Fostering Self-Direction

Arthur W. Combs writes in Educational Leadership, "The information explosion has blasted for all time the notion that we can feed all students the same diet . . . this calls for student cooperation and acceptance of major responsibility for his own learning."

This passage comes from the article "Fostering Self-Direction," which appeared not in the recent issue of EL ("Giving Students Ownership of Learning"), but in February 1966. If the "information explosion" of that era compelled students to take more responsibility for their own learning, imagine how urgent Combs might regard the situation in 2008.

Read the article: Fostering Self-Direction (PDF)

Combs laments a system too heavily focused on students producing correct answers and instead proposes greater experimentation. Students must be encouraged to try and reminded that failure is an inevitable by-product of the positive act of experimentation itself. Perhaps most interestingly, Combs promotes a worldview that trusts "the human organism," urging educators to reject the common wisdom of humans as beasts in need of control above all else.

Combs's call for greater ownership of learning and trial and error in students is prescient, and we see similar calls today from groups such as the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Those looking for more on what an older generation thought about this topic might explore the entire February 1966 issue, "Toward Self-Direction."

In "My Back Pages," we look at important issues through the historical lens of the Educational Leadership archives. ASCD members can access to EL issues from 1943 to the present by signing in at www.ascd.org.