Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. – Miles Kingston 

Ok . . . let’s first be honest . . . as an educator I love this quote.

This is why what we do is more than standardized assessments and tests. This is the heart of knowing something, and being able to do something with the knowledge. This is the foundation of teaching, and the balance in applications.

Yes, we must teach the foundational skills to know facts. We must teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. Yes, the core of education need not fade into history. There are time-tested practices that still have a place in our classrooms. There are also historic practices that must fade into our memories. We must provide knowledge through instruction – and sometimes it isn’t fun. Some of what we do, we must simply do.

BUT . . . and that is an uppercase BUT on purpose . . . we must also teach application and utilization. We must teach the why and how along with the what, because we never want to see tomatoes in our fruit salads.