Bob Leamnson (RLEAMNSON@umassd.edu)
Thu, 24 Jun 1999 16:02:01 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 16:02:01 -0400 (EDT) From: Bob Leamnson <RLEAMNSON@umassd.edu> Subject: Education extended
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I would like to comment on Chris Eliot's series of deep and perhaps
philosophical questions, and Ania's response. Here is Ania's posting:
On Wed, 23 Jun 1999, Christopher Eliot wrote:
> Doesn't this go to the very heart of every important question about
> education? What is education for? Who is it meant to be good for?
> Should we produce good citizens or happy citizens or effective
> citizens? These are NOT always the same thing.
> Should we train children to value their country and grow up willing
to fight and die for it? Perhaps sometimes.
> Should we train children to value peace above all else? Perhaps
> sometimes. {...]
> I don't think any of my questions have clear answers. Any answer
to these questions is likely to be simplistic.
(Ania responded)
It seems to me that what we owe to ourselves and to others, like
students, is to give (us and) them the opportunity to make informed
choices. Whether this is a simple answer I do not know. But I do
think that understanding it in terms of the pedagogy which would
facilitate such an opportunity does require informed criteria rather
than uninformed gut-feeling.
Ania Lian
Ania's suggestions that we *give* students "the opportunity to make
informed choices" has an appealing ring to it, but turns slippery when
one tries to think behaviorally, or pedagogically. "The opportunity
to make informed choices" simply is not a *thing* that any teacher
can *give* to a student. Opportunities abound and seldom need to
be "given," unless someone has been keeping them locked up
somewhere.
Still, I think Ania's intent might be on the money, and it might get
Chris out of his conundrum.
Most of Chris' questions have a hidden assumption, which is that an
education is what one gets from schooling. Were this true, the
pressure on teachers--getting everyone ready for the rest of their life
by means of a few years schooling--would crush us all. What's so
bad about thinking of the *end* of schooling as the *beginning* of
the rest of education? If I could, in fact, get my college
students in four years time to the point where they could, and would,
go on learning continually for the rest of their lives, I would consider
myself a resounding success. To believe that people will never know
any more than what we teach them is a depressing thought.
Bob
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