{"id":4490,"date":"2025-01-04T06:58:46","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T12:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/?p=4490"},"modified":"2025-01-04T09:22:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T15:22:58","slug":"slow-productivity-in-school-part-1-the-problem-of-pseudo-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2025\/01\/04\/slow-productivity-in-school-part-1-the-problem-of-pseudo-productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Slow Productivity in School, Part 1: The Problem of Pseudo-Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Classical educators can often be found touting the Latin phrase multum, non multa<\/em>, in favor of various revolutionary proposals to adopt quality over quantity, depth over breadth, much over many things. (See for instance this article<\/a> on Memoria Press by Andrew Campbell, or Christopher Perron\u2019s lecture<\/a> on Classical Academic Press.) The phrase comes from a letter of Pliny the Younger (7.9.15) and originally refers to his advice for a student to read much, not many things. This could be taken to mean that he read the right books or the best books over and over again rather than simply reading more. It thus stands for an important classical prioritization of the quality of material read or studied, over simply checking the box of more subjects or books, regardless of their importance or enduring value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I recently read Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout<\/a><\/em> by Cal Newport, which was fascinating for its practical application of this principle to the pseudo-productivity so common in our working world today. Emails, app channels, meetings, and looking busy dominate the landscape of office work, to the detriment, all too often, of not only true productivity, but also appropriate margin and work-life balance. While I found the book personally helpful and encouraging for school administration, I was also struck by the phrase \u201cslow productivity\u201d and its helpfulness for conveying the classical approach to our students\u2019 work in school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this series of short articles, I want to unpack Cal Newport\u2019s principles for slow productivity and apply them, instead, to pedagogy at a K-12 classical school. My thesis is that teachers should guide students in the kind of slow productivity in school that optimizes durable learning and cultivates the intellectual virtues<\/a>. But first we should uncover the analogous problem to our modern office woes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the office, too often modern educators are fooled by various types of pseudo-productivity that end up undercutting the goals of our educational programs. Time is filled up with \u201cbusywork\u201d for students, we race through books regardless of their value for deep learning, and plan \u201clearning activities\u201d that actually undercut the development of genuine intellectual virtues while favoring ease of implementation for student and teacher alike. Minutes and hours crammed with edutainment (I can\u2019t believe that\u2019s even a word\u2026) mirror the hustle and bustle of the office, with little to show for all this supposed productivity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is going wrong here in educational terms? We are focused less on the quality of student work, than on the quantity of filling time with easy-to-apply learning activities. Worksheets, coloring sheets, entertaining educational videos, and flashy, lowest-common-denominator \u201cliterature\u201d are filling up the precious educational hours of our students. The inevitable outcome of such fast and easy productivity is low quality and low expectations. What is lost on many modern educators is how all this twaddle and twaddling activities (I am borrowing and reapplying Charlotte Mason<\/a>\u2019s preferred term for poor quality, childish reading material\u2026) is harming the development of our children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we compare the educational value of, say, a student writing a paragraph or two in cursive of their own volition and drawn from their own memory of a rich text they have read, with any of the aforementioned activities, which are so common in modern education, we can see how much of modern education is best classified as pseudo-productivity. Considered from the vantage point of student attainment, filling out single word answers in a pre-packaged worksheet doesn\u2019t hold a candle to the intellectual virtues honed and developed by, for instance, a written narration<\/a>. Why is it that we settle for pseudo productivity at school? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are likely multiple culprits, but one of them has a similar origin to the historical backdrop of knowledge work pseudo-productivity that Newport describes in his book: the factory mindset. The idea of \u201cproductivity\u201d itself rings of the revolution in efficiency brought about in the aftermath of the industrial revolution. As Newport explains, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

There was, of course, a well-known human cost to this emphasis on measurable improvement. Working on an assembly line is repetitive and boring, and the push for individuals to be more efficient in every action creates conditions that promote injury and exhaustion. But the ability for productivity to generate astonishing economic growth in these sectors swept aside most such concerns. (17-18)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Efficiency experts like Frederick Winslow Taylor applied this science in factory settings to great effect. Such gains captured the imagination of the world, including managers of knowledge workers and educational leaders and curriculum designers. The problem is that assessing or judging quality ended up being so much trickier in the knowledge and learning sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This lure of efficiency is part of why Bloom\u2019s Taxonomy<\/a> often ends up backfiring in a management-centered approach to education. The efficiency of systems of grading, quick completion of \u201cassignments\u201d and tying \u201clearning activities\u201d to standards crowd out the need for careful judgment and high standards. Even if Bloom\u2019s Taxonomy was intended to push educators toward more complex cognitive skills on the hierarchy, it is nevertheless possible to make students perform an easy or shallow \u201csynthesis\u201d task, as it is a knowledge task. Narration<\/a> as a complex and multifaceted \u201clearning activity\u201d might seem to rank as merely a knowledge task, but it engages the creativity, memory and artistry of the student, while solidifying their understanding of the new story or history they encountered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloom\u2019s Taxonomy<\/a> has tried to treat knowledge work in school, just like steps in an assembly line. One part at a time, building up to higher levels of complexity. The only problem is that the brain and knowledge work, simply do not work best like that; isolating bits of information and steps in tasks to their lowest or most basic level (except at the very beginning of something new) can tend to stereotype and bore the minds of our students. They race through \u201cmaterial\u201d without really learning or understanding it, and quickly forget the little that they have learned. Slow productivity in school is the only real productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cal Newport defines the solution to pseudo-productvity as slow productivity, explaining it as <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA philosophy for organizing knowledge work efforts in a sustainable and meaningful manner, based on the following three principles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Do fewer things.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Work at a natural pace.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Obsess over quality.\u201d (41)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    In the following articles of this series, we\u2019ll unpack each of these three principles and see how they might apply to student work in school. In the meantime, share in the comments section how you have seen pseudo-productivity invading modern schooling, as well as any ideas or proven methods for ensuring student work is deep and of high quality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Classical educators can often be found touting the Latin phrase multum, non multa, in favor of various revolutionary proposals to adopt quality over quantity, depth over breadth, much over many things. (See for instance this article on Memoria Press by Andrew Campbell, or Christopher Perron\u2019s lecture on Classical Academic Press.) The phrase comes from a 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Barney","author_link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/author\/jasonmbarney\/"},"uagb_comment_info":2,"uagb_excerpt":"Classical educators can often be found touting the Latin phrase multum, non multa, in favor of various revolutionary proposals to adopt quality over quantity, depth over breadth, much over many things. (See for instance this article on Memoria Press by Andrew Campbell, or Christopher Perron\u2019s lecture on Classical Academic Press.) The phrase comes from a…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa7K1D-1aq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4508,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2025\/01\/25\/slow-productivity-in-school-part-2-do-fewer-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":4490,"position":0},"title":"Slow Productivity in School, Part 2: Do Fewer Things","author":"Jason Barney","date":"January 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In my last article we discussed the problem of pseudo-productivity in school. Popularly called busywork, this pseudo-productivity of the factory model of education presents a fairly straightforward analogy to the pseudo-productivity of the office. In his book Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout, Cal Newport diagnosed the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Modern Research"","block_context":{"text":"Modern Research","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/modern-research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5076,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2025\/06\/21\/slow-productivity-in-school-part-3-work-at-a-natural-pace\/","url_meta":{"origin":4490,"position":1},"title":"Slow Productivity in School: Part 3, Work at a Natural Pace","author":"Jason Barney","date":"June 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In this series, I am taking my cue from Cal Newport's helpful book Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout and applying his insights to our expectations for student work in classical Christian schools. Like the modern office, forms of pseudo-productivity dominate the modern school system\u2013a fact that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Modern Research"","block_context":{"text":"Modern Research","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/modern-research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5129,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2025\/07\/12\/slow-productivity-in-school-part-4-obsess-over-quality\/","url_meta":{"origin":4490,"position":2},"title":"Slow Productivity in School: Part 4, Obsess Over Quality","author":"Jason Barney","date":"July 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In this series on Slow Productivity in School, we\u2019ve been exploring the paradox of festina lente (\u201chasten slowly\u201d). When it comes to the work of learning, sometimes you must go slow to go fast. Or, perhaps more accurately, you must slow down to be truly productive. Taking our cues from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Modern Research"","block_context":{"text":"Modern Research","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/modern-research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slow-Productivity-Email-Banner.jpg?fit=600%2C200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":106,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2018\/11\/18\/less-is-more-are-fewers-subjects-better-for-schools\/","url_meta":{"origin":4490,"position":3},"title":"Less is More: Are Fewers Subjects Better for Schools?","author":"Patrick Egan","date":"November 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Chris Perrin, over at Inside Classical Ed, suggests that classical schools are offering too many classes. He champions the idea of multum non multa - much not many. Perrin writes, \u201cTo study and learn well, humans have learned that it is important to study a few things deeply, even to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A few classic books illustrating less is more","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Canva-Five-Hardbound-Books-on-Brown-Surface.jpg?fit=1200%2C828&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Canva-Five-Hardbound-Books-on-Brown-Surface.jpg?fit=1200%2C828&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Canva-Five-Hardbound-Books-on-Brown-Surface.jpg?fit=1200%2C828&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Canva-Five-Hardbound-Books-on-Brown-Surface.jpg?fit=1200%2C828&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Canva-Five-Hardbound-Books-on-Brown-Surface.jpg?fit=1200%2C828&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5344,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2025\/09\/27\/mastery-over-speed-the-lost-art-of-cultivating-virtue\/","url_meta":{"origin":4490,"position":4},"title":"Mastery over Speed: The Lost Art of Cultivating Virtue","author":"Kolby Atchison","date":"September 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"It has become a truism that we live in a fast-paced world. In less than a century, modern technology has enabled us to convert a planet with a surface area of 197 million square miles into a global neighborhood.\u00a0 In 1750, for example, it took 4-6 weeks to sail by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Classical Tradition"","block_context":{"text":"Classical Tradition","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/classical-tradition\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Hiker-.jpg?fit=612%2C408&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Hiker-.jpg?fit=612%2C408&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Hiker-.jpg?fit=612%2C408&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3899,"url":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2023\/08\/26\/proclaiming-the-true-myth-tim-kellers-ministry-and-classical-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":4490,"position":5},"title":"Proclaiming the \u201cTrue Myth\u201d: Tim Keller’s Ministry and Classical Education\u00a0","author":"Kolby Atchison","date":"August 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I was first exposed to the ministry of Dr. Timothy Keller in college while pursuing a degree in philosophy and reading through the western canon of Great Books. Immersed in the intersection of Christian discipleship and the life of the mind, I found in Keller a comforting voice that resonated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Biblical worldview"","block_context":{"text":"Biblical worldview","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/category\/biblical-worldview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Tim-Keller.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Tim-Keller.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Tim-Keller.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Tim-Keller.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Tim-Keller.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4490"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4495,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4490\/revisions\/4495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}