Face of Flanders: Alice Elliott

Alice’s polemic is articulate, her arguments well supported, and she makes a compelling case. If a 16-year-old of such evident intelligence finds her memory of recent lessons escapes her only days after the test, then something is not right. (The older among us have problems remembering why we came into a room, but that sort of memory is not supposed to be an affliction of the young.)

“I think our education system is ready for a change,” Alice wrote. “More permanent evaluation and revision, less exam marathons as a prelude to forgetting. That makes much more sense. If you want to motivate young people to learn, then you have to show them why learning is so important and how great it is to know a lot. You can’t just expect students themselves to see the point of the things they’re learning.”

As a result of her article, Alice (pictured) was invited to make her case on TV talk show Reyers Laat, which she did with a maturity beyond her years. Also invited was education minister Hilde Crevits, listening intently. She was familiar with the issue, having heard the complaints of her own children, both now in higher education.

Part of the problem, Crevits explained, was that some teachers were too keen on achieving the end results imposed by the government that they left no room for the oxygen of creativity in the lessons.

Her mission, the minister said, is to allow teachers more room to express their own passion and personality. At the same time, Crevits also said that “it’s important that we as a government decide what you need to know.”

And that – what presenter Kathleen Cools referred to as “the dictatorship of the teaching plan” – is precisely what overworked teachers have a problem with.

Alice’s main achievement is to have started something: “Thanks to Alice’s article, my mailbox is overflowing,” Crevits revealed.
www.elliottalice.com

Photo courtesy VRT