The Purpose of Education with Nick Marmolejo Ep. 117

Season 8 Episode 117

Check out this episode as we talk about the purpose of education and how there is a missing link that could make all the difference for both teacher and student fulfillment.

Show Notes:

Episode Summary:

Do you want to feel more motivated, more engaged in life and more excited about your job and your life? Do you want your students to feel more motivated, engaged and excited about not only school but their lives? We all want success, for ourselves and for our students.

According to today’s guest, Nick Marmolejo, there is a missing link that could make all the difference.

Nick Marmolejo, an award-winning educator who works with superintendents and workforce development directors to speak on mental health, career readiness, and school turnaround.

He also the author of a soon to be released children’s book, Where’s My Compass. He’s got a lot to say about what might be missing in schools today.

Stay tuned and listen in as we talk about the purpose of education.

In this episode:

This is not a word -for – word transcript. Here we highlight some of the key topics of discussion. We recommend listening to the full podcast episode for the best experience.

Introduction:

Today’s guest is Nick Marm0lejo, an award-winning educator who works with superintendents and workforce development directors to speak on mental health, career readiness, and school turnaround. He also the author of a soon to be released children’s book, Where’s My Compass.

Michele: I met Nick on Linked in, and quickly realized that we share a philosophy of education that goes beyond content, curriculum, and assessments. Nick challenges the status quo of our K-12 education system and its impact on the workforce. I see him as someone who thinks differently, and also someone who understands big ideas and how they intersect for the betterment of the entire person.

Welcome to the podcast Nick!

Opening question:

Nick, tell us about yourself and your journey to where you are today.

Nick shared his journey from mentoring high school seniors to joining Teach for America and becoming an educator.
He taught in Texas and Washington, eventually moving into leadership roles before transitioning to speaking engagements.
Nick emphasized his purpose of helping others succeed by connecting them with resources and knowledge.

Discussion topics:

We teased in the introduction to the missing link, and that missing link is purpose. Your TED talk is entitled Are Schools Destroying Purpose?

Can you talk about what you mean when you use the world purpose?

Nick discussed the concept of purpose, distinguishing it from passion and emphasizing its role in fulfilling work.
Purpose is defined as using one’s best skills to serve others, which is more sustainable than passion alone. It is not a job, it is what you find fulfilling.
Nick’s TED Talk questions whether schools are destroying purpose by focusing too much on productivity rather than purpose-driven education.

What drew you to making the conclusion that schools might be destroying purpose?

Many people, not just educators, are feeling unfulfilled in their work.
Nick described how he asked many educators, including superintendents to describe the purpose of school. This highlighted the difficulty in defining the purpose of school, noting varied responses from people. It seems that no one really agrees on the purpose of school.
Schools often focus is on productivity rather than purpose-driven education and helping students find meaning.

Challenges in Education

Nick, Michele and Paula discussed the conflicting priorities in education, such as content delivery versus preparing students for life and work. If you chase two rabbits, you can’t catch either one. Teachers want to be purposeful and do the work they know matters, but they are torn with many conflicting priorities.
Nick proposed simplifying educational priorities to focus on purpose, then priority, and then productivity, inspired by the book The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan.
Most schools are so focused on the productivity side that purpose gets lost. This leads to compliance and doing things you don’t understand for unknown reasons.

Solutions for Purpose-Driven Education

Nick suggested asking students and teachers about the problems they want to solve as a way to focus on purpose.
He advocated for involving families in the educational process in a way that helps them feel involved and empowered.
Of course we need to address systemic issues like funding and policy constraints.
Nick emphasized the importance of creating environments where lifelong learning is prioritized and supported. This is important for both students and teachers.

Vision for Education

Nick envisioned a less stressful educational environment where students and teachers are motivated and engaged.
He hopes for a resurgence of veteran teachers to mentor younger educators and contribute to a positive school culture.
The ultimate goal is to create schools that foster lifelong learning and personal development for both students and teachers.

If you walked into a school you have never been in, how long would it take you to know whether or not it was a good school?

Paula said 2 minutes, Nick said 10 and Michele said 15-20.
We discussed how you know if a school is good and it came down to how students are treated, the expectations for students and the “feel.” What feeling do you get?
What is the goal for these kids. Is the goal for them to feel wanted, to feel needed, to feel like they are part of a greater purpose?
You can recognize that there is truly a greater purpose. They are learning something to contribute to the world versus it is just a compliance -you sit still while I open your heads, dump knowledge in.
In quality schools, purpose is very evident as in a focus on life-long learning. Life-long learning is the axiom.

Mr. Feeney and Temple Grandin, and Teachers who Make a Difference:

Nick gave examples of powerful teachers who modeled learning and helped students find purpose. These include one of his teachers, Mr. Feeney from Boy Meets World, and Temple Grandin.
Teachers are role models. Students are looking for guidance.
Helping students is a part of most teachers’ purpose. They want to guide students.
With the exit of so many teachers, especially veteran teachers retiring or choosing other roles, we’ve lost some of that mentoring of students. Nick wants all of these teachers who are committed to the profession, to feel supported in doing the mentoring of students work that they do so well and is so meaningful. Teachers want to fulfill this role, but they need more time for this.
School has become all about delivering the test, passing the test, raising the scores, and everybody forgets about the stuff that is really important. We need to remember that teachers can do much more that teach content.

Key Takeaways

Nick emphasized that the purpose of school is to create lifelong learners and to support teachers in maintaining their passion for education.
Nick has said that your mission is to create the largest collective of purpose-driven educators in the world so we can bridge the gaps between school and work. We would take that one step further- it isn’t just work it is LIFE. This aligns with the goals on Inspired Together Teachers.
If we had purpose infused in schools, it would be less stressful for everyone. Students would be more likely to show up. Teachers would be morefulfilled, and those who have left might even return to the classroom.

Conclusion:

Nick: I would say that the purpose of school is quite simply to create lifelong learners. And our biggest priority is really to get out of the way of kids from learning, where to stay out of their way, essentially, and not to mess things up too much.

And for educators, it’s kind of the same, right? Teachers have walked into the classroom, some have committed to it for a lifetime. And our job is to not extinguish that flame for them.

And so I would just remind families, parents, teachers, superintendents, our whole point is to create lifelong learners in a place where we all want to show up.

Find Nick:

Listen to Nicjk’s TEDxTalk on Your Tube here.

You can also find Nick on Linked In.

Recap:Available Tools

The episode has so much more discussion of big issues in education. We hope you will listen in and let us know your ideas!

Quote:

The key to purposeful education is asking and answering this question:

What’s the problem that you would like to help others solve?

Nick Marmolejo

Inspired Together Teachers Network Facebook Group

Linked In: Inspired Together Learning

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

If you are dedicated and caring but often overwhelmed and exhausted, join us at Inspired Together Teachers. We’ll give you inspiration, strategies and tips that help you navigate life’s challenges as a stronger, more confident, and more joy filled person, both in and out of the classroom.

Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.

Co-hosts Paula Schmidt and Michele Vosberg are award winning educators with the experience and skills to help teachers thrive in life and work. They’ve taught at all levels, worked with thousands of teachers, and conducted workshops around the world. They are also the authors of the #1 best-selling book The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.

Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to live inspired lives.