For example, the
person who taught me most about the value of freedom and democracy was my fourth grade teacher: "Miss Weast, the big fat beast." That's what we kids called her behind her back. Feared by all, respected by few, she extorted compliance
via credible threats and controlled violence. A ruler across the knuckles of one's out-stretched hands, for example. Eventually she went too
far, even for those antediluvian times. She held a youngster against a hot steam
radiator until he was sufficiently compliant. His burns did not get her fired as you might expect. But she was at least transferred to another school. But not before she had taught me the dangers of unchecked power. Yes indeed, Dewey was precisely right.
Here's another example drawn from the same 'good old days' of the 1950's. This one is drawn from Catholic parish schools off that era when overworked, under appreciated nuns were widely known for bullying, slapping and otherwise mistreating the children in their charge. What these nuns had in mind must have been making better Catholics. But the actual consequences were often very different. Many kids learned that nun talk about the redeeming value of love, mercy and forgiveness was just that — talk. That it's not what people say, but what they do, that counts. A valuable lesson, to be sure, but hardly in the official curriculum.
Here's a final example. Imagine a "freedom, lack of oppression" classroom, where lax discipline makes learning impossible and safety problematic. Where vast
amounts of faculty and student time are spent trying to establish control. Many students come away from that kind of experience longing for anything that will end the chaos and make things safe. And that, in turn, causes many kids, especially those victimized by bullies, to dislike freedom. They prefer the order even of tyranny.
Do children learn what they live? You can count on it.
To examine these and similar issues further, see
articles at www.newfoundations.com"m
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