Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner, Teaching as a Subversive Activity, 1969
Saturday, November 13, 2010
The End of Education, pt. III
What students do in the classroom is what they learn (as Dewey would say), and what they learn to do is the classroom's message (as McLuhan would say). Now, what is it that students do in the classroom? Well, mostly, they sit and listen to the teacher. Mostly, they are required to believe in authorities, or at least pretend to such belief when they take tests. Mostly, they are required to remember. They are almost never required to make observations, formulate definitions, or perform any intellectual operations that go beyond repeating what someone else says is true.
Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner, Teaching as a Subversive Activity, 1969
Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner, Teaching as a Subversive Activity, 1969
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this is so true.
ReplyDelete"They are almost never required to make observations, formulate definitions, or perform any intellectual operations that go beyond repeating what someone else says is true."
ReplyDeleteThis is the virtual opposite of Architecture school.