Schools as Learning Orgs:Independence LO14277
Scott Ott (SOTT@nkcsd.k12.mo.us)
Thu, 10 Jul 1997 09:06:23 -0500
Ed Brenegar (LO14235) gives a beautiful example of the true 'independent'
learner. I see in it a person who loves learning. We shy from the word
'love' in our school mission statements. Too soft. It's better
(apparently) to have students who can 'perform' and teachers who are
'accountable,' than to provide an atmosphere that fosters passionate
learning and love for one another.
Ed, I think that's why home schooling often works so well. You care
deeply about the student (rather than the subject) and the student knows
you care. You sit side-by-side with the learner. (I'm assuming you don't
stand and lecture your kids.) In man y ways you are a co-learner.
Last night my 8-year-old daughter and I read some excerpts from E.D.
Hirsch's "What Every 5th Grader Should Know" (I do not intend, by this
mention, to spark debate over Hirsch's idea of 'Cultural Literacy'.) There
was a four page summary of Don Quix ote. While it left out many important
parts...mostly those involving Dulcinea ... it did give my daughter and I
a lot to think about. She was captived by the strange words. I pondered
who is really crazy, the one who believes a nag is a steed, or the one who
can never imagine things as greater than they are. In short, my daughter
and I were thinking and learning together. She was no more challenged in
this than I. Perhaps that's the most important thing...she saw her Dad
learning, questioning, and loving it.
She loves to learn. I believe we are all natural born learners. I
used to believe that the job of schools is to 'inspire the desire for
lifelong learning'. But now I'm more likely to say the job of schools is
this: 'Don't extinguish the flame.'
Lou Holtz has said that he never had to motivate the football players
at Notre Dame. These boys come to our program highly motivated. My job is
to not de-motivate them, Holtz said. That's one of the things John Taylor
Gatto gets at in "Dumbing Us Do wn." The whole system conspires to
de-motivate natural born learners. That's why the exceptional students are
... well, the exception. I always get a tightness in my chest when I write
a news release about our four national merit scholars from a school di
strict which graduated 1,000 this year. We use it as a point of pride, but
was it our schools that made these students so smart?
Grace & Peace,
Scott Ott, Public Relations Specialist
sott@nkcsd.k12.mo.us
The North Kansas City School District
http://www.nkcsd.k12.mo.us
"Do not be conformed to this world
but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind."
--
Scott Ott <SOTT@nkcsd.k12.mo.us>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations
For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>