>in some sense that deserves further specification, the grown-ups' *world*
>-- must structure children's learning to some significant extent. Attempts
>to deny this fact -- epidemic among liberal American teachers imbued with
>certain kinds of constructivist educational philosophies -- lead to all
>sorts of weird hidden agendas and mixed messages, in which children are
>reduced to guessing what they're supposed to do, learning to pick up on
>indirect cues from the grown-ups, forever paranoid that they aren't doing
>it right, when the official ideology is that they are running the show,
>constructing knowledge themselves, expressing their spontaneous natural
>selves, and all sorts of other good things, all having originated in
>opposition to the soul-deadening drills of yore.
I think we have an almost romantic tendency at times to glorify
the freedom of the individual--not to mention the sweet spontaneity
of the unfettered, happy child. I guess I will join you, Phil, in
earnestly thinking that children NEED parents, NEED adults who
provide structure, and that the provision of structure does not need
to be in tension with the active engagement of the individual.
Robin