| News
& Views
- Aug, 1991 Issue |
Education Myths I Have
Known And Loved
Baird W. Whitlock
New York: Schocken Books, 1986
This is a delightful collection
of essays by a college professor who loves teaching and loves his students.
He disposes of 26 common thoughts on education with down-to-earth observations
from his personal experience.
Myth #1 is: "We should go
back to basics." He says teachers left the basics because they didn't
work very well. He suggests we move on to fundamentals such as, "the
best way to learn is to teach," and "...the only way to learn to write
is to write."
Other myths he discusses are,
"That you can teach how to teach" (good teaching come from love of the
students and knowledge of the subject matter; technique is secondary),
"That teachers can motivate students" (If educators had a clue how to
motivate, why are education courses in such disrepute), "That grades
are important" (They are an educator's crutch and students put an unnatural
and unhealthy emphasis on high grades), "That Education should proceed
from simple to complex ideas" (Young children learning languages easier
than adults indicates their minds are more complex than we give them
credit for), and "That guilt is wrong" (Guilt in response to wrong action
is appropriate and necessary to start positive change).
Agree with the author or not,
his questions and observations will at least make you smile, and maybe
you can pick out a kernel or two of a better understanding of education.
Copyright
© 1991, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced without
prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author
attribution accompanies the copy.) |
