With qualifying exams behind me, I am now refining ideas for dissertation. In the process, I have happened upon some treasures that I have, regretfully, missed for so many years. First, I've finally met Paulo Freire - not in person, but through one of his books. In Teachers as cultural workers: Letters to those who dare teach Freire (2005) mentions that the rigidity of structured educational environments makes it such that some people are "...forbidden to be" (p. 16). The control of teachers and students is insidious and freedom is squelched.
Somehow then, I went from Freire's democratic ideas of education to the topic of unschooling.The idea of democratic learner centered education is not new to me. After all, I home school my children and try to help them explore their natural abilities and interests. But, I have not been a typical 'unschooler'. I have utilized curriculum to teach too many subjects probably.....or, this is what I've told myself since I heard Howard Gardner and James Gee on Edutopia recently. This belief that I have erred in my ways has been made stronger by my introduction to unschooling. Dr. Ricci, Sir Ken Robinson, Johh Taylor Gatto and George Land have opened a whole new educational world to me. The more I hear from these people, the more excited I get.
Initial thoughts are that I agree with Dr. Robinson when he says that we zap creativity out of children because of our methods of schooling. I agree with Dr. Ricci when he says that we have too many rules for learning and if we leave children to explore, they create rich learning experiences on their own. I like that Dr. Gatto recognizes mass compulsory education is similar to herding animals. And, I look forward to reading Land's books on creativity. I believe these new resources will help me explore my dissertation topic further and I believe they will help me become a better teacher - one who promotes freedom, individual creativity, and democracy.
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