Most Students Don't Need to Work at Their Own Pace — They Won't Do It
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder challenges the self-paced learning model, arguing that most students need external structure and deadlines to stay on track.
Key Takeaways
- Self-pacing doesn't work for most students - Without external deadlines, most students fall behind rather than racing ahead
- Structure is a feature, not a bug - Teacher-directed pacing ensures all students cover necessary material
- Even slightly uncomfortable pacing produces better results - Being pushed to keep up builds habits and ensures exposure to all required content
Transcript
My kid is bored.
Why can't they just work ahead at their own pace?
This idea from parents has come up again on Twitter in recent days, and it just won't die.
People just keep saying this without really thinking about what that would mean for their kid.
And I get that everybody wants their kid to be appropriately challenged, but the way we do that in school is through classes, right?
If you are ready for more advanced material, at some point you can move into a more advanced class, especially in math.
I think that should be an option.
But people keep saying, I want my kid to be able to work at his own pace.
I want her to be able to work at her own pace.
Like, what would that actually mean?
Would that mean you just do all of your learning on your own, at least in that subject?
What's the plan here?
I think we don't appreciate enough how much learning is social and what an incredible technology the class is.
Is there any other technology that has ever been invented specifically?
that will get kids to do 13,000 hours of academic work that they would not otherwise be motivated to do.
Like, the class is a pretty incredible invention that we can take a group of students through a curriculum together and, you know, not everybody is going to learn at the same speed, not everybody is going to learn the same amount as they go through that curriculum together, but everybody's going to get something.
Everybody's going to make substantial progress by going through that curriculum.
And if we leave people to work at their own pace, I think what people forget is often kids will simply not do that.
They will not do it at all.
And when it comes to tools like AI chatbots and lots of different apps that are out there now, people say, oh, well, this is so much more efficient.
You can learn so much faster by working at your own pace.
Well, that is only true if you actually do it, if you actually put in the time.
There are lots of apps that can help you if you put in the time.
The unique contribution of the class is that it gets you to put in the time.
Think about your college classes.
If you went to college, I personally did not take a lot of online classes.
That wasn't really an option when I went to college.
And all of my significant learning has happened in person.
Was that less efficient than, I don't know, having ChatGPT tutor me?
Maybe, but I actually did it.
I actually went to class and learned what I was supposed to and got the degrees.
And I think all of these alternatives that people have in mind, oh, let my child work at their own pace.
Like, is your child reading textbooks on their own time already?
Now, for some kids, the answer to that is yes.
But for most, the answer is no.
So I think we have to stop putting so much faith in technologies that like hypothetically could work if they were used to a sufficient extent and have a lot more respect for the technology that has always worked really well for almost everybody, which is the class.
It really is incredible to see a group of students work through a curriculum together.
Let me know what you think.