limited need for that skill today. I still write in calligraphic style, I still read
books, I listen to storytellers, I take notes, I play recorder, penny whistle and guitar
(a newer version of the lute and lyre, btw). I admire the skills of that stone mason. I
do like antiquities, I am trained as an historian. But, Socrates cannot be allowed to
drive the conversation. He was wrong - the written word is good.
I do not advocate throwing the baby out with the bath water. But too often the
contestation starts with the"old school" resistance to change. Until we have an open
discussion that starts with the idea that change is necessary we cannot successfully
proceed to determine the balance we all seek: what skills are necessary to develop, what
content is vital to maintain and how we can make that meaningful to our charges.
A forum for independent school educators <ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> writes:
>David,
>
>I will weigh in to argue that if there were no stonecutters today our
>buildings that require work or repair, or our attempts to create such
>buildings, would be impossible to manage. The argument we all hear in
>our schools is the fear of loss of those traditional, mostly manual,
>skills in the rush to modernize. It is an eternal dilemma as seen in the
>history of the pencil vs the slate, etc.
>
>So how do we balance the knowledge of skills that seem irrelevant but we
>don't want to be lost to history, and encourage those we consider
>necessary for the 21st Century? This is the question every "old school"
>teacher will confront us with at every turn...
>
>Jenni
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