From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Wed Aug 28 2002 - 19:01:04 MDT
Vanessa writes
> I first started thinking about this when I was at university in DC. Appalled
> at the state of public education there & reflecting on the catastrophe
> that was my own high school education, I began to draft some ideas for a
> different kind of public education. Not just curriculum, but more focus on an
> inter-disciplinary approach to all education.
> ...
>
> Part of the problem with American education is that "grown-ups" severely
> underestimate the potential & capacity of young children. I'm reading Black
> Holes & Time Warps right now, which seems clear enough for any *interested*
> high school student or even junior high student to absorb. Its a good
> example of a simple text that reaches into different disciplines to foster
> a multi-dimensional approach to learning (not so objective in parts, but
> still...) A better example would be Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas.
I second the motion for "Black Holes and Time Warps", possibly the
best science book for the layman I've ever read.
> But the student needs to be interested if they are to excel. Children will go
> to astonishing lengths to satiate their curiosities
Yes, but imagine you're a teacher in a school, even where you have
a free hand with the curriculum. Unless you're teaching a bright
and gifted class, good luck. I predict that you'll find their
enthusiasm and interest almost impossible to arouse towards anything
you find worthwhile.
Yes, a huge number of different approaches for different kids needs
to be tried. The only way I think that we could go about it would
be to privatize the schools, and have the principals and vice-principals
laying awake at night thinking of designing better curricula to attract
more families, than laying awake at night wondering how to deal with
the administrators from downtown.
Lee
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