In A General Way

5 thoughts on “In A General Way”

1. Frank J. Johnson

   April 8, 2016 at 4:34 am

   Aristophanes: “To teach is not to fill a vessel, but to light a fire.” (En français: “Enseigner, ce n’est pas remplir UN VASE; c’est allumer un feu.” I got this from a French posting on my FB timeline. In French, ” LA VASE” means “muck/sludge/slime” (etc.) so one witty commentator to the original posting remarked, “Ouais ben avec la réforme des colleges [en France], c’est barboter dans la vase, non ?” (“Indeed !? With (so-called) school reform, it (to teach) is to wallow in slime, isn’t it?”) Indeed, the corporate school reformers are working on an international level not to spark mental endeavor in young minds but to entomb them in the thickest muck possible.

   Log in to Reply
   1. Frank J. Johnson

      April 8, 2016 at 4:42 am

      “Light my fire!” And compassion, community, friendship, and trust are what lights fires.

      Log in to Reply
2. Frank J. Johnson

   April 8, 2016 at 8:08 am

   “Inmates using Aztec language [Nahuatl] to speak in code”
   “A disturbing new trend at [Santa Fe] New Mexico prison is corrupting [?] an ancient language and frightening officials.”
   YOUTUBE.COM
   For better or worse, largely a result of fire sparked by a compellingly strong sense of compassion, community, friendship, and trust among the inmates? Some as mentors, others as acquirers, some as both?

   Log in to Reply
3. Steven Ordiano

   April 8, 2016 at 9:17 am

   “…why if those qualities are so important do we not then target them, design around them in a specific way, when we write our school curriculums?”

   Schools have their foundations historically (in the western world, as far as I know) during the so called industrial revolution where factories, prisons etc… were developed.

   Schools were a means of indoctrinating the working masses and maintaining the power and the privilege of the wealthy. However, there is much work that can be done and change is possible.

   I simply do not believe in short term revolution but long and enduring evolution of the educational system…. to the point of the system not even resembling the way it was. We have come a long way historically. There is always that push and pull since the US cultural values of protecting privilege and the drive towards financial gain takes precedence over human values and even lives.

   The human values that stuck to Ben is what we all have. In our classes we makes the kids important because many of their parents (and even ourselves) have forgotten that we were once kids. I’m not talking about just innocence but confidence, immediate creativity amidst challenges of scary situations, angry parents and neglect. Truly there is something that gets broken with these kids. The original blueprint of humanity still lies inside the kids, dormant for us teachers to gently nudge.

   Log in to Reply
4. Alisa Shapiro

   April 10, 2016 at 6:32 pm

   This is exactly why I passed up an excellent opportunity to move up to the 5th-6th grade school and work with my WL BFFs, instead choosing to stay at elementary (for now). My lil students still live, for the most part, by our school’s stated values, which include Kindness, Friendship, Compassion, Positive Attitude and Empathy (I might be missing one!)
   They hug their teachers or cry to us when they need to. Emotion feels real and is alive in my building. My students aren’t homework zombies or assessment machines. When one kid addresses another in a snippy or rude fashion, they aren’t surprised when I weigh in and insist on a redo.
   Sometimes it feels like we’re from different planets, but OH HOW I LOVE THE LITTLE ONES.

   Word.

   Log in to Reply