Educational empathy
Definition
Educational empathy is the ability to vicariously sense the educational experiences of other people (esp. children), and prior self.
Mechanism
Educational empathy cannot capitalize on the prior knowledge of an individual we empathize with. We do not sit in his head to know what he knows, and how his concept network is organized semantically.
This is why educational empathy has very little to do with actual empathy, and more to do with understanding of the learning process. Only by understanding how the brain works can we effectively predict emotional states and educational outcomes in the wake of learning.
Deficits in educational empathy lay at the foundation of the Prussian model of schooling. Adults project their own educational experiences on new generations and design an educational system that is increasingly harmful. The increase in the harm comes from the dissonance between learning opportunities exposed to young people and the reality of learning at school. This dissonance leads to an increase in legal, psychological and even pharmaceutical measures aimed at keeping children at school. See: Adults are incapable of empathy in education
Prior knowledge
The importance of prior knowledge and semantic framework in learning can be illustrated with the Jigsaw puzzle metaphor. The first step towards educational empathy is the understanding of the Fundamental Law of Learning.
As knowledge is networked, telling a student that a branch of knowledge is important is futile. Telling a student that he should learn things that he fails to perceive as important is harmful. All we can do is to casually drop seeds of inspiration and hope they take root.
Forcing children to learn things they do not want to learn is a prime example and outcome of a deficit in educational empathy.
Curse of knowledge
Deficits in educational empathy are less about the deficits in empathy, and they are more about the deficits in knowledge. However, ignorance is not the only cause of deficits. Curse of knowledge has its own contribution to empathy deficits. The bigger the knowledge of the individual, the harder it is to empathize with the perceptions of a less knowledgeable individual. Incidentally, curse of knowledge can be used to explain why decades of incremental reading do not significantly contribute to a sense of being more knowledgeable. Not only is it hard to empathize with a child. It is also hard to empathize with one's own brain from the past.
Curse of knowledge is not a uniquely adult phenomenon. Small children will easily misjudge learning abilities of other children. They can deem themselves vastly superior to smaller children, or assume that things that are easy for themselves are easy for others.
Examples
SuperMemo Guru provides dozens of examples in where adults can exercise their educational empathy by understanding the learning perceptions of the child:
- Can you memorize this word in Chiruhitai: циษา关ภา于तत्स中文अर्ध维基фу百д科? See: Semantic aspects of childhood amnesia
- the story of Franz in Unpleasant learning at school explain the harm of asemantic learning
- see the story of cesario Pizzorato in Futility of schooling to understand the role of the semantic framework
- minor changes in context result in major changes in the ability to remember: How school turns off memory
- memorizing ten-day periods in Semantic learning
- educational dyslexia shows how teaching can cause harm that lasts a lifetime
- toxic memory: problem with memorizing months, multiplication table, or distinguishing left from right
- Harm of early instruction explains why the dogma of early start is detrimental
- video is superior to text: Tunnel vision of school letteracy (see the Morse code planet metaphor to learn to empathize)
- games are superior to teachers: Videogames are better than teachers
- role of spaces in reading: Reading wars are over: Whole language vs. Phonics
- Precocity paradox makes it hard to understand the value of "delays" in development
- Feedback in learning helps understand why a school bench is a horrible invention
- Education counteracts evolution explains why present schooling methods stifle learning and exploration
- Brain is a perfectly adaptable device helps understand the value of freedom in learning
- Optimality of the learn drive is poorly understood and underlies the power of free learning
- Missile metaphor helps understand why School undermines intelligence
- Old soup metaphor explains why it is easy to project from one child to another
- Educational empathy is failing most visibly in special needs education
- Wonderopolis has no heart is a classic case of a deficit in educational empathy
- SuperMemo does not work for kids even though adults may think spaced repetition is universal
This glossary entry is used to explain texts in SuperMemo Guru series on memory, learning, creativity, and problem solving