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Oct 30, 2022Liked by Timothy

Nice work, Friend!

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“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” — Socrates

“Public education has not produced an educated public.” ― G.K. Chesterton

“The object of education is not to fill a man's mind with facts; it is to teach him how to use his mind in thinking.” ― Henry Ford

“Loyalty, spirit of sacrifice, discretion are virtues that a great nation absolutely needs, and their cultivation and development in school are more important than some of the things which today fill up our curriculums.” — Mein Kampf

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Incredibly interesting article, thank you for sharing it. Have you read Culture Against Man? I think you’d enjoy it—it’s a 1960s ethnography of American high schools (as well as nursing homes and, if I remember correctly, workplaces as well).

On our (arbitrary? unnatural?) separation of work, play, and learning—it’s interesting and telling that as adults trying out something new, we often don’t give ourselves permission to play and learn as we go. We insist that we don’t have a “right” to start painting and “be painters”through action if we don’t at least take a class, if not get a whole masters degree, first. We could do well from observing the kids and taking note.

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Very interesting and thought-provoking. I'm not sure that didactic teaching and learning through play are mutually exclusive though. I think it depends on context. For example, one of the big problems I have with so-called discovery learning is that in some contexts it's a massive waste of time. Also, and I feel I have to say this as an ex-teacher (schools: I still teach adults), although the summer break was nice, it wasn't exactly what I would call a perk. I always spent the first week or so overcoming my exhaustion from the previous term, and the last two weeks preparing for the new term, so in effect I had just two weeks. I realise that was better than most people's experience, but when I worked in a shop, and now working for myself, I don't need any more than a week's holiday at the most!

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