Very cool article about the quality of learning and free choice.
"You're far more intelligent, each one of you, than you are given credit for. Instead of starting with what we think you should know, why can't we start with what you genuinely want to know? I think that a learner, given time, space, respect and resources, will do a far better job of teaching himself than if he has knowledge imposed upon him with utter disregard for his own interests and abilities."
[Note: it seems that Julie's blog has a bug which prevents it from taking comments from people who are logged in. Try to write in a name manually instead.]
I wrote this to Julie as an answer to her article, but didn't manage to post it, and wanted to share it here anyway.
ReplyDeleteVery nice article, thank you !
I have met the Waldorf school system, I happened to do the teacher gymnastic teacher training, quite a few years ago. I never tought it, but as I studied with techers, and parents who had their children in those schools, I found this teaching really great. If I had children now, i would give them into that school. Of course nothing is perfect, but this is so much better than the avarage.
"Teachers in Waldorf schools are dedicated to generating an inner enthusiasm for learning within every child... allowing motivation to arise from within and helping engender the capacity for joyful lifelong learning."
http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/02_W_Education/index.asp
Have you heared about this ? I think you may find it interesting.
It's a beautiful idea!
ReplyDelete*And* there's still a presupposition--you need us, young ones. Let us present material to you, let us teach you.
I questioned this thought and found out it wasn't true.
One really interesting thing about classes is that they are generally planned ahead of time. One really interesting thing about life is that it unfolds moment by moment if you let it. To be present with children with space for whatever comes next to unfold--that's where I find deep satisfaction.
This doesn't mean that I wouldn't take a class, though.
Some pretty stupid ideas really. It might work with some kids, but most - especially those whose parents don't read, aren't curious about anything, only watch crap TV, and only care about sports. Which seems to be about 99%. Those kids don't have a chance. Raised not to be curious about anything or to value knowledge, they will only learn when forced to.
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent point. Don't follow me. Please don't follow me! Only live that way if you do. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat I loved in Waldorf schools is that they don't kill out the curiosity. No grades. No small bit of this, and then small bit of that. I remember when we were learning about Greece in school, we had the the literature one year, then maybe the history of that period the next year in history class, the geography another year, it was all split. In Wardorf school, they had 3 weeks on Greece: history, literature, geography. In gym, they make Olympic games, at the end make a competition all dressed up... And what they have to do about what they have learned: they take notes, and at home have to make a beautiful written presentation of what they learned, the notes and other works gathered in a book.
ReplyDeleteI guess in "traditional" school you need to make a lot of extra memory work and coercion, because if you have let's say a math class on monday, and the next one on wednesday, well, on wednesday you already forgot what you learned on monday. But if you have 3 weeks around one subject every day, you can develop it, deepen the knowledge, and you will really understand it without loss of energy. They have math and language every week, but for the other stuff, they have 3-week "epocha".
Anyway, I don't want to say too much... But it is really well thought.
The Waldorf School...the kids sent there are going to have parents who encourage and who value learning. It's an approach that couldn't be applied to every school. I'm also not sure that grading is necessarily bad, at least in some subjects, like math.
ReplyDeleteThat is a point, yes. There's no doubt that while it would not be hard to design a much better education system, actually applying it widely would take a *lot* of work, money, good-will, and intelligence.
ReplyDeleteWhy implement another system when the concept itself is arguably flawed?
ReplyDeleteOf course that's more extreme than necessary, as there are good schools out there. (IE: http://www.sudval.org/) It's just that under the current system I get the feeling it's not supposed to happen. I think George Carlin hit the nail on the head: http://tinyurl.com/69llnu
Since we're on the subject, Eo, you might enjoy the work of John Taylor Gatto: http://tinyurl.com/75xom
He's a former teacher who spends his time arguing against the (American, though it can apply elsewhere) educational system on the basis that it was derived from Prussian methods by business interests who wanted obedient workers over an educated populace. He also speaks of the corruption he witnessed within the system (largely supported by teachers who won't get tenure if they don't tow the party line) as he worked to give his students a real education.
In this case, changing the system is impossible. "Change" would mean tearing the whole thing down and starting over. This could be applied to many regions of the world since modern teaching methods are often in conflict with the way people actually learn. To clarify, starting over would be possible. Changing what is currently in place would be like organizing a prison cell according to the principles of feng shui.
Accounting for the state of the world at large, I think a complete overhaul of many things could come to pass. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds.
(Wow, George Carlin just described my ego exactly. Amazing!)
ReplyDeleteMy experience is that every outside-in reform will fail. Oh, wait. That's Krishnamurti's. But it's also my experience.
The inside-out stuff is what transforms. I'm not quite getting at this because I'm breaking it into two apparently neat categories.
But as we wake up to the this-just-doesn't-work-ness of *all* our systems, change arises by itself, not through ideas, not through reforms, not through Doing It and Making It Happen. Things get done, but not because we thought it out ahead of time and decided it was good.
That's the environment in this household, basically (with many human flaws), and that's why the learning center for my children is here. But once our collective awareness increases, there won't need to be any protective sanctuary where they are recognized as the intelligent ones they are. The word "homeschooling" will evaporate because that is also ridiculous.
How do we raise our collective awareness? Each of us jumps into the fray in our own way--teaching school, working in a cubicle, etc. The clarity of that teaches us, and so we can't help but change.