Thursday, December 30, 2010

In which I quote myself...

At the end of the day it is hard to type and I want to go to the Spur to meet Lib. It has also been effin' FREEZING, never good for PD. Which is my excuse for quoting from a letter to Brett Booth of Demonpuppy instead of writing an essay.

The letter was mostly on dinosaur images and modern public schools and their avoidance of 'strong' evolution-- something I got in Catholic schools (he explained that Creationists do not consider Catholics Christian-- oh...)

Anyway, I made one old point I would still back. Which is:

"I once said [1970's] my ideal curriculum would consist of biology, history, the classics, and how to use a chainsaw. Adaptable to region and culture but you get the drift...

"I now think I would add how to train a dog, hawk, or horse."

7 comments:

Doug said...

As a teacher - I would agree, but I would like to add math to the list.

Steve Bodio said...

No argument Doug-- it is meant to be a minimum rather than restrictive!

Chas S. Clifton said...

And what used to be called "home economics" -- basic cooking, and how to do your laundry so that everything does not come out pink.

Anonymous said...

Hi Steve

Education - as you say, a mix of theoretical and practical would fill the bill- as long as it encourages the development of an open, enquiring mind.

The genial headmaster of my minor public School in UK summed it up in his address to all 1960's ( pre computer age) sixth form leavers-

"An educated person is one who could take a party of 30 to the top of Mount Everest , and get them all back safely, without the aid of Thomas Cook"

- think about it!!

JohnnyUK

Anonymous said...

Education - Steve is spot on with the concept of covering both theoretical and practical aspects . I would add the encouragement a sceptical, progressive and enquiring philosophy in all students .

My minor, UK, public school, genial headmaster gave the following definition to his sixth form leavers in the 1960's.


"A educated person is someone who could take a party of 30 to the top of Mount Everest,and return them all safely,and on time, without the aid of Thomas Cook" ( or computers!).

- Think about it!

JohnnyUK

dr. hypercube said...

Coincidentally, this is the weekend for serious chainsaw instruction here (and target practice).

My suggested curriculum - celestial navigation - if done on the water you could work in biology, meteorology and literature.

Completely OT - do you know this book: http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints/classics/an-african-in-greenland/ ? Looks fascinating.

grapfhics said...

I always liked Mark Twain's definition on the difference between education and learning. I think that some of the trouble today is schools are no longer teaching and it does not matter whether it is the elementary, high school or college level. They are so befuddled with tests and making "grade" that they are lost.