"Educational renewal is about modifying schools so that their graduates will be effective participants in the world around them."
-Mary Catherine Bateson, Education for Global Responsibility
While we were slated to discuss two articles today, we focused our discussion around Bateson's work. However, I have already reflected upon Jardine's other article in my previous blog and you can find comments and thoughts about that article there. My focus too will be on Bateson.
I liked how Mary asked us to start by finding key words and phrases and end on a poetic or wordle summary. Do you remember my earlier thoughts on Jardine's use of the word let. Such a small but powerful word. Well, Bateson sculpts with interesting words as well such as the words: changes, actions, responsibilities, renewal, contexts, patterns, and of course systems.
If I could boil down Bateson's work into a bumper sticker this is what it would look like this:
This article attempts to bridge the philosophical foundations of deep ecology with educational pedagogy and praxis. This is one article where the wording of the first sentences in most sections eloquently describes the path Bateson takes through this article. For example:
"Individual human beings affect the global story"- Bateson links individuals within larger complex natural global systems and calls us to action based on the recognition that we all play a role.
"Children identify easily across species"- Isn't it amazing the role animals continue to play in society despite the fact that some impoverished children in large urban ares may never see actual wildlife in the wild. I loved her discussion of the Lorax as well as it is one of my favorite children's books of all time (along with Richard Scarry's Busy Town series). The Native American author Joseph Bruchac advises some caution in the use of animals as we have lost our ability to communicate with them as evidenced in the First Nations stories that began "Long ago when the animals spoke and the humans understood them there was..."
"Humans learn and teach though stories"- Aristotle again haunts me as Bateson describes how he identifies the elements of drama in his work poetics. Her description of the heroic journey of the water drop (I have done this with my students) through the water cycle as a analogy of the myth of the hero's quest illuminated one of the great failures of science educators in the modern age. This failure was in eliminating the element of the story and replacing it with dry, cold, narrative as evidenced in the majority of our textbooks used in schools today. It is time to bring back the ancient art of storytelling and artistic creativity into our science laboratories.
Finally a quote not at the beginning of a section but buried in the lush undergrowth of the article itself.
"Perhaps the model for classrooms could correspond to ecological patterns that can be observed in the natural world, complex and multifaceted, that just might offer useful analogies for human society and social policy."
Ahh...now wouldn't that be great. Instead of the cold walled edifices we typically build to house and educate students, the very concept of what is a classroom is transformed into the complexity that is our world. There is a school without walls movement that I am familiar with but it has never gained much traction as it is not as easily managed and observed by administrators and accountants. Thank you Prof. Bateson!
No comments:
Post a Comment