bad person can get good grades. A person with good character however, will strive for good grades simply because they desire to always do their best.

Generally, in our society, we have lost this idea about the real end or purpose of education. At GPCC we are working on recovering something of that and believe that the final result of a shift in focus will be a community of students that work hard at their studies because that is what good character leads to. That means we are going to see an increase in grades across the board.

Having a worthwhile goal is much more satisfying than striving for something that in the end is short-lived and misguided. Telling students to work hard at school in order to get a good job holds much less appeal than working hard to develop a good character in order to live a satisfying and flourishing life.

As you set expectations for your child, make sure the top of the list is not a particular job, but a good character that will help them achieve much more in life that you can imagine and be much more satisfying for them. Keep the purpose of education clear – to equip them to be a person who is ready and able to be trained for a useful role in society.

Phillip Nash

Principal