RE: [Discuss-sudbury-model] Newbie with Question

One thing that school teaches extremely well, at least to those ready to
learn it, is to put as little effort as you need to put in to get the result
you want. There is no need to put any extra effort in, since one is only
doing things for the grade (or teacher approval).

Your son may have learned that lesson all too well!

One thing we all observe in democratic schools is the phenomenon of new kids
unlearning a LOT of old habits - sometimes easily and sometimes painfully.
In my coarser days I used to call the painful ones, "vomiting up the old
school". It is essential, however, that kids be allowed to go through this
process (at school and at home), for if we keep rescuing them (for instance
by insisting that they practice the trumpet) then they will only learn to
rely on being rescued.

~Alan Klein

-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Torgersen
I personally don't subscribe to the concept that you need to be forced to do
what's good for you. But my son seems to bring me to that- in his case only.
I have another son (7 yrs old) that works so hard at couple of the things he
loves, like football. It seems almost a biological difference in the two. My
younger son is not afraid to fail- he'll run hard and miss the ball and fall
in the mud and get up and try again. My older son just gives up- even though
football is all he thinks about. Of course, he may just be realizing that
it's the mental part of football he loves, not the physical.

I think Naomi has a good point, about some of this perhaps coming from being
too pressured at school. So he tries to get by with the littlest effort on
other things- to sort of make up for it.

Anyway, I do wonder sometimes where discipline comes from. And I guess
paradoxically it should come from within to be real. As Naomi points out, no
one will keep you on track in college. It's up to you. Same with life I
suppose...
Received on Wed Dec 01 2004 - 14:55:56 EST