Rethinking Efficiency in Education

It is easy to understand why efficiency has become such a dominant value in education. Classrooms are crowded. Budgets are limited. There is political pressure to show results. Under these conditions, it seems reasonable for learning to progress efficiently—minimizing waste, reducing uncertainty, and ensuring that each hour in school yields measurable outcomes. The logic is difficult to argue with, especially when framed as a response to institutional constraints.

But education does not always fit that logic. In fact, the aspects of education that are most important often defy straightforward logic. Learning is rarely straightforward. It is not only about knowing more than one did before or getting better at a particular task. Frequently, it necessitates reconsidering previously held beliefs or acknowledging the falsity of a straightforward solution. It involves moments of confusion, revision, and even failure. A student might need to hear the same idea several times, in different ways, before it begins to make sense. Another person might understand quickly but then realize weeks later that their understanding was superficial. These processes are not inefficient; they are part of what learning looks like when it is real.

There is also a risk—one that tends to be ignored—that the drive for efficiency will shift attention away from the learners and towards the system. When we base education on what's easiest to measure or deliver, we assume that students who don't fit that model are lacking. But often what they are lacking is not ability or effort but a structure that takes them seriously. This structure should allow for uneven progress, allow for second chances, and encourage more profound engagement with the material on their terms.

I am not suggesting that educators abandon structure or stop caring about outcomes. But I do think the conversation about efficiency needs to slow down. It needs to make room for the possibility that some of the most valuable parts of education — the ones where students learn to think in new ways or to see the world differently — do not happen on a fixed schedule. And if we design systems that leave no room for those parts, then we have misunderstood the point of education altogether.