(2023-07-24) Bateman Teaching Agency

Matt Bateman: Running teacher training about agency this week. Nothing is more important than agency. But most people get agency wrong, especially educators who lean progressive. (Schooling)

Traditional education kills agency by removing choice and interest. Progressive education kills agency by removing excellence and competence. (mastery)

Build a shed, develop informed opinions about history, resolve your social anxiety, learn an instrument. These and like victories are the countless premises from which the conclusion “I can author my life” follows.

Being high agency doesn’t mean being a lone wolf, it means creating your pack. Conversely, belonging is downstream of agency, especially in adolescence and beyond.

The endurance part of agency is built first by getting joyfully lost in a task.

Agency is for everyone. It’s like honesty. It’s a virtue to be cultivated, not a lucky personality trait.