Comments on: Thomas Friedman in Shanghai http://www.thethinkingstick.com/thomas-friedman-in-shangha/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=thomas-friedman-in-shangha Educator Consultant Author Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:34:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Barbara http://www.thethinkingstick.com/thomas-friedman-in-shangha/#comment-1307 Barbara Fri, 17 Nov 2006 16:15:00 +0000 http://thethinkingstick.com/?p=363#comment-1307 Jeff, I think this is a great post...there are always details we can discuss but in terms of getting at the heart of the issue I believe you have stated the case very clearly. I am clipping this blog for my faculty. I am not sure where eric is coming from but I do not believe you are advocating no structure or no basic contnet. I am currently at a Leadership Conference with Alan November and your post is a great summary of his presentation. Jeff, I think this is a great post…there are always details we can discuss but in terms of getting at the heart of the issue I believe you have stated the case very clearly. I am clipping this blog for my faculty.
I am not sure where eric is coming from but I do not believe you are advocating no structure or no basic contnet. I am currently at a Leadership Conference with Alan November and your post is a great summary of his presentation.

]]> By: Eric Neufer http://www.thethinkingstick.com/thomas-friedman-in-shangha/#comment-1306 Eric Neufer Sat, 11 Nov 2006 19:51:38 +0000 http://thethinkingstick.com/?p=363#comment-1306 It's a little too easy to say that all we need to do is teach skills. There is knowledge that needs to be in place to enable the learning of the skills to occur. The dilemma is what particular knowledge do we make available to children. Geography is as good an example as any. We cannot think effectively about human behavior until we understand the conditions under which different groups live. And without a working knowledge (i.e. something always present in our mind) of where things are (e.g. the fifty states), we can be thinking critically but without a proper context. It is tempting to think that children can make their own decisions about what belongs in their working knowledge and it is certainly true that this increases with age. But a given group of people (e.g. a school, a family, a church) need to have something established for the process to get started. The choice of what knowledge to start with is always driven by limited agendas (since humans are limited beings), so its important that we understand this "agenda process" so we can have self-correcting systems. (This is a 21st century skill.) Doing this well requires a lot of work on one's self and then doing so with a group of people, such as two parents or a school faculty. It's not easy. It’s a little too easy to say that all we need to do is teach skills. There is knowledge that needs to be in place to enable the learning of the skills to occur. The dilemma is what particular knowledge do we make available to children. Geography is as good an example as any. We cannot think effectively about human behavior until we understand the conditions under which different groups live. And without a working knowledge (i.e. something always present in our mind) of where things are (e.g. the fifty states), we can be thinking critically but without a proper context.

It is tempting to think that children can make their own decisions about what belongs in their working knowledge and it is certainly true that this increases with age. But a given group of people (e.g. a school, a family, a church) need to have something established for the process to get started.

The choice of what knowledge to start with is always driven by limited agendas (since humans are limited beings), so its important that we understand this “agenda process” so we can have self-correcting systems. (This is a 21st century skill.) Doing this well requires a lot of work on one’s self and then doing so with a group of people, such as two parents or a school faculty. It’s not easy.

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