For nearly two decades, education reformers have trumpeted the need to create rigorous curriculum, standards, and learning for our students. The results of all these reforms have been lukewarm at best and hurtful to children and teachers at worst.
It’s time to abandon the idea of “rigor” and the damage it causes, because it’s the opposite of where we want to go. As my friend Elliot Walsh, co-founder of Big Picture Learning Schools, once told me, “We don’t need rigor, we need active learning!” As educators, we must embrace the idea of creative energy and thriving learning growth.
First, let’s explore the definitions of rigor and vigor. Wechsler’s dictionary defines “rigor” as follows.
- Rigid, stiff (as in a corpse).
- Exhaustive: the quality of being extremely thorough, exhaustive, or accurate
- Harsh, difficult, or extreme conditions
- Stubborn: obstinate in opinion, temper, or judgment
- Indomitable: the quality of being indomitable or unyielding
- Difficult: conditions that make life difficult, challenging, or uncomfortable
- Strict precision
Now, let’s take a look at the definition of vigor from Wechsler’s Dictionary and Dictionary.com:
- Physical strength: active physical or mental power or strength
- Active, healthy, and balanced growth
- Strength: intensity of action or effect
- Strong, healthy, energetic
- Healthy physical or mental energy or strength
- Vibrant activity, strength for healthy growth
When reading these definitions, the apparent difference between the two words and their meanings is striking. The language we use shapes our behavior and actions. Is a rigid, harsh, demanding, rigorous, defiant learning experience really the kind of learning experience and environment we want for our children? Or, do we want them to experience a vibrant school and curriculum experience? A positive, healthy, balanced, physically and emotionally energizing learning experience? The answer seems obvious. One way to make things more difficult is to make them unbearable and try to get through them. The other is about being active, healthy, engaged and becoming strong.
The cliché is “rigor, relevance and relationship”. Unfortunately, because “rigor” best fits the existing order of traditional American education, it gets the most attention and work. In an effort to be more rigorous, we have systematically instituted a plethora of unattainable graduation standards, more rigorous exams, pacing guides, and more rigorous curricula. We enforced the definition of rigor-demanding, difficult, demanding-and made life more difficult for everyone in the system.
Rigor is reflected in all efforts to create a “guaranteed and workable curriculum” that is oriented toward mechanical improvement, with the belief that a consistent set of identical inputs will produce identical outputs. Want to show that you have a “good” school? Show them how hard and relentless your curriculum and progress guidelines are. Then, simply pay lip service to relevance and relationship. The idea of “relevance” is that a single “guaranteed, viable” curriculum can meet the needs, personal interests and aspirations of all students. There is no room for exception to rigor. Relationships are the price of true “rigor”. You can side with the students against the standards, or you can side with the standards against the students. Rigorous approaches choose the latter, further dehumanizing the system.
The result of rigor is that we create the death of rigor in children, teachers, and schools. The endless nagging of the same old thing continues to squeeze and strangle teachers and curriculum directors who chase the illusion that a “guaranteed, workable curriculum” (input) will produce consistent, high-level results. Teachers are exhausted and frustrated, feeling that their ability to adapt to individual students and circumstances has been taken away from them. Students, especially in the wake of a pandemic, see and feel the inhumanity of a school that focuses on a relentless curriculum that primarily requires them to learn in an out-of-context way. Rigor also assumes a flawed mindset that dictates all learning and approaches to learning, rather than being growth-centered and strength-centered as vitality suggests.
What if American education shifted from rigor to vigor? What if our education system focused on creating a life-affirming, balanced, and vibrant growth trajectory for our students, teachers, and schools? What can we do to create a vibrant learning system and approach?
First, we need to have an honest conversation about the standards. I fully support clear standards that create a meaningful baseline for all learners. However, currently, the roughly 300 standards we expect all high school graduates to know and demonstrate are all about demonstrating one’s “rigor”. A strong set of standards should include standards for all aspects of life that every rational American adult should know and be able to do. I believe it is difficult to say that every American needs to know and solve the formulas for Algebra II, and easy to say that all Americans must master basic math, including statistics and probability. Our standards should reflect this more reasonable approach.
Second, to have an active approach to learning, students must have a greater say in what and how they learn. They must see how what they are learning helps them and makes them stronger and smarter. They need to be able to explore things that interest them and have teachers around them who can help them realize that knowing something about science, math, English, history, technology, etc., helps them in their areas of interest and improves their lives in general.
Third, a vibrant learning environment makes relationships and relevance absolutely essential. Healthy physical and mental energy depends on building strong relationships with caring adults who help them engage in relevant and valuable learning. The same needs to be offered to all adults in the system.
Let’s work to get everyone in the system actively learning. Let’s build on strengths, not deficits. Let’s be person-centered, not curriculum-centered. Let’s drive learning through powerful approaches that are characterized by strong relationships, relevant experiences, and truly deep learning.