[Xmca-l] Re: Mystery progressive educator?

[Huw Lloyd]

Most of the discord is in the terms rather than the meaning, I think.

For me, the main problem is his "simple to complex", I would say, rather,
"the simple within the complex".

Given the importance of the introduction to problems, "self evolution"
hardly seems appropriate.  Presumably "instruction" had a fairly
unambiguous meaning in the 19th century.  But I don't think things have
changed that much.

But this continues to be a thought provoking puzzle: to the degree that a
student is guided, they are not exercising their own skill in orienting to
the task.  Spencer, it seems, is suggesting guidance is best resumed when
the student loses their appreciation for the task.  So where do we locate
the tenacity to accommodate unresolved problems etc?

But then Spencer was a philosopher, which locates him amongst those who
chose thinking as a way of life...

I recall reading recently that the development of personality was
acknowledged by Danish legislative governance for education.  In reading
Davydov it seems he had considerable success in raising a population of
students who were doing something resembling intensive thinking...

But for those who do not value thought etc. in quite the same way,
schooling provides a different, more immediate, need. It seems to me that
in all forms of instruction the question is implicated -- what kind of
development (personality) am I working with/ supporting?

Huw



On 17 August 2013 20:47, Martin John Packer <mpacker@uniandes.edu.co> wrote:

> Who also coined "the survival of the fittest," so perhaps it's no great
> surprise.
>
> Martin
>
> On Aug 17, 2013, at 2:24 PM, "White, Phillip" <Phillip.White@ucdenver.edu>
>  wrote:
>
> >
> > Even earlier, Herbert Spencer, 1870's.
> >
> > Phillip
> >
> > Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
> > From: Peter Smagorinsky
> > Sent: Saturday, August 17, 2013 12:54 PM
> > To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > Reply To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Mystery progressive educator?
> >
> >
> > And, in 1896, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20513/20513-h/20513-h.htm
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:
> xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Peter Smagorinsky
> > Sent: Saturday, August 17, 2013 2:48 PM
> > To: lchcmike@gmail.com; eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Mystery progressive educator?
> >
> >
> http://archive.org/stream/teachingoforalen00bolerich/teachingoforalen00bolerich_djvu.txtincludes the quote as its framing perspective, so it must have impressed a
> few people. Note that the book is from 1914, the year before Vygotsky began
> his work on The Psychology of Art.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:
> xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of mike cole
> > Sent: Saturday, August 17, 2013 1:30 PM
> > To: xmca-l@ucsd.edu
> > Subject: [Xmca-l] Mystery progressive educator?
> >
> > Ran across the following interesting statement by accident and was
> surprised a little at the authorship. I thought others might be interested
> in it as well. I'll leave off authorship because part of what I found
> interesting was in figuring out who it was.
> >
> >
> > mike
> > ---------------
> >
> > Children should be led to make their own investigations, and to draw
> this won inferences. They should to *told* as little as possible, and
> indeed to *discover *as much as possible. Humanity has progressed solely by
> self-instruction;
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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>