Michael et al: I wonder if some of the dissonance we are sharing on revising education, or at least asking questions, is to acknowledge that we often confuse what in theory sounds good for education, but in reality does not teach well in the classroom? Lest I'm confused, are we discussing two different perspectives - classical education that builds on independent thinking or building skills that translate to the marketplace? And are these mutually exclusive? Philosophy 101 ended up being a good business class because it taught me to recognize a problem, break it down into components, and reassemble it. Don't both Britain and Canada and many European countries still have two separate classroom tracks for vocational education and "liberal" educations? >From those who experienced them, have they fostered societies that have two conflicting and incompatible publics? Do they serve the whole economy - not just industry and commerce? It's one thing to theorize that business models based on installation or ending unsuccessful methods or curriculums can be added and subtracted much as businesses redesign a marketing program or manufacturing process to fit sales and production goals. It is entirely a different matter to make those models for success part of the very real and often predictable petri dish that is a classroom with a human teacher and many human students, all in various degrees of learning comprehension and hunger for knowledge. Some don't actually "learn" the lesson from the classroom until sometimes much later in life when an experience or event triggers the "AHA" moment where the textbook or teacher's lesson plan become relevant and applicable. Some, unfortunately, never have those light bulbs go off in their heads. Teachers, surely, are optimists - and stubborn. A petite divergence: my paternal grandfather, an avid gardener and notorious cheapskate, insisted that all his grandchildren help him during summer visits. We worked in his garden, made the early morning rounds of fruit and nut orchards in the San Joaquin valley after the migrant workers were done, then learned to peel as little flesh from the peaches as possible to help grandmother preserve them or better yet, make homemade peach ice cream. I thought he was a slave driver, an old foagy remnant from the Great Depression who might be guilty of child labor law violations. That old washer in the garage held together by wire hangers was my best evidence, I thought, of his scrooge disposition. Twenty years later, as my life evolved, my experience and practice at these tasks gave me great satisfaction as I designed my own home and landscaping, used suppressed skills and knowledge that confirmed gardening is a great teacher about life, discipline, diligence, creativity and marriage, divorce, recovery, bearing and raising children, learning new lessons and enjoying the work of it: You must plant something well and in the best place for it to grow; so this requires some research and planning; Water and feed your garden wisely, for it will die of neglect as surely as from too much sun or not enough; You will deal with a lot more manure than you ever thought possible when you were young and naive believing just sun and rain - or love - were necessary; Do not be afraid to prune and shape a young plant - your life or a child - if you want it to grow straight, strong and flourish; There is a lot more maintenance than you first thought, but steadfastness and consistency bring great rewards, whether with rose beds or children; Having the right tools for the job is not just convenient, but labor saving and productive; Don't be afraid to throw out a sick plant, chaulk one up to experience and discover a new favorite, just as you must be open-minded as your life and your children experience things you didn't in your own raising and weren't expecting to have to deal with; Enjoy the view, as early as first light, in midday sun, in soft late evening reflections, in rain and snow, spring glory and winter rest, for this is yours to enjoy; Be proud of your work, acknowledge your mistakes, the lessons learned, share your bounty and treasures, and hope another grandchild somewhere learns these lessons, too, somewhere in a lifetime. Education has many achievements, not all of which are measured on tests or can be accomplished in traceable results. Education is evolving; what do we want it to be? Karen
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Michael Gurstein Sent: Monday, July 08, 2002 8:10 AM To: Futurework@Scribe. Uwaterloo. Ca Subject: FW: <toc>Magical Conversation (Revisiting Education) I must confess to not having followed the recent discussion on teaching/education as closely as I might have (having been too actively engaged in the practice of teaching/education). I think this below rather sums up my own perspective. I have the rather strong sense that the requirements for teaching--which increases as one goes up the student's age/proficiency ladder--is changing rather signficantly as a result of ICT's/media... The change is less of a replacement of the need for one set of skills by another, and more of a need for teaching/learning an additional and perhaps more complex/conceptual set of skills in addition to other "basic" skills (3R's for example). Living and working in an information/technology saturated environment doesn't mean that one doesn't need to know how to read or write or do computation but it means that one must know those things as well as knowing how to manage/construct/deconstruct information and knowledge at a conceptual level. Apart from the relatively few folks who actually work with the design and development of technology those of the rest of us (and here I include the 60-70% of the population in most developed countries who spend at least part of their working and/or non-working time interacting with ICT's in one form or another) need to be able to know how information/knowledge functions at a conceptual level in order to make sense of what we are doing with ICT's and to have any measure of "control" over them and how they are structuring our relationship with others and with the physical world. I would suggest that this need for understanding at the conceptual level is growing fairly rapidly and is one of the reasons for the widespread dissatisfaction with education both from those who think the evolution towards this direction isn't going fast enough and from those who think it is going too fast or is being done at the expense of other things. I also think that a lot of this development is happening fairly spontaneously among young people with their vernacular use of technologies--video and computer games, Instant Messaging, media saturation--and in a lot of instances, it is the adults who need to catch up or get out of the way (or ideally, help young people to systematize and make sense of what they know intuitively). Mike Gurstein -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: July 8, 2002 9:57 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: <toc>Magical Conversation By Bernard Percy and Marina Leight - June 2002 I RECENTLY HAD A MAGICAL CONVERSATION with a very special friend, Ilene Rosenthal. We were discussing what defines a great teacher. This inspired my thoughts on who the great teachers are. They have high standards and expectations that they won't compromise. They dare to dream of truly making a difference in their students' lives. They're the "restless" individuals, innovative thinkers. They don't want to adapt or conform to the world around them, when that world has limited expectations of what a teacher can do or achieve. They challenge students to think differently, innovatively, and not merely adjust to their environment. They're comfortable in a space with motion, action and innovative thinking. They help students find their true purposes; develop their unique, special talents; and ensure they develop certainty in their ability to overcome obstacles and achieve their dreams. They create space for students to find and develop belief in their own potential. They create special, positive moments where a student has a realization or experience that positively affects his or her life, forever. They seek the real barriers that prevent students from learning, i.e., helping students learn the skills, gain the knowledge, and develop their abilities to be problem solvers. They never see the child only as a statistic or number, but as worthy of the recognition of his or her own individuality. They strive to put and keep the joy in learning. They're willing to find the magic residing in each child. They're dream makers, not dream breakers. Technology in the hands of a great teacher becomes a powerful tool to individualize and customize each student's educational program, one that aligns with their true potential, interests, needs and uniqueness. It's a tool that can help students rejoice in what they can and do accomplish. June Issue, Converge Magazine http://www.convergemag.com/magazine/story.phtml?id=3030000000011959 Bonnie Bracey [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction." Martin Luther King Jr.
