Replying to LO29293 --
Dear Alfred,
I don't know what 'action learning', or any of the other types of learning
are. However I suspect many academics dream up these titles to push their
own professional barrow.
>From a lifetime of attending nightschool, and professional experience, I
know one thing - all the theory you learn at school means nothing until
you apply it in a real life situation.
I suggest to really learn, you have to DO something constructive with the
information you have accumulated. Even then, it takes real effort to
extend the range of this information, to be creative.
I perceive a major problem in our society, which existed in the time of
the ancient Greeks and Romans. Characters like Plato, Aristotle and
Socrates made up an elite who didn't usually perform any kind of
(experimental?) work. The work was done by slaves. Rome was apparently a
little better, some slaves actually ended up as teachers. It wasn't until
after the middle ages that scientists actually proved their theory with
experiments.
In our day and age there aren't many mechanical engineers who can drive a
lathe, weld, or perform innumerable other tasks requiring 'trade skills'.
This separation breeds a dependecy of the tradesmen on engineers, and vice
versa. The fact is we are getting to the stage where most people cannot
'do a job of work'. Parents who believe their kids are 'dropping out'
when they become tradesmen, are symptomatic of the problem, it comes from
middle class snobbery. In addition tradesmen who don't extend their
education past trade school are also exacerbating the problem.
I believe this tyope of problem extends into manufacturing industry, even
where the means of production are largely computerised. The design
practicalities are beyond many people.
Best Regards,
Alan Cotterell
--"Alan Cotterell" <acotrel@cnl.com.au>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
"Learning-org" and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.