OCR Text |
Show flgr 'j Tiw' I 'Oy .p The Salt Lake Tribune, Sunday, August Creativity, Not Rote Learning is What Kids Need By Ferris MM M. Johnsen Your youngster has just returned from school. He plops his homework (if any) on the first handy flatspace, and makes preparation for an evening of living." He has just spent another day at his conditioning chamber, systematically learning and an exercise memorizing," reminiscent of primeval methodology. You ask him what he learned in school and he with retorts nothin Aw, or The same old much, stuff." You wonder if there is any relationship between his experiences and his world. His tacit manner hints of a possible . frontal lobotomy, but then, maybe hes normal and youre the anomaly. Suddenly you realize he has only been conditioned by the regimen of his structured school day. He doesnt salivate when he hears the ringing school bells; he opens and closes doors. To the youngster they are entrance and egress bells, signaling change from one environment to another; from class to class, school to home. Am I describing your child? Your school? Pav-lovia- n Rote Learning This is not to say education hadnt achieved its objectives. Education has accomplished most of its charter stipulations, even back to its beginnings. But what has it been asked to accomplish? Students have indeed learned much about their world. Theyve gathered, analyzed, collated and filed myriads of bits of information to understand not their own visible world but much of the mysterious micro and galactic worlds. But what about the child of the study of the neglect? human self, and the greatest of all the arts the art of livconfidently and peaing? ceably with ourselves and others. teach-ingleami- g People aren't going to go or away, so we ir,st perish. Our students should know more about that very more how to thing about themselves, their self for image, their potential achieving, their latent greatness. Im going to suggest some selective, but positive, (mental condibrainwashing does tioning). Brainwashing have its positive side. I wish that some teacher had taken the time to brainwash me into believing and expecting more of myself during my formative years. I just might have lived up to those greater expectations. t; Personal Worth serious and contemplative analysis of our own personal worth may well be our last great frontier of scientific research. Note that I said personal worth; most behavior research in the past has been directed entirely at personal faults. Indeed, there has been much of that! Studies have been made most that demonstrating A young people do not like themselves; and the self being the center of its social universe, this trouble nucleus finds no peace with its own elemental atom. This selfdislike seems to be one of our most formidable and prevalent diseases. Surely the masochistic 60s evidenced a strong propensity for imitative self destruction. Now if it is true that many young people have poor selfimagery, thats not good not healthy. Perhaps then we ought to be serving up some value courses for students to supplant these serious deficiencies with more wholesome perspective. Ironically, because schools have shied away from teaching those values Inherent in character-building studies, commercial enterprises been running the race all by themselves, for profit. You can enroll in several such programs at any time. So, if you want your young disciple to learn these vital life lessons, p he will have to read the books or purchase supplementary training, because he wont find these subjects in the school curriculum. For instance, can you find a school in which to enroll your teenofage son or daughter that fers the following scheduled of courses (hypothetical, Un100, Goal Setting course)? derstanding and Coping With self-hel- Peer Group Pressures 102, The Poser of Creativity 103, How to Think 104, The Self Image 105, The Value of Discipline lne. Overcoming Discour- agement 107, 109, 108, Success Motivation etc. Perhaps by ' e turn of the century well see the visionary on light, bright enough to build first of the philosophy teaching things first, and second things Editors note: Todays Common Carrier article w as submitted by Ferris M. Johnsen, a retired lieutenant colonel In the U.S. Air Force currently director of Instructional media at Utah Technical College at Salt Lake. Ills views are his owu and do not necessarily reflect those of any organization or Institution. Views expressed in Common Carrier do not necessarily reflect those of The Salt Lake Tribune or the Common Carrier board of lay editors, which works Independently of Tribune reportorial and editorial policies in making Its article selections. Representatives of recognized organizations and interested Individuals are Invited to submit statements to Common Carrier. Articles need not be expertly written bnt should be short (four pages, double spaced, typewritten), to the point, have a central theme, promote dialogue, be timely and pertain to the soof the Intermountain Area. cial, political and economic well-bein- g Mail articles, Including home address and telephone number, to Common Carrier, The Salt Lake Tribune, Box 867, Salt Lake City, Utah 8410. only with proof of relevancy, the schedule permitting. Value Traits In yesteryears, value traits and the work ethic were teamed via the apprenticeship route, or on the farm where young people carried their load, and the values were takqn from their toil. Today, if a student receives any value insights leading to character development, it comes about only indirectly and sometimes even apologetically. And so, often we hear a person attribute his entire personal success to a special teacher, who, years before, said something that pushed the hot button within, and motivated that person beyond expectations. Most often these remarks n attitudes students are driven from within to win. This next Glasser revelation may shock more than a few: Our schools dont teach success, but rather how to fail. Can you manage that one? tellThe nerve of that guy ing us that we have been sending our kids to school all these years to learn failure! One more, on grading: "Why must students be constantly reminded of their inferiority them with by comparing others?" Yes, Indeed, all a student must do to find his worthiness" slot is simply compare symbols; his against the other students. And so, early in his training tedium his orbit begins to take shape, and he starts to cycle. He may stay in that stifling orbit indefinitely because lettered, authoritative pedagogues have constantly assured him thats where he belongs; candle-gradeboxed and labeled a certain quality egg, with a pecking-orde- r mentality. Time Tests d, contrivances signed to teach success failure? time-honore- d ntiated personalities in that testing room under pressure of a ticking stop watch induced nausea throughout the whole pointless ordeal. And chamwhen that second-hanberlain shrieked out his dreadful pronouncement: STOP! PENCILS DOWN! NO MORE it was the gesta-p- o WRITING! all over again. Apologists would defend this modus-operan- as education's di natu- ral selection process. More correctly, it's educations natthose time ural Now, about rejection process based tests! Old World monkeys upon faulty criteria. Common would know better. This is sense would dictate that every where time is the constant, student has his own pace and and the material the Variable. readiness which he demonI recall my own entrance strates when he enters his qualifying tests taken to deter world of work. Are these or research study on and underachievers revealed that no amount of counseling by even the most professional can compensate A mine my suitability for entering the masters program at the University of Utah. V.e were undergoing a time test, but the absolute lunacy of putting all 20 dissimilar, differe- de- psy-choti- for one solid resounding personal success. And yet no classes on this vital life principle in your school? Little Black Box When I was an undergraduate, the psychology and educational sophists were over 19, 1973 G 1 awed by the IQ formula conceived to put every student in his little black box. Today we know the IQ doesnt compute as they once postulated. What we should have been taught, and should now be teaching, is the IC, I Can" formula, which is undervalid and standable, fail-saf- e d. Thomas Edison, by his own admission, was not brilliant: he was creative. How about a class in creative thinking for a starter? LPNs Graduation Set At UTecli Utah Technical College at Salt Lake will graduate 48 practical nurses at 8 p.m. Aug. 24 at commencement rites in the colleges main campus Administration Building Auditorium. Guest speaker will be Mrs. Jean K. Larsen, supervisor of Utah Techs health occupa tions and business programs. G aduatioo certificates will be presented by Mrs. Lila B. Bjorklufid, a member of the Utah State Board for Vocational Education. -- Thus graduation program marks the 47th graduating class of practical nurses at the college. dont come from the prepared lesson plan, but off the cuff, and from the heart. We insist on a formal educa-- , lion for all without knowing vvhat really constitutes a good education. Is one necessarily educated if he understands .omputer circuitry, for instance, and then blows his own mental fuse because hes not wired right himself? Have you seen the student statistics lately? Destructive Behavior Frank Goble, in a recent article, theorized magazine that the rapid increase in socially destructive behavior can be traced directly to the increasing inadequacy of character education" in our schools and homes. The noted historian Arnold Toynbee (a humanist, if you please) observed that mankind can actually exist without technology (weve proven that), but will inevitably perish without morality. Todays educational is tantamount to program technical affluence and moral poverty, leading to social perishability. biblican The injunction, should be Know thyself, taken seriously. We need to the deck; we're not getting enough clover. Look at the educational process today. At the elementary level, we nonexa get education perience-centered preparatory for more of the same in junior high and high school, which at that level is more than subject-centere- d little college preparatory drill leading to more of the same at the post high school level, eventuating in a non-worl- weli-leame- certificated student faced with an identity crisis. Is It Learning? Despite his learning, how much does your student really understand about life and the things that affect him most? Can he cope with lifes perplexing paradoxes? Has he a postive feeling for the word law? Does he comprehend that success is based on obedience to law, whether physical, social, spiritual, or Does he know the meaning of statistics; that he can use them to his own advantage? Does he realize that life is cyclic? That statistics have already placed him in his achievement orbit in which he will likely remain, unless taught how to recycle? Djcs he know anything about semantics? Is he aware that his vocabulary will, to a large degree, determine his future success? Tread SAVE 50 CUT21 SAVE Regular $1.99 Pacesetter Gath Towels Regular $59.99 7 - inch Circular Saw $109.99 Mens or Womens Wide assortment of brilliant colors in jacquards, stripes and prints. They are thickly looped and made of absorbent 100 Terry cloth. Regular Regular P d saw develops speed of 5400 rpm. Ball and These 69c 49 C 99c Hand Towel 59c Wash Cloth bearings. feature 88 Non-gla- re for aluminum gear housing. High impact motor housing and handles. Trice in Spring 1972 stem-mount- 47302-31- 2 3 ri4" .7 SAVE hip 5 SAVE$2 End of Summer Special $12.99 All Glass 10 - Gallon Aquarium Our $6.99 Antiquing or Woodgraining Kits Wheel Alignment and Balance Special Ideal for salt water fish because its corrosion-resistato salt water. Polybinyl edging helps protect against chipping and nicking. Now is the o time that oeen waiting so youve long to do. One kit does up to 1 00 sq. ft. Dries quickly. No painty odor. fires are wearing unevenly, now is the time to have them aligned and balanced. It increases your cars stability and stops unnecessary wear on your tires. MOST CARS. If your re-d- hand-me-do- nt that means getting a student to believe in himself; that it is worthwhile to learn something in :'ass because if he fails in school, there is no place else to go." He means, of course, attitudinal change in the student, leading to success consciousness through the process of internal discipline. Good- - Bike 10-spe- rack! Mill Training Fortunately, there are some voices wilderness today denouncing g eadmill training. Dr. William Glassers tomes on reality therapy and education may only be variations of old themes, but they deserve our attention. He suggests we throw away the time tests, pseudo riles and grades, and zero in on the real target of imporstudent needs. And tance 10-Spe- ed touring bikes gear shifts that are always easy to reach. They have center-pu- ll brakes and even a rear carrier no-loa- roller 25 Sears-Sa- SHOP AT SEARS AND SAVE Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back Sears SEARS, ROEBUCK lt lake Shop Mon. thru Fri. 9:30 a.m. till 9 pan. j AND CO. Saturday till 6 p.m. Sunday Noon till S p.m. KnruB Sears-loga- Place Shop Mon. thru Fri. 9:30 a.m. till 9 p.m. Saturday till 6 p.m. Sunday Noon till 5 p.m. Sears-fashio- n un Sears-OpJe- n Mon., Wed., Thun,, Fri., S.30 till 9 p.m. Tues. Sal till 6 Sunday Noon till 5 p.m. n Shop Mon. And Fri. 9:30 a.m. till 9 p.m. Tues., Wed., Thurs., Sat. 9:30 a.m. till 6 p.m. Closed Sunday Sears-Prov- o Shop Mon. thru Fri. 9:30 a.m. till 9 p.m. Saturday till 6 p.m. Closed Sunday SK |