I should be going to bed now (NYC time zone), or else turning around work
from advisees that I'm behind on; but this topic has got me going.
Now I'm remembering one of my favorite short stories by the great 20th
century writer Lu Xun. I'm not remembering the title, but it depicts an
evening dramatic performance in a Chinese village. I am sure that this
sort of event has been going on for centuries. It would be a mode of
instruction for the young people; but it would be an activity that was not
happening solely or primarily for that "instructional" purpose. It was for
antertainment and socialization for adults, but the "instructional"
function would have also been salient, if not necessarily "deliberate."
It seems to me one question here has to do with the degree to which it
matters if the activity is conducted specifically for its "instructinal"
value.
On Sun, 17 Jan 2010, mike cole wrote:
I think this speculation is correct, Tony and lets hope someone can help
us
know:
"I would bet that they have been used over the centuries as media for
transmitting culture orally, through stories told by illiterate grown-ups
to
children who were not being schooled."
Deliberate instruction is clearly not co-incident with literacy and
schooling (30+ children to one adult, print mediated). Infants are
deliberately (if not-so-effectively) instructed by parents.
This is a great example of the belief that to study learning and
development
one has to study the history of these forms of change at several
different
scales of time and synchronic scale.
Wow.
mike
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