Joe Davison

I read the article in Friends Journal and found myself torn. On the

one hand, it think his prescription for education, if not correct, at

least aligns with our own leanings. On the other hand, I think his

description of the history and aims of the current educational system

is flawed in that it imputes stupidity and evil intent to those who

have participated in the development of the current educational

system.

If we truly want to have an influence on the national education

discussion, we must "respect that of God" in those with whom we

interact. Beginning a discussion by insulting the other

participants is unlikely to help us get our points across.

For instance, one can argue that theories of education based on

economic utility are inappropriate and/or ineffective without

maintaining that those who propose them lack spiritual visions.

Mr. Farquhar early on sets up a number of "strawmen" as supposed

answers to the question "What are schools for?" It is unfortunate

that these answers probably reveal more about his own political views

than they do about the actual philosophies driving the educational

system's evolution. I say it is unfortunate primarily because it

distracts from the true value of his contribution. I find myself

wanting to argue about those answers instead of listening to and

affirming the rest of what he has to say.

I hope we can avoid these mistakes in our own contributions to the

discussion. It probably suffices to state our own opinions about

what school are for and how we think our goals can be achieved, and

leave others to state their own views.

Before we spend much time protesting "inappropriate objectives" of

public schools, we should be sure we know what those objectives are,

and not waste time protesting inappropriate objectives we imagined.

Rather, we should simply state what we think are appropriate objectives.

As Reck points out in his Halloween Musings, when we talk about the

ecology of learning, "ordinary folk instantly 'get' the idea since it

is embedded in their life experience". I suspect much the same is

true if we follow Mr. Farquhar's call to begin "developing and

sharing a vision, for all people, of a world in which love, peace,

and environmental stewardship are the three pillars on which we build

the hopes and aspirations of our human community".

joe