accumulations

Education, National Standards, Democracy & all that

Talking about John Dewey's 'Democracy & Education' 1916 as a book that every

educationalist and education bureaucrat in NZ should have as bed-side reading I

remembered that wonderful NZ educator, -- Jim Allen introduced me to the book

in the early 70s

Elwyn S Richardson's

In the Early World

http://www.nzcer.org.nz/default.php?products_id=179

I posted a variant of the following on

Stand against National Standards on F/book today

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Stand-Against-National-Standards/283166094393?ref=ts: 

EDUCATE THE EDUCATION MINISTRY & its Ministers!

It might be advantageous for someone who knows

about these things to write

to Anne Tolley & Paula Bennett explaining to them why

inter-school moderation won't work.

Complaining here doesn't do the trick. They can
easily ignore this forum.

Write to them [& I know I'm being patronising]
in nice easy-reader short words; short sentences

&, for goodness sake, short paragraphs, with

key phrases in bold and/or underlined -

that shd - at least - give them the shakes

every time they get up to

say    iT wILL wORK

 
and at best might actually TURN THEM ROUND
to think better of it & realize they've backed
the wrong political horse, I do believe

 that some politicians, including
Ministers of the Crown, haven't always
educated themselves sufficiently to know
the social implications of their policies.

Yet they continue to get elected, thanks
to a Big Party Machine, then they get paid

by the taxpayer to work supposedly for

the public good & end up doing harm in short & long term.

Is it proper to suspect that some are there

for their Career & not for the public good? 

then cling to the party that elected them,

as if they've sworn blood brother & sister-hood

with a gang & do its bidding, regardless.

 I don't know enough abut it to do the writing.

Somebody, surely, will.

 

Democracy & Education - John Dewey - 1916

For those concerned about the current National NZ Govt's desire to impose National Standards, this may be useful.

John Dewey first published "Democracy and Education' in 1916 [Macmillan paper back edition, 1964, the passage quoted is on page 192]. The whole book argues for a connection between learning in school, personal and social experience and personal growth and development.

Democratic society is peculiarly dependent for its maintenance

upon the use informing a course of study of criteria which are

broadly human. Democracy cannot flourish where the chief

influences in selecting subject matter of instruction are utilitarian

ends narrowly conceived for the masses, and, for the higher education

of the few , the traditions of a specialized cultivated class. The notion

that the"essentials" of elementary education are the three R's mechanically

treated is based upon ignorance of the essential s needed for the

realization of democratic ideals. Unconsciously it assumes that thes

ideals are unrealizable; it assumes that in the future, as in the past,

getting a livelihood, "making a living", must signify for most men and

women doing things which are not significant, freely chosen, and

ennobling to those who do them; doing things which serve ends

unrecognized by those engaged in them, carried on under the direction

of others for the sake of pecuniary reward. For preparation of large

numbers for a life of this sort, and only for this purpose, are mechanical

efficiency in reading, writing, spelling and figuring, together with attainment

of a certain amount of muscular dexterity, "essentials." Such conditions also

infect the education called liberal, with illiberrality. They imply  somewhat

parasitic cultivation bought at the expense of not having the enlightenment

and discipline which come from concern with the deepest problems of common

humanity. A curriculum which acknowledges the social responsibilities of education

must present situations where problems are relevant to the problems of living

together, and where observation and information are calculated to develop social

insight and interest. 

[For more see http://wilderdom.com/experiential/JohnDeweyPhilosophyEducation.html]

Copyright renewed by John Dewey, 1944. Quoted with this apology:I have not sought permission to quote this passage, hoping that the reasons for making it available swiftly for those in urgent need of argument for better education in New Zealand, will excuse this breach. f asked by the publisher or the copyright holders I will remove it from the internet immediately.