Isak asks
>Eugene,
>could you explain the importance of such question? Why do we ask about
>painless learning and not about the meaning of pain for learning? Are some
>"natural" tensions and contradictions in learning which cannot be resolved
>without conflict, without pain?
>Isak
I'd like to respond using Judy's paragraph as the beginning my response
At 03:42 PM 4/22/96 -0400, Judy Diamondstone wrote:
>
>Economy of pain -- Eugene's point, as I understand it, to
>make our philosophies of education available for discussion and
>critique and revision. Everyone seems to agree there are degrees of
>pain as well as qualitatively different kinds of pain -- We all
>probably agree that physical violence is unacceptable in educational
>practice. We all probably agree that the student only learns by way
>of willing acceptance of whatever struggle learning entails. But the
>question is still open, whether we should allow the student to opt out
>of sociocultural practices........
>
What is unacceptable for me is that children learn "learning disabilities"
in school. Before going to school almost all children "can" do everything
(sing, write, read, speak French or German, paint, do math, etc.) and they
like to do these things but after spending some time in school they learn
that they are disable to do many things and that they do not like to do many
things (see the list above). This is what I consider as INSTITUTIONAL PAIN.
Kid who starts his/her fluent solo reading in the fifth grade is an academic
failure but who starts solo reading in 5-year old is success. This is what
I consider as INSTITUTIONAL PAIN.
Any violation of teacher expectations of child's SOLO abilities is
considered to be a learning failure. This is what I consider as
INSTITUTIONAL PAIN.
What a child can display to do alone (e.g., in test) is more important what
child likes to do. This is what I consider as INSTITUTIONAL PAIN.
Child's life and interests are often outside classroom curriculum. This is
what I consider as INSTITUTIONAL PAIN.
The teacher knows better what, when, with whom, and how the child should
learn. This is what I consider as INSTITUTIONAL PAIN.
I'm sure the list can be continued.
Eugene Matusov
UC Santa Cruz
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Eugene Matusov
UC Santa Cruz