[Edu-sig] Beyond CP4E

[Dethe Elza]

What do we mean when we say "Education?"

But first, a couple of quotes:

I had remembered a quote from Mark Twain, which I can find no 
confirmation of on the internet, "I spent my entire life learning, 
except for the time I spent in school."  Apparently the real quote is, 
"I've never let my school interfere with my education," which doesn't 
support the point I was going to make as well.  Oops.

"Education has replaced, 'I learn.'" --Ivan Illich

And John Taylor Gatto, award-winning teacher, sums up the seven lessons 
taught in school (full essay "The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher" here:
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/tma68/7lesson.htm):

1. Confusion
2. Class Position
3. Indifference
4. Emotional Dependency
5. Intellectual Dependency
6. Provisional Self-Esteem
7. One Can't Hide

OK, now to the point.  School, and "education" have very little to do 
with learning.  One of the best predictors for success in school is if 
a child can read before she begins attending school.  School has many 
purposes: Keeping kids busy while their parents are at work, learning 
to accept long stretches of boredom and rote-work in preparation for an 
adult working life, even (in the best cases) preparing children to 
become good citizens and respect each other.  Learning, whether math, 
English literature, or life skills, happens as a byproduct of 
education, if at all.

Arthur discovered his own interest in mathematics and pursued it to 
learn more.  I think that supports my thesis.

I would love to be able to homeschool my kids, but most of the time my 
daughter enjoys school.  She is very social, so for her school is a 
place to see her friends.  She gets frustrated by the disjoint classes 
(she gets very focussed on a task and dislikes being interrupted at 
arbitrary 45 minute intervals to switch to equally arbitrary tasks), 
but she has to learn to put up with some things she does not 
like--school is excellent for learning that.  There are cliques and 
children who enjoy being manipulative and hostile, so she gets to learn 
important lessons for dealing with others and how to handle 
confrontation--school is good for that too.  And I think it important 
to expose her to the seven lessons above, in order to help innoculate 
her to them.  Then at home we get to explore her interests and do some 
real learning: math, art, language, literature, and yes, computers (art 
again, we are mainly using the computer for stop-motion animation).

Whether or not computers are used in school is a trifle compared to 
fixing the basic assumptions and design that make schools a poor place 
for learning.  It's not that they fail at helping children learn, it's 
that helping children learn is not even a goal of school.

--Dethe

Email is where knowledge goes to die. --Bill French
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