James Atherton (jamesa@dmu.ac.uk)
Wed, 1 Sep 1999 10:06:10 GMT
From: "James Atherton" <jamesa@dmu.ac.uk> Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 10:06:10 GMT Subject: Re: IFETS-DISCUSS Digest - 27 Aug 1999 to 28 Aug 1999
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In a message dated 8/27/99 12:58:14 PM, In a message dated 8/27/99 12:58:14 PM, fnickols@etsorg writes:
<<So I am led to ask: Do the list members view education as "knowing
about" and training as "knowing how"?>>
First: it is easy to get hung up on spurious distinctions between education and
training. It is worth asking _why_ we want to make such a distinction. What do
we do with it when we have got it?
But, falling for the bait, I can think of a substantial number of training situations
in which there is a great deal to know "about" something (although it could be
argued that people only need to know about something in order to know how to
do something else).
How about this? I follow Dewey in believing that education is about opening up
new avenues and opportunities. I propose that training is about closing down
avenues: not in a negative sense, but in the sense of teaching people how
_not_ to do something the _wrong_ way. Art education, for example, may be
about stimulating creativity etc., but it must include a training component
(about preparing canvases, or silk-screen techniques), if students are ever
actually to produce anything. The two aspects are complementary: although
broadly a constructivist (another dubious label!) I don't believe that in trainable
areas, people should have to re-invent the wheel.
James
Dr James Atherton
School of Education
De Montfort University
+44 (0) 1234 793156
also at james.atherton@net.ntl.com
http://www.dmu.ac.uk/~jamesa/index.html
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