Re: Ideology of painless learning and teaching in

Judy Diamondstone (diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu)
Tue, 23 Apr 1996 21:25:20 -0400

[Eugene, I forgive you for using a paragraph I requested be
ditched. It actually read okay as a frame for your
posting. And I liked your posting.]

Rephrasing Eugene:

INSTITUTIONAL PAIN is

Learning to learn disability in school
because of your pace of development
because of your style of learning (different than expected)
because of what you don't yet know (but could with the support of
others).
Learning not to learn in school
because your inclinations are not valued or even acknowledged
and even censured.

Adding on my few bits:

INSTITUTIONAL PAIN is

The imposition of an institutional (not familial, not communal) body
on a growing child
The silencing of the sensory body (desks in rows; restricted topics of
discussion)
And more beyond words immediately available to me....

>What is unacceptable for me is that children learn "learning disabilities"
>in school....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
>
>------------------------
>Eugene Matusov
>UC Santa Cruz
>
>
>

Judy Diamondstone
Graduate School of Education
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
10 Seminary Place
New Brunswick, NJ 08903

diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu
.................................................