A very interesting article in today’s NY Times exposes how kids are currently being taught only the nuts and bolts or reading, as opposed to reading as a means to make sense of the world. The article hit home for many reasons - I recently touched base with a old high school friend I hadn’t seen in years and she’d since become a French teacher. We reminisced over cappuccinos and croissants about the horribleness of some of the books we were made to read in junior high and how we grew up to love language in spite of our curriculum, not because of it. (I still have nightmares about Le Lion, a book I still wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole, even as an adult)
The article cites the example of giving school kids a piece about “hiking in the Appalachians” and asking them to find the central idea. It then goes on to explain that if the kids don’t give a hoot about the Appalachians, don’t know much about hiking in that area, and moreover, are extremely unlikely to ever experience that activity, then they will naturally be less likely to be able to find the central idea, or answer any other questions about the piece.
The article inadvertently makes a commentary about how we expect kids to think (which is to say we don’t expect them to). Asking you to comment on something you have no prior knowledge of will not stretch your critical thinking muscles. It will not build “connectors” in your brain, or teach you to make associations and connect the dots between seemingly disparate subjects. If you studied WWII in history class and a blurb about WWII came up in English class and you were asked to process the information from a different angle, it would “stick” more, and you’ll be more likely to see how it fits into the big picture.
And isn’t that really the root of so many of our problems these days?… So many of us finding it so hard to see the big picture - connecting the dots between our declining health, our lifestyles, an economy gone berserk, the health of the planet, vested interests, the role of religion and politics in maintaining the status quo, etc, etc….?
I still don’t see the ”big picture” of Le Lion, though. Damn you, Le Lion!!! (shaking fist, angrily)
March 24th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Oh, Nadine, you’ve hit upon a very sore point in our household right now (we are two teachers living here, after all), and this new educational “trend” is so disturbing to us, I can’t begin to express all the problems we’ve seen as a result. My husband has been fighting against it in his school district, and I’ve been fighting against it in our son’s…but we’re increasingly depressed by the responses we’ve received. Sigh. Which is why partial/full homeschooling is a strong possibility for us next year… Very, very frustrating.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:18 am
I didn’t realize you were a teacher!
I have so much respect for teachers… I remember how profoundly good teachers impacted me, and they were invariably the kinds of teachers who would go beyond the curriculum and not talk down to us. In third grade, in a time and place where censorship was rampant, the class put a question to a teacher about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict (it was the 80s, and we were in the ME, it was a natural thing to be confused about) - whose fault was it? I naturally expected her to say the Israelis, but her answer was: “Neither - it’s the fault of the British”. It was such a profoundly honest and unexpected answer, and it challenged us to think properly, and didn’t condescend to us. Even CNN is rarely that honest.
But when you see how little teachers are paid, and what little attention is paid to schools, you can’t help but think that, like writing, society is relying on people who love it so much that they are prepared to sacrifice a comfortable living to do it. It’s so, so sad.
If you had asked me 5 years ago about homeschooling, thoughts of maladjusted cult kids would come to mind. Now I think it would be the ultimate privilege and luxury to be able to afford homeschooling my kids.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:55 am
what a throwback nadine!! i TOTALLY remember le lion and the PAGES of vocab we got from the book. didn’t it take us the whole year to read it!?
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:26 am
Those vocabulary pages…. Ugh! (Nadine shudders). And yes, it did take one whole, awful year.
Do you remember Farelle Daniel? She’s a French teacher now. Had coffee with her last time I was up in Montreal.
How are things with you - haven’t heard from you in ages!
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:32 am
oh my god!! how is farelle!!?? i do remember her. i’ve been dealing with alot since we last saw each other. actually it’s been about 2.5 years of dealing with alot and now i’m finally doing ok.
about le lion…you know i still have it back in montreal? i feel like i invested so much in that book that i can’t part with it. although ask me if i remember anything but the kilimanjaro about it and i wont. how did it end anyway? the lion died, no?
i’ll have a surprise for you by mid-april.
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:21 am
Ow… 2.5 years of dealing with a lot sounds like… a lot. Glad to know you’re ok.(and don’t hesitate e-mailing anytime!)
I’m quite suer I tore my copy of Le Lion page by page at the end of the year though my sister still has her copy in her room, the sight of which irks me very much.
Surprise?? You sneaky, sneaky minx, you… You planning on staying in Doha much longer?