I have had the pleasure of reading these past several weeks now – really diving into books. They are much more portable than this machine. The down side is that it takes me far longer these days to get through a volume than it once did. Our daily rhythm is steady and the long unspoken-for spans of time I thought I once had have long since been filled with chores, errands, potty training, and the like. Spaces that aren’t filled with those are usually snagged for showers and naps and a stolen phone call here and there. For that reason I figured I would just share snippets of what has particularly resonated with me lately.

The first is from Leonard Sax’ Boys Adrift. It was recommended on a local homeschool list and has proven to be every bit as thought-provoking as promised. I still have lots to get through but his research and anecdotes have rung true from page one. The purpose of the book was the growing phenomenon of failure to launch in young men today. He points to a virtual epidemic of apathy and prolonged adolescence which seems to cross cultural and demographic lines. The book articulates several reasons for this: changes in education, video games, adhd meds, and endocrine disrupters.

His discussion about changes in American schools echo much of what I have read elsewhere. First he addresses research that shows vast differences in growth rates of different areas of boys’ and girls’ brains. These differences indicate that what is appropriate developmentally for one gender at one age is not necessarily so for the other.

I was most intrigued however by his analysis of education in America versus in other areas of the world. Education in our country tends to be very didactic. We cram with facts. Data is revered. There is far less emphasis here on experiential knowledge than in other countries. Our poor ranking on international tests (number #25) suggest that this focus on head knowledge has had a counter-productive effect on long term learning outcomes.

Listen to his discussion about knowing:

In English the verb to know can have two very different meanings reflecting two different kinds of knowledge:

I know Sarah.
I know pediatrics.

My knowledge of my daughter Sarah is very different from my knowledge of pediatrics. My knowledge of Sarah is experiential. I know that Sarah likes to be rocked side to side but not front to back. (he gives more examples)

Most European languages use two different words for these two kinds of knowledge. In German knowledge about a person or place you have actually experienced is Kenntnis, from kennen “to know by experience”; knowledge learned from books is Wissenschaft, from wissen, “to know about something”.
There is a fundamental belief running through all European pedagogy that both Wissenschaft and Kenntnis are valuable and that the two ways of knowing must be balanced.

He goes on to describe accompanying a Swiss third grade class high up into the mountains. Children were blindfolded and led to a tree to try to learn as much about it as possible without sight. “To see without the eyes,” the teacher explained. Then they were led away several paces and the blindfold removed. They then had to find their tree. He was skeptical of the value of this exercise until she blindfolded him and made him do the same. He found it “an unexpected and exhilarating experience.”

He shares decades of research that show the necessity of multisensory learning in developing young brains and goes so far as to say that

“a curriculum that emphasizes Wissenschaft at the expense of Kenntnis may produce a syndrome analogous to the neglected child.” (such as has been observed in studies of children raised in sterile orphanages)

This is relevant to our country because we have a generation or two now of children who have been largely raised indoors. As he says,

“You can easily find high school students in America who can tell you about the importance of the environment, the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle and so on, but they have never spent a night outdoors. they have plenty of Wissenschaft but not a trace of Kenntnis.”

Amen.

This seems to be the one recurrent theme in my school planning in recent years. My concern is less about facts and data and more about relationships. Formation versus information, Laura Berquist would say. I would say it is not an either/or proposition. Ideally you want them to form relationships with ideas. They can read and write until they are blue but unless the information is personally meaningful to them it is not likely to be planted very deeply. Or worse, they may swell with data and never realize how little they truly understand about it.

For the coming school year we are focusing once again on doing a few things well. Our emphasis is on learning to learn in a meaningful manner. That takes time. It takes courage on the teacher’s part to trust that slow beginnings make for a solid foundation, that giving a child the time and space to connect with ideas will lead to true knowledge in all senses of the word.

We tend to give lip service to the idea of lighting fires versus filling buckets. Then we turn around and start the faucets. I would encourage you to consider your plans for this year in that same light. Are you spending lots of time thinking about what data you plan to impart? How? When? Where? Maybe that time would be better spent this summer observing the child, arranging the environment, and setting peaceful rhythms that will all contribute to more meaningful learning in the long run. Your wallet will thank you too The materials will always be there. What is most beneficial is a keen eye, a prayerful heart, and a responsive attitude. Anyone can pass on wissenschaft. It takes a real giving of self, a release of control, and a good amount of faith to help balance that with kenntnis.

Speaking of which, I hear the sprinkler. A warm day beckons. I am going to join several dripping wet little people. : )