Re: [Discuss-sudbury-model] Questions about Their Future

Watching this thread develop has been interesting.

Michael, on the issue of the gamble and the payoff involved in choosing
an educational paradigm for your kids: I don't particularly concern
myself with what my kids will or won't learn or what they will wish had
happened when they are adults. It's not that I graciously grant them
choices about their life -- it's simply their choice by default. When
you make it all _their_ choice, they get responsibility. It's not just
a free pass to do as they like, but a burden too. If my son doesn't
want to learn algebra (but he does!) then he won't and he'll be fine.
He'll learn something else that will fulfill him. And he can always
learn it when he's 40 if he changes his mind. You're correct that he
won't be able to learn some things to some degrees once he's older, but
so what? He will have learned others instead. We all make our
decisions and sometimes we have regrets. I'd rather my kids have
regrets about their own behavior than about mine!

> <<Many of our students at Sudbury Schools choose to take up mathematics of
> all flavors, so saying our students never discover calculus or physics
> or any science is factually not correct.>>
>
> Good. That's what I'm looking for. Of course, I'll need to hunt statistics
> on it in order to make real argument, but I'll do that on my own time.

Good luck. As far as I can tell there aren't any.

> But if producing curious,
> self-motivated students means many of these students don't appreciate
> calculus (again, just an example) as much as they might, I'll keep looking
> for a compromise.

Why do you care that they appreciate calculus? What if they appreciate
sailing instead? Or hacking perl? Or tupperware? There are a trillion
ideas that can't be fully comprehended without some body of prerequisite
experience, so why do you get to pick any one (or few) that are
important enough to coerce toward? If a kid want to be an astronaut or
design roller coasters, they'll learn the calc that they need. If not,
why should they all get it just for the aesthetic?

Further, algebra is as much filled with wonder as calculus. I contend
that the same person (of whatever age) who will see and appreciate the
marvels of calculus will also marvel at algebra...at least if it's not
crammed down their throat. Kids playing with math do original thought.
  Kids being taught math do not. Typically.

> My original point here was that there's a difference between the skills of
> algebra and reading, in that reading has benefits which are evident even
> to those who cannot read, whereas algebra has benefits (i.e., calculus)
> that are not evident until one has learned algebra.

This is a false assertion. Both skill sets have benefits which are both
clear and invisible to the uninitiated. When my son was first learning
to read, he knew that he would unlock the ability to read his little-kid
books to himself. On some level, I'm sure he understood that he could
also learn to _do_ new things from books, but I'm also sure he failed to
appreciate the vast array of written knowledge that was available to
him. And further, reading is a prerequisite, I believe, for really
appreciating poetry of many flavors -- which was (and remains)
completely beyond his understanding. It is just so with mathematics.

Christopher Weeks
Received on Mon Feb 24 2003 - 05:52:34 EST