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)
