In article <290A114784 at bio.tamu.edu>,
Julia Frugoli <JFRUGOLI at BIO.TAMU.EDU> wrote:
>Maybe this is really off-topic, but the tone of all the posts about
>learning has brought this to my mind. I've been influenced quite a bit
>by the book "The Teenage Liberation Handbook:How to quit school and get
>a real education" (author has slipped my mind, but if anyone's
>interested I'll look).
I don't think it's off-topic at all; I can't remember the author's name
right off, either, but I think I heard her interviewed on NPR, and I
think she was the teacher played by Michelle Pfeiffer in "Dangerous
Minds" (not accurately--don't judge her by the movie!).
My children introduced me to the book, the year
>the two oldest dropped out of high school to self-school. Now that they
>both are safely on academic scholarships at the colleges of their
>choice, in computer programming and environmental engineering, I can
>safely say that it was the best thing they ever did and if the youngest,
>who's still in high school, wants to do it also, I'm all for it.
Wow, congratulations! They are fortunate to have a mother as understanding
as you . . . I can only imagine the roof that some parents would hit . . .
It's a real credit to them what they were able to accomplish.
This was the point of the book-from elementary school we
>train our children to learn for a reward-a star, an A, a scholarship-and
>not because of the intrinsic value of knowledge.
That's what I was trying to get at when I was talking about "learning as
contest" as something to be avoided, but I think you say it a lot
better, here.
Do you think that even when faced with a bunch of students who have been
trained to "learn for reward," there's hope for transcending that mindset?
How would you structure a course so that it wasn't like that, but still
fit the college or university's requirements?
Karen
