Our Habits Determine Our Fate

The psychologist and philosopher William James, in his Talks to Teachers, wrote, "Education, in short, cannot be better described than by calling it the organization of acquired habits of conduct and tendencies to behavior."

Education can mean other things, of course, but I've been wondering about this definition since I read it some months ago. At first blush, it seems thin and uninspiring -- the acquiring of habits and tendencies -- but what draws me to it is that it's about conduct and behavior without any mention of utility or subject matter.

For me, education has never had anything to do with utility, but I often feel alone in this. For most people, and especially policymakers, it seems the overwhelming utility of education is to get a job, to make something of ourselves, to set ourselves up for retirement, to leave something behind when we die. 

I'm fortunate to have found myself in early childhood education where I'm not usually expected to get children "career ready," although there is a great deal of pressure on its companion, "kindergarten readiness." The onus of this leads us to push children forward toward the specific skills and knowledge that we anticipate will be useful to them in kindergarten, where they will be pushed forward toward the specific skills and knowledge that we anticipate will be useful to them in first grade, and so on in a vicious cycle.

For all practical purposes, it's the same model as is used for manufacturing washing machines, each step, each grade, representing a spot along the assembly line. I like what my washing machine does for me, it's quite useful, but it will never do anything other than clean my clothing. 

But what if the endgame of education isn't utility at all, but rather the acquisition of "habits of conduct and tendencies to behavior"? What if the purpose was to allow young human beings to discover the habits and tendencies that contribute to their own, unique satisfying life, right now? So often, in our commitment to utility, I think we forget that young children are not washing machines, they do not exist to be useful, but rather to be purposeful, like, you know, a human being.

In our preschool, instead of being compelled to keep their eyes on the future, the children learn to behave and otherwise conduct themselves, right now, in ways that allow them to derive satisfaction from the present. With no one telling the children what future they must prepare for, they develop the habit and conduct of self-motivation. Pursuing a life of purpose within the context of community, means learning to work well with others. It means dealing with real conflicts and challenges and problems, right now. And it means acquiring the habits and conduct of a person with whom other people want to engage.

These tendencies -- self-motivation, working well with others, addressing challenges, being personable -- are the secrets to living a satisfying life. Indeed, these behaviors, far more than "phonetic awareness" or the ability to hold a pencil properly, are the real foundation from which a future is created rather than merely prepared for. This is the kind of education we discover when we abandon the taskmaster of utility.

When education is about conduct and tendencies to behavior, it means we are embracing what scientists are telling us about the nature of the human mind. As neuroscientist Patrick House puts it: "This must be the ultimate purpose of consciousness: to control a body."

Our minds, our thoughts and feelings, have evolved for this purpose: to control our behavior. Young children know this with their entire bodies. They live it. They know without "knowing" that their lives are defined by what they do, by the actions they take. James wrote, "Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action." This is what our children show us they understand when we stop pestering them to be still, to be quiet, and to focus on "readiness." My washing machine is always ready to wash my clothing, but it's no life for a human.

When we are made into washing machines, always ready, but only acting when someone pushes our buttons, we live for the laundry. When we understand, however, that our thoughts and feelings exist for the purpose of moving our bodies right now, we become fully integrated with life, thinking about what is in front of us, acting, receiving feedback, adjusting, and organizing our habits of conduct and tendencies to behavior that lead, right now, to a life of meaning. This is what it means to come alive, which is, for me, the only educational goal worth anything.

We don't determine our fate. We determine our habits. Our habits determine our fate.

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