Subject: Carrying Capacity 2

Posted by Chad Green on 11/16/2010
In Reply To:Carrying Capacity 2 Posted by Bill Braun on 11/16/2010

Message:

Hi Bill,

Your metaphor works for me under two conditions: (1) the labels "teacher" and "student" are interchangeable in a stochastic sense, and (b) the word "curriculum" is replaced with "highly accessible creative commons," which is the process/product of two-way, reflexive interactions between learning agents and their boundary conditions (classroom or otherwise).

On second thought, let's do away with the student/teacher labels altogether. After all, shouldn't teachers be students of their own teaching? At least, that is the stance of the reflective practitioner as I understand it.

For that matter, why stop there? What is the fundamental duality in education that repeats itself like a relaxation oscillator in debates across the nation about effective [fill_in_the_blank]? Does it boil down to the classical debate between the value of teacher-centered vs. student-centered teaching and learning? Let's remove those labels, too. What do we have? The classroom as a learning system in which learning is now more important than teaching?

I'm feeling lucky today. Let's remove that "classroom" label as well and see what we get. School systems as learning systems in which learning is now more important than the professional bureaucracy? I'd like to remove that "school" label as well, please. What do we get? Communities as learning systems in which learning is now more important than petty partisan politics.

Rinse and repeat, over and over, like the label on your shampoo bottle says. Don't question the logic, just keep doing it! Go on, break down the barriers in our language to find new degrees of freedom from which fresh learning and ideas emerge......

Forgive me for going off-topic, what were we talking about again? Teachers and K-12 schools? Rinse and repeat.

Chad

Follow Ups:

Carrying Capacity 2 - Richard Turnock 11/18/2010