Sir Ken Robinson's Contribution to Discussion on Education

Sir Ken Robinson is a genius. He completed a PhD researching the use of theater in education at the University of London, has worked extensively on programs to improve education, written several books which are I am told I must read, and he has a phenomenal accent.

I think the principles he sets out in these talks are indispensable in determining where education is going to go in the future. I am curious to find out more about how he envisages the application of these principles. Two of my friends have recommended his book The Element, and that book is on my list of volumes to read in the near future. For now, enjoy these lectures. They are long, and sometimes repetitive, but well worth the investment.

"Gethesm?"

As the joke goes, one studying for a PhD learns more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing. Funny, right? Maybe funny and true.
One of my professors recently recounted a story of when he was in a class full if PhD students discussing a poet who's writing made extensive allusions to Christianity. After some time working with these texts, a portion of the class asked, "okay, what is this 'gethesm' he keeps talking about?" The professor teaching the class--who was decidedly not a religious man--stared open mouthed at them. If PhD candidates could not recognize an allusion the the Garden of Gethsemane, they might as well close up shop and go home.

This is not innocent ignorance, although I doubt the students themselves are to blame. Our society declares that it is globalizing; all cultures are to be respected and accepted. If these students could somehow make it from kindergarten to doctoral work without learning about Gethsemane, society is enforcing this virtue of acceptance with blatant ignorance.

How are we to respect and co-exist with other cultures if we know nothing about them? Such an approach to multiculturalism can only be peaceable if it is built on not caring about our neighbors' cultures. On the most superficial level, this brand of ignorance makes it risky to invite anyone over for dinner, not knowing what they may believe about Divinely codified dietary laws.

On a deeper level, the fallout of 9-11 merits some thought. I hope we have not forgotten that tragedy. More than that, I hope we remember the prejudice many Arabs have felt since 9-11 simply because they are Arabs. Personally, I am inclined to thinking that these hate crimes would not have happened if more people were educated in a way that allowed them to understand that the fundamental beliefs of Islam are not suicide bombers and anti-Americanism, but faith in Allah, devotion to family, and respectable moral standards. Maybe a properly educated child, or adult, would have the intelligence to realize there is a difference between fundamentalist extremist terrorists and everyday, practising Muslims. I tend to thinking that if a few Americans had read the Koran for themselves and read it well, they might be able to realize that it teaches values not so far removed from those most of us claim as our own.

Maybe I am too much of an optimist.

Moral Nincompoops

"Next Generation of Parents Causes Concern" is the title of an Associated Press article I read in the paper today. The concern? A generation of mechanically incompetent nincompoops. More importantly this article is indicative of a more pervasive problem. Namely, morally incompetent nincompoops.

What then, is a mechanically incompetent nincompoop? Let the article speak for itself.

"Second-graders who can't tie shoes or zip jackets. Four-year-olds in Pull-Ups diapers. Five-year-olds in strollers. Teens and preteens befuddled by can openers and ice-cube trays. College kids who've never done laundry, taken a bus alone or addressed an envelope. Are we raising a generation of nincompoops?"

(The complete article can be found here: http://newnewsnet.byu.edu/pdf/du20100929.pdf)

The author cites two books: The Winter of Our Disconnect, by Susan Maushart, and The Dumbest Generation by Mark Bauerlein. Both discuss the effect of technology on our society. If ever I surmount the reading list already in front of me, I hope to investigate both of these books, and I pray they each emphasize the core of the problem.

Education always has and always will begin and develop best in the home. It is refreshing to see an author focusing on parents as the most influential factor. Technology may turn society on its head. Parents who properly raise and teach their children can turn it back. They may allow as much or as little technology into their children's lives as they so choose. If there is an epidemic of nincompoops upon us, parenting will create or eliminate the flood.

Twelve year olds who are intimidated by ice cube trays is, in the end, a mostly superficial concern. More alarming is the implied moral passivity. In his book, The Closing of the American Mind, Allan Bloom asserts that while Americans used to govern their lives based on principles in The Declaration of Independence and the Bible, they are no longer raised to believe in such principles. Parents are afraid to teach their children what they should believe, leaving them to decide for themselves. In the same vein, Flannery O'Connor said, "It is easy to see that the moral sense has been bred out of certain sections of the population, like wings have been bred off certain chickens to produce more white meat on them. This is a generation of wingless chickens."

In other words, poor parenting means not only that the rising generation is mechanically clueless, but morally unfounded; uncertain. This does not bode well.

It cannot be stressed enough that schools and other programs will not, will never repair this! Day-care cannot fix it. Boy Scouts will not solve the problem. Youth groups are inadequate. Only a recommitment to home education will be sufficient to teach children to build their lives around a strong work ethic and sound morality. This kind of education begins in infancy. Responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders of parents.

Personally, I am a stubborn advocate of home schooling. In my experience, public education is not only inadequate in providing a holistic education, it is counter-productive to that end. Prior to college I spent almost equal time in between home schools and public schools. I have now been a student at nine different public and private institutions and the most important education I received was and continues to be based on my experience with home schooling.

Now is not the time to address that issue in full, but I mention it because it is a possible counter to one of the greatest potential dangers of public schools. A question worth investigating would be how parenting patterns have changed with the advent of public schools and day-cares. Conceivably, some parents may feel obviated of their primary responsibility to teach their children because they believe the government has taken control of that. Dual income homes, children placed in the hands of state or private establishments for their education distances parents from their children. One reason to advocate home schooling is that it forces parents to remember and accept their responsibility as teachers.

In this context, the home school is only one possible solution. It is neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition to lay to rest our Associated Press author's concern. Even so, a solution must be found in every family, or the mechanical and moral structure of our entire society will inevitably crumble.

Ready, fire, aim!

Dustin Purnell (yes, that's me) has stated objectives for his education. His university does not have the same objective for his education. This is a problem.

My objectives are, at least in my mind, simple and direct.

1. To learn and study the greatest examples of human history.

Them, their lives, their books, their art, their architecture, what made them great or, in some cases, what made them so magnificently ungreat.

2. To apply these examples in my life as I learn them.

Knowledge for the sake of knowledge is not worth its weight in mud. Knowledge which, when applied, shapes us into something greater than it was yesterday, is beyond price.

The end.

I have begun work on six majors, six degree programs, searching for this. Six different departments, each with a different faculty which had decided on my behalf what I am best served in the classroom. Not one of them has let me dedicate the time needed to these goals. To my joy, I learned not long ago that Henry David Thoreau is probably on my side. According to him, for a student to have a holistic education; to be properly schooled in body mind and soul, requires above all else that the student be sovereign over their education. More on that later.

Thoreau's ideals would allow every student to pursue their ideals. I burn to dig deeply into the ideas, people and books that matter most to me; those Great Men and Women and Great Works which have moved me at the core, built and challenged my faith and character; to ask questions that matter to me, my family, the way I live my life and to the issues which are critical for the world to decide on.

The Great Works and the Great Examples of history are what they are because interacting with them helps us to live, love and think in better ways. I hope every parent hopes, as mine have, that their children will gain such assets from their education. I know many that do.

Right now, this blog is only be Dustin venting. I have strong opinions on the subject, and little know how about how to communicate them well. Here we go anyway. Ready, fire, aim. Over time, the idea is to refine this into a renewal of Renaissance ideals: holistic, comprehensive education for body, mind and soul. To discuss the Great Conversation--the ideas that shape our world and cultures--and how to improve our lives with them, is my objective and my invitation.

Let the games begin.