A few thoughts, less lengthy than below...
A lovely idea: "Anything that makes sense to us is integrated into our continually growing knowledge of ourselves and of the world, and it is never lost. It becomes part of us" (54). I see this idea as along the lines of respecting one's elders for their experiential life knowledge, for not wasting time on regrets, as related to learning from your mistakes, and as learning being a life-long journey.
Smith also discusses briefly the corporatization of education, with "experts", politicians, and publishers involved, not just the expected participants of students and teachers. I have seen this first-hand at universities, where students seem to have a customer type of approach to their educations, and think of me as someone who is there to give them a service or help them attain a product. Scary stuff, because it leads to a mentality of "I paid my tuition and have attended classes, so where is my A?" I have also felt this corporatization with parenthood, where parenting magazines are really more about product placement and fear mongering ("buy *this* stroller", or "these are the shoes your child needs to learn to walk properly") than about support and information for new parents. And again, the "experts" and politicians are involved. It is certainly not just about the children and parents.
And finally, a common sense tidbit that I've seen at home: Smith writes that "People who have a great interest in a topic or activity, and who have had a greater experience of it, are bound to learn more" (about that topic, I assume). My 3-year- and-9 month old cannot read in general. But he can read every single one of Thomas the Tank Engine's friends names, to the tune of about 40 words. That means he has word recognition of names like "Caroline, "Bulgy", "Percy" and "Henry." That is what interests him (obsesses, him) and therefore that is the locus of his early reading skills. And the learning branches out from there; he will tell 10-min. long stories about these characters, do artwork involving these characters, and has grown a vocabulary that includes such phrases as "you have caused confusion and delay."
Confusion and delay... a catch phrase that could apply to many aspects of education?
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Life is Like a Box of Chocolates
14 years ago
Here, here, Lynnette! I feel like I live in a constant state of confusion and delay. I think most parents, working or not, feel that because of the incessant chaos of our times and the amazing information overload that is everywhere. I just had a conversation last night with a friend about how the pioneer generation didn't struggle with their identity and sense of purpose, they just did their work and lived and loved and worked very hard but still took time to watch the sunset and sing songs at night. Maybe because we have so many comforts afforded us our psyches need something to chafe at, so we choose our emotional selves? (Rambling...)
ReplyDeleteI hope your little Thomas the Trainiac enjoys what Maria Montessori calls "the sensitive period." This is that little window of time when kids really want to learn something: reading, writing, a particular aspect of math, cooking, etc., and it's up to us as parents and teachers to watch for these sensitive periods and jump on them when they show up! I'm reading ONE SIZE FITS FEW: The Folly of Educational Standards, by Susan Ohanian. In it, she talks about eschewing the regulations and teaching children "when they're hot." She has a great bit about teaching cursive to her second graders and they hated it, so she stopped, and then a couple of months later they began to ask how to write their names in cursive and if they could do their spelling in cursive and she let the learning evolve out of their curiosity. By the end of the year her class knew as much cursive in their few weeks as the other class that had slogged through the cursive "educational curriculum" that was proscribed by the district.